Deficits in facial-affect recognition and schizophrenia.

Abstract

It has been widely demonstrated that schizophrenic patients show a broad range of deficits in interpersonal skills. Recently, considerable attention has been focused on the ability of these patients to decode affective cues. This article reviews findings about facial-affect recognition in schizophrenia. While the literature on this topic is extensive, many investigations have suffered from significant methodological shortcomings. Strategies to resolve these shortcomings are presented. Possible relationships between problems of affect recognition and other symptoms that characterize schizophrenia are discussed. Neurological mechanisms of facial-affect recognition are reviewed and related to data on lateralized neurological impairment in schizophrenia. Suggestions for future research emphasize careful consideration of affect-recognition deficits in relation to other parameters of schizophrenia.