Theory of mind deficits in schizophrenia have been parsed
into mental state reasoning and mental state decoding
components. We report that mental state decoding as
measured by the `Eyes task? better predicted social function
than mental state reasoning as measured by the `Hinting
task\u27 in 73 out-patients with chronic schizophrenia. Mental
state decoding task performance also partly mediated the
influence of basic neuropsychological performance on social
function. We discuss these findings in terms of the
accumulating evidence that mental state decoding has
particular relevance for understanding deficits in social
function in schizophrenia