Exaggerated perception of facial expressions is increased in individuals with schizotypal traits.

Shota Uono,Motomi Toichi,Wataru Sato

doi:10.1038/srep11795

Abstract

Emotional facial expressions are indispensable communicative tools, and social interactions involving facial expressions are impaired in some psychiatric disorders. Recent studies revealed that the perception of dynamic facial expressions was exaggerated in normal participants, and this exaggerated perception is weakened in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Based on the notion that ASD and schizophrenia spectrum disorder are at two extremes of the continuum with respect to social impairment, we hypothesized that schizophrenic characteristics would strengthen the exaggerated perception of dynamic facial expressions. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relationship between the perception of facial expressions and schizotypal traits in a normal population. We presented dynamic and static facial expressions, and asked participants to change an emotional face display to match the perceived final image. The presence of schizotypal traits was positively correlated with the degree of exaggeration for dynamic, as well as static, facial expressions. Among its subscales, the paranoia trait was positively correlated with the exaggerated perception of facial expressions. These results suggest that schizotypal traits, specifically the tendency to over-attribute mental states to others, exaggerate the perception of emotional facial expressions.

Highlights

Exaggerated in general[7,11,12]
These findings suggest that different psychological mechanisms may underlie the social cognitive dysfunctions that characterize autism and schizophrenia, and schizophrenic characteristics have an opposite effect than ASD on the perception of dynamic facial expressions
The existence of these biases suggests that individuals with schizophrenic characteristics, the tendency to excessively attribute mental states, exhibit a strong perceptual bias concerning the facial expressions of others

Summary

Introduction

Exaggerated in general[7,11,12]. They perceived the final image of dynamic facial expressions as more exaggerated than static facial expressions. Other behavioral studies have demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia and high schizotypal traits interpret sentences and actions as more intentional compared to controls[19,20] These findings suggest that different psychological mechanisms may underlie the social cognitive dysfunctions that characterize autism and schizophrenia, and schizophrenic characteristics have an opposite effect than ASD on the perception of dynamic facial expressions. In terms of facial expression recognition, it has been reported that individuals with schizophrenia and high schizotypal traits are likely to categorize neutral facial expressions as fearful or angry[23,24,25] The existence of these biases suggests that individuals with schizophrenic characteristics, the tendency to excessively attribute mental states, exhibit a strong perceptual bias concerning the facial expressions of others. We predicted that individuals with high paranoia would perceive dynamic facial expressions as more exaggerated

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion