Comparison of social cognition and neurocognition in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This report aimed to compare group differences in social and non-social cognition in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia, and examine the influence of age and other factors on group differences. Literature searches were conducted in Pubmed and Web of Science from January 1980 to August 2022. Original research articles reporting objective measures of cognition were selected. 57 articles involving 1864 patients with schizophrenia and 1716 patients with ASD have been included. Schizophrenia was associated with more severe non-social-cognitive impairment, particularly in fluency (g=0.47;CI[0.17–0.76]) and processing speed domains (g=0.41;CI[0.20–0.62]). Poorer performance in social cognition (Z = 3.68,p = 0.0002) and non-social cognition (Z = 2.48,p = 0.01) in schizophrenia were significantly related to older age. ASD was associated with more severe social cognitive impairment when groups were matched for non-social-cognition (g=−0.18, p = 0.04) or reasoning/problem solving (g=−0,62; CI [−1,06-(−0.08)]. While both disorders present with social and non-social cognitive impairments, the pattern and developmental trajectories of these deficits are different. The limitations included heterogeneity of the cognitive measures, and the lack of sufficient information about antipsychotic use. •Compared to ASD, schizophrenia is associated with more severe deficits in non-social but not social-cognition.•When ASD samples include younger (age