Social Cognition  in  Major  Depressive  Disorder:

abstract Social cognit ion refers to the brain mechanisms by which we process social information about other humans and ourselves. Alterat ions in interpersonal and social functioning are common in major depressive disorder, though only poorly addressed by current pharmacotherapies. Fur ther s tandardized tests, such as depression rat ings or neuropsychologic tests, used in routine prac tice provide very l i t t le information on social sk il ls, schemas, at tr ibutions, s tereotypes and judgments related to social interac tions. In this ar t ic le, we review recent l i terature on how healthy human brains process social decisions and how these processes are al tered in major depressive disorder. We especial ly focus on interac tive paradigms (e.g., game theory based tasks) that can reproduce daily l ife s i tuations in laboratory set t ings. The evidences we review, together with the r ich l i terature on the protec tive role of social networks in handling stress, have implications for developing more ecologically-valid biomarkers and interventions in order to optimize functional recovery in depressive disorders