Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-65tv2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-08T21:46:11.203Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Face emotion recognition is related to individual differences in psychosis-proneness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

L. T. Germine  and
C. I. Hooker
L. T. Germine*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
C. I. Hooker
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: L. T. Germine, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. (Email: lgermine@fas.harvard.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Deficits in face emotion recognition (FER) in schizophrenia are well documented, and have been proposed as a potential intermediate phenotype for schizophrenia liability. However, research on the relationship between psychosis vulnerability and FER has mixed findings and methodological limitations. Moreover, no study has yet characterized the relationship between FER ability and level of psychosis-proneness. If FER ability varies continuously with psychosis-proneness, this suggests a relationship between FER and polygenic risk factors.

Method

We tested two large internet samples to see whether psychometric psychosis-proneness, as measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B), is related to differences in face emotion identification and discrimination or other face processing abilities.

Results

Experiment 1 (n=2332) showed that psychosis-proneness predicts face emotion identification ability but not face gender identification ability. Experiment 2 (n=1514) demonstrated that psychosis-proneness also predicts performance on face emotion but not face identity discrimination. The tasks in Experiment 2 used identical stimuli and task parameters, differing only in emotion/identity judgment. Notably, the relationships demonstrated in Experiments 1 and 2 persisted even when individuals with the highest psychosis-proneness levels (the putative high-risk group) were excluded from analysis.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that FER ability is related to individual differences in psychosis-like characteristics in the normal population, and that these differences cannot be accounted for by differences in face processing and/or visual perception. Our results suggest that FER may provide a useful candidate intermediate phenotype.

Keywords

Emotion recognitionface processingindividual differencespsychosis-pronenessschizotypy

