BACKGROUND: @entity1 with a severe @entity131 ( @entity131 ) often experience problems understanding non-literal utterances such as sarcasm and lies in dyadic exchanges. This study aimed to investigate whether these problems extend to settings where speakers vary in their degree of sincerity and whether such problems are associated with @entity73 (emotion perception, theory of mind, and self-reported empathy) or cognitive abilities (abstract reasoning, working memory, processing speed, attentional switching). METHODS: Thirty-one adults with severe @entity131 (24 males) and 25 demographically matched controls (20 males) participated. They watched video vignettes depicting four actors volunteering for additional duties. Each speaker made a limited verbal response which literally suggested a willingness to be involved, but the sincerity with which the response was made was tempered by the actor's emotional demeanour. @entity1 rated each speaker in the vignettes for degree of sincerity (0-100%). Standardized measures of @entity73 were also taken. RESULTS: Control @entity1 had excellent agreement (a  =  .90) in their rankings of actors according to sincerity. @entity131 @entity1 were less consistent (a  =  .65). Overall, they were sensitive to decreasing sincerity but generally less accurate than control @entity1 . They were poorer at differentiating between levels of sincerity and rated insincere expressions as more sincere, although they rated sincere expressions similarly. Poorer working memory and poorer social cognition were associated with poorer sincerity/sarcasm detection in the @entity1 with @entity131 , but only social cognition was uniquely associated. CONCLUSIONS: Some adults with @entity131 have difficulty assessing the level of sincerity of speakers. Moreover, poorer social cognition abilities are associated with this difficulty.

XXXX of sincerity after severe @entity131 .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'Participants', 'People'] @entity73 :: ('MESH:D003072', 'Disease') :: ['cognitive and social cognitive function', 'deficits in social cognitive abilities'] @entity131 :: ('MESH:D001930', 'Disease') :: ['TBI', 'traumatic brain injury']
@entity73 :: (MESH:D003072,Disease) :: ['Impaired perception']
