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A systematic review and meta-analysis of social cognition training success across the healthy lifespan

Roheger, Mandy, Hranovska, Kseniya, Martin, Andrew K., Meinzer, Marcus (2022) A systematic review and meta-analysis of social cognition training success across the healthy lifespan. Scientific Reports, 12 (1). Article Number 3544. ISSN 2045-2322. (doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07420-z) (KAR id:94763)

Abstract

Socio-cognitive abilities and challenges change across the healthy lifespan and are essential for successful human interaction. Identifying effective socio-cognitive training approaches for healthy individuals may prevent development of mental or physical disease and reduced quality of life. A systematic search was conducted in MEDLINE Ovid, Web of Science Core Collection, CENTRAL, and PsycInfo databases. Studies that investigated different socio-cognitive trainings for healthy individuals across the human lifespan assessing effects on theory of mind, emotion recognition, perspective taking, and social decision making were included. A random-effects pairwise meta-analysis was conducted. Risk-of-Bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk-of-Bias-2-Tool. Twenty-three intervention studies with N = 1835 participants were included in the systematic review; twelve randomized controlled trials in the meta-analysis (N = 875). Socio-cognitive trainings differed regarding duration and content in different age groups, with theory of mind being the domain most frequently trained. Results of the meta-analysis showed that trainings were highly effective for improving theory of mind in children aged 3–5 years (SMD = 2.51 (95%CI: 0.48–4.53)), children aged 7–9 years (SMD = 2.71 (95%CI: − 0.28 to 5.71)), and older adults (SMD = 5.90 (95%CI: 2.77–9.02). Theory of mind training was highly effective in all investigated age-groups for improving theory of mind, yet, more research on transfer effects to other socio-cognitive processes and further investigation of training effects in other socio-cognitive domains (e.g., emotion recognition, visual perspective taking, social decision making) is needed. Identified characteristics of successful socio-cognitive trainings in different age groups may help designing future training studies for other populations.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1038/s41598-022-07420-z
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: Andrew Martin
Date Deposited: 26 Apr 2022 11:01 UTC
Last Modified: 06 Mar 2023 12:17 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/94763 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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