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , May 2011 , pp. 937 - 947
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Addington, J, Addington, D (1998). Facial affect recognition and information processing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia Research 32, 171–181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adolphs, R (2002). Neural systems for recognizing emotion. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 12, 169–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aguirre, F, Sergi, MJ, Levy, CA (2008). Emotional intelligence and social functioning in persons with schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research 104, 255–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aleman, A, Kahn, R (2005). Strange feelings: do amygdala abnormalities dysregulate the emotional brain in schizophrenia? Progress in Neurobiology 77, 283–298.Google ScholarPubMed
Arndt, S, Alliger, R, Andreasen, N (1991). The distinction of positive and negative symptoms. The failure of a two-dimensional model. British Journal of Psychiatry 158, 317–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bediou, B, Asri, F, Brunelin, J, Krolak-Salmon, P, D'Amato, T, Saoud, M, Tazi, I (2007). Emotion recognition and genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry 191, 126–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Birnbaum, MH (2004). Human research and data collection via the internet. Annual Review of Psychology 55, 803–832.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowles, DC, McKone, E, Dawel, A, Duchaine, B, Palermo, R, Schmalzl, L, Rivolta, D, Wilson, CE (2009). Diagnosing prosopagnosia: effects of aging, sex, and participant stimulus ethnic match on the Cambridge Face Memory Test and Cambridge Face Perception Test. Cognitive Neuropsychology 26, 423–455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Braff, D, Freedman, R, Schork, N, Gottesman, I (2007). Deconstructing schizophrenia: an overview of the use of endophenotypes in order to understand a complex disorder. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 21–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brunet-Gouet, E, Decety, J (2006). Social brain dysfunctions in schizophrenia: a review of neuroimaging studies. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 148, 75–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, L, Chapman, J (1980). Scales for rating psychotic and psychotic-like experiences as continua. Schizophrenia Bulletin 6, 477–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Claridge, G (1997). Theoretical background and issues. In Schizotypy: Implications for Illness and Health (ed. Claridge, G.), pp. 3–18. Oxford University Press: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duchaine, BC, Nakayama, K (2004). Developmental prosopagnosia and the Benton Facial Recognition Test. Neurology 62, 1219–1220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, J, Pattison, PE, Jackson, HJ, Wales, RJ (2001). Facial affect and affective prosody recognition in first-episode schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 48, 235–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekman, P, Friesen, WV (1976). Measuring facial movement. Environmental Psychology and Nonverbal Behavior 1, 56–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eysenck, HJ (1960). Classification and the problem of diagnosis. In Handbook of Abnormal Psychology (ed. Eysenck, H. J.), pp. 1–31. Pitman: London.Google Scholar
Foxe, J, Murray, M, Javitt, D (2005). Filling-in in schizophrenia: a high-density electrical mapping and source-analysis investigation of illusory contour processing. Cerebral Cortex 15, 1914–1927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garrido, L, Furl, N, Draganski, B, Weiskopf, N, Stevens, J, Tan, G, Driver, J, Dolan, R, Duchaine, B (2009). Voxel-based morphometry reveals reduced grey matter volume in the temporal cortex of developmental prosopagnosics. Brain 132, 3443–3455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gosling, SD, Vazire, S, Srivastava, S, John, OP (2004). Should we trust web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptions about internet questionnaires. American Psychologist 59, 93–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottesman, I, Gould, T (2003). The endophenotype concept in psychiatry: etymology and strategic intentions. American Journal of Psychiatry 160, 636–645.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottesman, I, Shields, J (1967). A polygenic theory of schizophrenia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 58, 199–205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gur, RE, Calkins, ME, Gur, RC, Horan, WP, et al. (2007 a). The consortium on the genetics of schizophrenia: neurocognitive endophenotypes. Schizophrenia Bulletin 33, 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gur, RE, Nimgaonkar, VL, Almasy, L, Calkins, ME, et al. (2007 b). Neurocognitive endophenotypes in a multiplex multigenerational family study of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 164, 813–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haworth, C, Harlaar, N, Kovas, Y, Davis, O, Oliver, B, Hayiou-Thomas, M, Frances, J, Busfield, P, McMillan, A, Dale, P, Plomin, R (2007). Internet cognitive testing of large samples needed in genetic research. Twin Research and Human Genetics 10, 554–563.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haxby, JV, Hoffman, EA, Gobbini, MI (2000). The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 4, 223–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herbener, ES, Hill, SK, Marvin, RW, Sweeney, JA (2005). Effects of antipsychotic treatment on emotion perception deficits in first-episode schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 162, 1746–1748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hooker, C, Park, S (2002). Emotion processing and its relationship to social functioning in schizophrenia patients. Psychiatry Research 112, 41–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Irwin, HJ (2001). The relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy: an artifact of childhood trauma? Journal of Clinical Psychology 57, 331–342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ivleva, E, Morris, D, Moates, A, Suppes, T, Thaker, G, Tamminga, C (2010). Genetics and intermediate phenotypes of the schizophrenia–bipolar disorder boundary. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 34, 897–921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jahshan, CS, Sergi, MJ (2007). Theory of mind, neurocognition, and functional status in schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research 89, 278–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kee, K, Horan, W, Mintz, J, Green, M (2004). Do the siblings of schizophrenia patients demonstrate affect perception deficits? Schizophrenia Research 67, 87–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Walsh, D (1995). Schizotypal personality disorder in parents and the risk for schizophrenia in siblings. Schizophrenia Bulletin 21, 47–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohler, CG, Brennan, AR (2004). Recognition of facial emotions in schizophrenia. