People with schizophrenia face significant challenges in daily life, including difficulties forming relationships, maintaining employment, and engaging in social activities. These issues stem partly from cognitive deficits but are mainly due to impairments in social cognition, which involves perceiving, interpreting, and responding to social information. Aspects of social cognition, such as theory of mind (ToM), emotional processing, and social perception, are critical for social functioning. However, the role of each domain remains debated, with some studies showing stronger links between certain areas of social cognition and specific aspects of functioning, such as work skills and relationships.

Despite considerable research, improving the ecological validity of social cognitive assessments remains challenging. Many studies rely on artificial tasks, such as facial expression recognition or ToM tasks, which may not reflect real-world social interactions. Recent efforts to enhance realism by incorporating virtual reality and more naturalistic methods are promising, but the relationship between social cognition and real-world functioning remains unclear. Future research should focus on improving both ecological validity and veridicality by using real-world interactions to better understand how social cognition impacts daily life in individuals with schizophrenia.

Reference: Cavieres A, Acuña V, Arancibia M, Escobar C. Advances in the ecological validity of research on social cognition in schizophrenia: A systematic review of the literature. Schizophr Res Cogn. 2025;39:100333. doi: 10.1016/j.scog.2024.100333.