Abstract
Face processing is regularly found to be impaired in schizophrenia (SZ), thus suggesting that social malfunctioning might be caused by dysfunctional face processing. Most studies focused on emotional face processes, whereas non-emotional face processing received less attention. While current reports on abnormal face processing in SZ are mixed, examinations of non-emotional face processing compared to adequate control stimuli may clarify whether SZ is characterized by a face-processing deficit. Patients with SZ (n = 28) and healthy controls (n = 30) engaged in an fMRI scan where images of non-emotional faces and houses were presented. A simple inverted-picture detection task warranted the participants’ attention. Region of interest (ROI) analyses were conducted on face-sensitive regions including the fusiform face area, the occipital face area, and the superior temporal sulcus. Scene-sensitivity was assessed in the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and served as control condition. Patients did not show aberrant face-related neural processes in face-sensitive regions. This finding was also evident when analyses were done on individually defined ROIs or on in-house-localizer ROIs. Patients revealed a decreased specificity toward house stimuli as reflected in decreased neural response toward houses in the PPA. Again, this result was supported by supplementary analyses. Neural activation toward neutral faces was not found to be impaired in SZ, therefore speaking against an overall face-processing deficit. Aberrant activation in scene-sensitive PPA is also found in assessments of memory processes in SZ. It is up to future studies to show how impairments in PPA relate to functional outcome in SZ.
Highlights
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a complex psychiatric disease characterized by positive and negative symptoms, cognitive deficits, and a severe impairment of social cognitive functions [1,2,3,4,5]
Additional face-responsive regions in the extrastriate cortex are located in the inferior occipital gyrus (OFA) and the superior temporal sulcus (STS), which are related to early face processing and the perception of gaze and emotions, respectively [6]
If we identify aberrant response toward house stimuli, this would challenge the assumption of a deficit in visual processing that is restricted to facial stimuli
Summary
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a complex psychiatric disease characterized by positive and negative symptoms, cognitive deficits, and a severe impairment of social cognitive functions [1,2,3,4,5]. The investigation of other category-specific regions like the PPA in the frame of SZ research is insofar relevant, as the finding of impaired specialization in other higher-order visual areas would draw a completely different picture; Decreased specialization for stimulus classes beside faces would indicate that there is a rather general malfunction in higher visual cortex. Our assumptions were twofold: given that there is a distinct face-processing deficit in face-selective regions in SZ, we should find altered neural response in SZ patients in the FFA during face processing This effect might as well be reflected in a quantitative difference in the face vs house contrast between groups [35]. To account for the drawback of using healthy-participant group ROIs on patients, we did additional analyses on individually defined ROIs of peak activation for face and house stimuli
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