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 17, 81–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraut, R, Olson, J, Banaji, M, Bruckman, A, Cohen, J, Couper, M (2004). Psychological research online: report of Board of Scientific Affairs' Advisory Group on the Conduct of Research on the Internet. American Psychologist 59, 105–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kremen, WS, Faraone, SV, Toomey, R, Seidman, LJ, Tsuang, MT (1998). Sex differences in self-reported schizotypal traits in relatives of schizophrenic probands. Schizophrenia Research 34, 27–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kwapil, TR (1998). Social anhedonia as a predictor of the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 107, 558–565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kwapil, TR, Miller, MB, Zinser, MC, Chapman, J, Chapman, LJ (1997). Magical ideation and social anhedonia as predictors of psychosis proneness: a partial replication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 106, 491–495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leppanen, JM (2006). Emotional information processing in mood disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging findings. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 19, 34–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mandal, MK, Pandey, R, Prasad, AB (1998). Facial expressions of emotions and schizophrenia: a review. Schizophrenia Bulletin 24, 399–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClure, EB (2000). A meta-analytic review of sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children, and adolescents. Psychological Bulletin 126, 424–453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClure, EB, Pope, K, Hoberman, AJ, Pine, DS, Leibenluft, E (2003). Facial expression recognition in adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry 160, 1172–1174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGraw, KO, Tew, MD, Williams, JE (2000). The integrity of Web-delivered experiments: can you trust the data? Psychological Science 11, 502–506.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meehl, PE (1962). Schizotaxia, schizotypy, schizophrenia. American Psychologist 17, 827–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehl, PE (1990). Toward an integrated theory of schizotaxia, schizotypy, and schizophrenia. Journal of Personality Disorders 4, 1–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer-Lindenberg, A, Weinberger, D (2006). Intermediate phenotypes and genetic mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience 7, 818–827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mikhailova, ES, Vladimirova, TV, Iznak, AF, Tsusulkovskaya, EJ (1996). Abnormal recognition of facial expression of emotions in depressed patients with major depression disorder and schizotypal personality disorder. Biological Psychiatry 40, 697–705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueser, KT, Penn, DL, Blanchard, JJ, Bellack, AS (1997). Affect recognition in schizophrenia: a synthesis of findings across three studies. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 60, 301–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, AM, Hampshire, A, Grahn, JA, Stenton, R, Sajan, S, Burns, AS, Howard, RJ, Ballard, CG (2010). Putting brain training to the test. Nature 465, 775–778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phillips, LK, Seidman, LJ (2008). Emotion processing in persons at risk for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 34, 888–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pitcher, D, Garrido, L, Walsh, V, Duchaine, B (2008). Transcranial magnetic stimulation disrupts the perception and embodiment of facial expressions. Journal of Neuroscience 28, 8929–8933.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poreh, AM, Whitman, RD, Weber, M, Ross, T (1994). Facial recognition in hypothetically schizotypic college students: the role of generalized poor performance. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 182, 503–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purcell, S, Wray, N, Stone, J, Visscher, P, O'Donovan, M, Sullivan, P, Sklar, P (2009). Common polygenic variation contributes to risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Nature 460, 748–752.Google ScholarPubMed
Raine, A (1991). The SPQ: a scale for the assessment of schizotypal personality based on DSM-III-R criteria. Schizophrenia Bulletin 17, 555–564.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A (2006). Schizotypal personality: neurodevelopmental and psychosocial trajectories. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2, 291–326.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A, Benishay, D (1995). The SPQ-B: a brief screening instrument for schizotypal personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders 9, 346–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, J, Levinson, D, Duan, J, Sanders, A, Zheng, Y, Pe'er, I, Dudbridge, F, Holmans, P, Whittemore, A, Mowry, B, Olincy, A, Amin, F, Cloninger, C, Silverman, J, Buccola, N, Byerley, W, Black, D, Crowe, R, Oksenberg, J, Mirel, D, Kendler, K, Freedman, R, Gejman, P (2009). Common variants on chromosome 6p22.1 are associated with schizophrenia. Nature 460, 753–757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stefansson, H, Ophoff, R, Steinberg, S, Andreassen, O, Cichon, S, Rujescu, D, Werge, T, Pietiläinen, O, Mors, O, Mortensen, P, Sigurdsson, E, Gustafsson, O, Nyegaard, M, Tuulio-Henriksson, A, Ingason, A, Hansen, T, Suvisaari, J, Lonnqvist, J, Paunio, T, Børglum, A, Hartmann, A, Fink-Jensen, A, Nordentoft, M, Hougaard, D, Norgaard-Pedersen, B, Böttcher, Y, Olesen, J, Breuer, R, Möller, H, Giegling, I, Rasmussen, H, Timm, S, Mattheisen, M, Bitter, I, Réthelyi, J, Magnusdottir, B, Sigmundsson, T, Olason, P, Masson, G, Gulcher, J, Haraldsson, M, Fossdal, R, Thorgeirsson, T, Thorsteinsdottir, U, Ruggeri, M, Tosato, S, Franke, B, Strengman, E, Kiemeney, L, Melle, I, Djurovic, S, Abramova, L, Kaleda, V, Sanjuan, J, de Frutos, R, Bramon, E, Vassos, E, Fraser, G, Ettinger, U, Picchioni, M, Walker, N, Toulopoulou, T, Need, A, Ge, D, Yoon, J, Shianna, K, Freimer, N, Cantor, R, Murray, R, Kong, A, Golimbet, V, Carracedo, A, Arango, C, Costas, J, Jönsson, E, Terenius, L, Agartz, I, Petursson, H, Nöthen, M, Rietschel, M, Matthews, P, Muglia, P, Peltonen, L, St Clair, D, Goldstein, D, Stefansson, K, Collier, D (2009). Common variants conferring risk of schizophrenia. Nature 460, 744–747.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steiger, JH (1980). Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. Psychological Bulletin 87, 245–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toomey, R, Schuldberg, D (1995). Recognition and judgment of facial stimuli in schizotypal subjects. Journal of Communication Disorders 28, 193–203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsuang, MT, Stone, WS, Faraone, SV (1999). Schizophrenia: a review of genetic studies. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 7, 185–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van ‘t Wout, M, Aleman, A, Kessels, RPC, Laroi, F, Kahn, RS (2004). Emotional processing in a non-clinical psychosis-prone sample. Schizophrenia Research 68, 271–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vollema, MG, Sitskoorn, MM, Appels, MCM, Kahn, RS (2002). Does the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire reflect the biological-genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Research 54, 39–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waldeck, TL, Miller, LS (2000). Social skills deficits in schizotypal personality disorder. Psychiatry Research 93, 237–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, BT, Henry, JD, Green, MJ (2007). Facial affect recognition and schizotypy. Early Intervention in Psychiatry 1, 177–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilmer, J, Germine, L, Chabris, C, Chatterjee, G, Nakayama, K, Williams, M, Loken, E, Duchaine, B (2010). Human face recognition ability is highly heritable. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 5238–5241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoon, J, D'Esposito, M, Carter, C (2006). Preserved function of the fusiform face area in schizophrenia as revealed by fMRI. Psychiatry Research 148, 205–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed