Deficit in the recognition of positive and negative emotions in patients with schizophrenia: A Chilean experimental paradigm faces. Clinical evidence Déficit en el reconocimiento de emociones positivas y negativas en pacientes con esquizofrenia: Un paradigma experimental con rostros chilenos. Evidencias en la clínica

Abstract

Emotional recognition is a basic neurocognitive skill for human communication. Some pathologies are characterized by an recognition dysfunctional emotional facial, especially in psychoses continuum. This study used a standardized spatial attention task by a Chilean sample, where were showed faces with gestures (emotions, neutral faces and deictic gestures). During the task, had to answer about the spatial location of faces. Were registered: reaction time and accuracy of response. Principal results showed different patterns of recognition between normal subjects and patients with schizophrenia, whose diagnosis was made by a professional team, according to ICD-10 criteria. The focus of this difference is the recognition of negative emotions, revealing a significant difference (p = 0.01). The results give an opportunity for understanding the emotional schizophrenia’s substratum, generate a neurocognitive model and to devise new ways for diagnosis and treatments.