Emotion recognition, ‘theory of mind,’ and social behavior in schizophrenia

Abstract

Several studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia are impaired in recognizing emotions from facial expressions and in appreciating other people's mental states—the latter commonly referred to as ‘theory of mind.’ The question as to how social cognitive skills relate to patients' actual social behavior is, however, largely unanswered. This study examined emotion recognition, ‘theory of mind,’ and social behavior in schizophrenia. Emotion recognition, ‘theory of mind,’ executive functioning, ‘crystallized’ verbal intelligence, psychopathology, and social behavior were assessed in patients with schizophrenia compared with a healthy control group. Patients were significantly impaired on all tasks involving executive functioning, emotion recognition, and ‘theory of mind.’ Impaired executive functioning did, however, only partially account for the deficits in social perception and social cognition. Social perception and cognition in schizophrenia predicted the odds of being a patient significantly better than nonsocial cognition. Severe social behavioral abnormalities were linked to the duration of the illness, and even more so to ‘theory of mind’ deficits. Considering impaired social perception and social cognition significantly contributes to the understanding of social behavioral problems in schizophrenia.