Basic Emotion Recognition and Psychopathology in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Socio-emotional competence is a key aspect of schizophrenia, both in terms of psychopathological vulnerability and outcome. In this respect, current research increasingly emphasizes the importance of deficits in facial expression recognition. The focus of the present study is the performance in recognizing 6 basic emotions (sadness, anger, happiness, fear, disgust, surprise) which play an essential role in shaping daily function and interpersonal interactions. A group of 20 patients diagnosed with DSM-IV schizophrenia were compared with a group of 20 matched controls on a facial expression recognition task, derived from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (Lundqvist D, Flykt A, Ohmann A (1998) The Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). Stockholm (Sweden): Karolinska Institute), and were subsequently assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Facial expression recognition performance was significantly more impaired in patients, and was selectively correlated with the positive and cognitive dimensions of the positive and negative syndrome scale. Furthermore, significant group differences were found with respect to happiness and surprise.