title: Anticipated, on-line and remembered positive experience in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Three temporal stages in the evaluation of positive affect can be identified: anticipation, experience (hedonia) and memory. In schizophrenia, despite research indicating non-impaired hedonic capacities, little is known about anticipation and memory of positive affect. Moreover, the role of positive affect evaluations on motivation has rarely been studied in schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy individuals with schizophrenia and 35 non-patient control participants completed an evocative emotional task consisting of pictures and sounds. Following each presentation, participants rated their hedonic experience. Ratings of pre-test anticipated and post-test remembered pleasures were also obtained. Finally, explicit motivation to repeat the task was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to control participants, schizophrenia participants demonstrated similar levels of anticipation, hedonia and motivation, as well as significantly increased remembered pleasure. In schizophrenia, affective processes had lower correlations with motivation than in controls, and only remembered pleasure predicted motivation. Moreover, the predictive value of hedonia was significantly lower in schizophrenia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The affective and cognitive processes involved in the anticipation, experience and memory of positive affective events showed no deficit, and to the contrary, immediately remembered pleasure was higher in schizophrenia. However, important deficits resided in the inter-connectivity between affective evaluations and motivational processes. The major deficit in schizophrenia participants' reward system was not in hedonic experiences but in the translation of pleasurable experiences into motivational states.
authors.affiliation: Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, NY 10962, USA. Ftremeau@NKI.RFMH.ORG
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Trémeau
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Antonius
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cacioppo
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ziwich
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaspina
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Javitt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009862:Online Systems; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology