Multisensory integration of emotional faces and voices in schizophrenics

Abstract

In their natural environment, organisms receive information through multiple sensory channels and these inputs from different sensory systems are routinely combined into integrated percepts. Previously, we reported that in a population of schizophrenics, deficits in audiovisual integration were observed for complex stimuli (auditory and visual syllables), but not for more simple ones (beeps and light flashes). Here, we investigated multisensory integration of emotional information in a group of schizophrenic patients. In Experiment 1, we found a reduced effect of an emotional voice on the categorization of a facial expression. In Experiment 2, the reverse test situation was presented, and, here, we observed an exaggerated effect of a face expression on the categorization of an emotional voice. Results are discussed in the light of current models of multisensory integration and their relevance for schizophrenia.