Abstract
BackgroundAn increasing body of evidence suggests that the apparent social impairments observed in schizophrenia may arise from deficits in social cognitive processing capacities. The ability to process basic social cues, such as gaze direction and biological motion, effortlessly and implicitly is thought to be a prerequisite for establishing successful social interactions and for construing a sense of “social intuition.” However, studies that address the ability to effortlessly process basic social cues in schizophrenia are lacking. Because social cognitive processing deficits may be part of the genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia, we also investigated two groups that have been shown to be at increased risk of developing schizophrenia-spectrum pathology: first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and men with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY).ResultsWe compared 28 patients with schizophrenia, 29 siblings of patients with schizophrenia, and 29 individuals with Klinefelter syndrome with 46 matched healthy control subjects on a new paradigm. This paradigm measures one's susceptibility for a bias in distance estimation between two agents that is induced by the implicit processing of gaze direction and biological motion conveyed by these agents. Compared to control subjects, patients with schizophrenia, as well as siblings of patients and Klinefelter men, showed a lack of influence of social cues on their distance judgments.ConclusionsWe suggest that the insensitivity for social cues is a cognitive aspect of schizophrenia that may be seen as an endophenotype as it appears to be present both in relatives who are at increased genetic risk and in a genetic disorder at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology. These social cue–processing deficits could contribute, in part, to the difficulties in higher order social cognitive tasks and, hence, to decreased social competence that has been observed in these groups.
Highlights
One of the cardinal dysfunctions associated with the schizophrenia phenotype concerns disturbances in social functioning [1]
Some researchers have argued that this might be a consequence of severe psychopathology, others have demonstrated that social dysfunction is relatively independent of symptomatology [2]
The aim of the present study was to investigate the implicit processing of basic social cues in three groups on the schizophrenia continuum, i.e. in individuals with schizophrenia, individuals with an increased genetic risk for schizophrenia and individuals with a genetic disorder who show schizophrenia-like symptoms
Summary
One of the cardinal dysfunctions associated with the schizophrenia phenotype concerns disturbances in social functioning [1]. Some researchers have argued that this might be a consequence of severe psychopathology, others have demonstrated that social dysfunction is relatively independent of symptomatology [2] This latter view is further supported by findings that disturbances in social functioning are already present in early adolescence and often precede the onset of psychosis [3,4,5]. As well as an insensitivity to interpersonal social cues that refer to someone’s affect and goals [10] These social cue processing deficits seem to be independent of intelligence, i.e. not attributable to a generalized performance deficit [11], but are related to negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as emotional withdrawal [12] and skills to perceive, process, and send social signs [13]. Because social cognitive processing deficits may be part of the genetic vulnerability for schizophrenia, we investigated two groups that have been shown to be at increased risk of developing schizophreniaspectrum pathology: first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and men with Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY)
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