Social cognition in Turner’s Syndrome

Turner’s Syndrome (TS), or X-monosomy, is a common chromosomal disorder in women, and provides a valuable paradigm to investigate genotypic contributions to social cognition. We review evidence suggesting that some facets of social cognition, particularly emotion recognition and gaze perception, are impaired in women with TS, despite the absence of a global social-processing impairment. Further, these deficits co-exist with neuroanatomical abnormalities of the amygdala and other regions implicated in social processing. A parallel is drawn between the non-verbal profile of sociocognitive dysfunction in TS and autism spectrum disorders, possibly underpinned by genomic imprinting effects. TS provides a unique opportunity to identify genetic, and particularly sex chromosome, influences on social cognition and behaviour.