International consensus for the assessment of social cognition in neurocognitive disorders: framework definition and clinical recommendations of the SIGNATURE initiative

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Socio-cognitive assessment in neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) remains rare in routine memory-clinic practice, with no shared agreement on how socio-cognitive measures should be operationalized. The SIGNATURE initiative addresses this gap by developing expert consortium recommendations. The work synthesizes evidence from the literature and current clinical practice, reporting guidelines for applying socio-cognitive measures in NCDs, including considerations for context of use and relevance to diagnosis, informed by an international consensus process and survey.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Social cognition in neurocognitive disorders

Rationale for the SIGNATURE initiative

Dodich etal. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (2026) 18:6 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01908-2](https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-025-01908-2) Alzheimer's Research & Therapy RESEARCH Open Access International consensus for the assessment of social cognition in neurocognitive disorders: framework definition and clinical recommendations of the SIGNATURE initiative Alessandra Dodich 1*, Andrea Panzavolta2, Giulia Funghi 1, Claudia Meli 1, Cristina Festari3, Thanos Chatzikostopoulos4, Christian Chicherio5, Florencia Clarens6, Fabricio Ferreira de Oliveira7, Marco Filardi8, Agustin Ibanez9,10,11,12,13, Laura Invernizzi 14, Thibaud Lebouvier 15, Giancarlo Logroscino 16, Sarah E. MacPherson 17, Riccardo Manca 18, Camillo Marra 19,20, Jordi A. Matias-Guiu21, Maxime Montembeault22, Costanza Papagno 1, Simone Pomati23, Mario Possenti24, Olivier Piguet25, Leonardo Sacco26, Ann-Katrin Schild27, Marc Soll berger28, Miguel Tábuas-Pereira29,30, MariannaTsatali4, Magda Tsolaki4, Esther van den Berg31, Stefano F. Cappa2, Maxime Bertoux32, Fiona Kumfor33, Jan Van den Stock34, Marina Boccardi35,36,37, Kathleen Anne Welsh-Bohmer38 and Chiara Cerami2,39 on behalf of SIGNATURE Consortium Abstract Background Socio-cognitive assessment in neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) is rare in clinical practice and no consensus exists as to a uniform operationalization of socio-cognitive measures for NCDs in memory clinics. The SIGNATURE initiative aims to optimize the use of socio-cognitive measures in memory clinics, defining expert recommendations. We report consortium guidelines for the use of socio-cognitive measures in NCDs based on available evidence from the literature and the current state of practices in memory clinics. Methods Using a Delphi consensus method supported by a literature review and the results of an international survey, 22 specialists defined recommendations for the context of use, relevance in NCD diagnosis, priorities for future research and facilitators/obstacles of socio-cognitive assessment in major and mild NCDs. Results Overall, panelists recommended social cognition testing in routine diagnostic assessment to evaluate both socio-cognitive and socio-behavioral alterations. A set of clinical, methodological, implementation and external factors facilitating or hampering the use of socio-cognitive tasks was identified. Conclusions This is the first focused endeavor to favor the implementation of socio-cognitive assessment, which is required by DSM-5 but seldom performed despite clear evidence of its clinical relevance for diagnosis and care. Our *Correspondence: Alessandra Dodich alessandra.dodich@unitn.it Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](vecommons.org/l)icenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Dodich et al. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (2026) 18:6 Page 2 of 12 results provide an initial set of recommendations, refinable through the future actions of t

FAQs

Why is socio-cognitive assessment uncommon in neurocognitive disorders clinics?

Socio-cognitive assessment is described as rare in clinical practice, and there is no consensus on a uniform operationalization of socio-cognitive measures for NCDs in memory clinics.

How did the SIGNATURE initiative develop its recommendations?

Recommendations were developed using a Delphi consensus method supported by a literature review and results from an international survey of 22 specialists.

What do the panelists recommend for clinical use of social cognition tasks?

Panelists recommended incorporating social cognition testing into routine diagnostic assessment to evaluate both socio-cognitive and socio-behavioral alterations, while identifying clinical, methodological, and implementation factors that facilitate or hinder use.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy