title: Facial emotion recognition in adolescents with psychotic-like experiences: a school-based sample from the general population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Psychotic symptoms, also termed psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the absence of psychotic disorder, are common in adolescents and are associated with increased risk of schizophrenia-spectrum illness in adulthood. At the same time, schizophrenia is associated with deficits in social cognition, with deficits particularly documented in facial emotion recognition (FER). However, little is known about the relationship between PLEs and FER abilities, with only one previous prospective study examining the association between these abilities in childhood and reported PLEs in adolescence. The current study was a cross-sectional investigation of the association between PLEs and FER in a sample of Irish adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Adolescent Psychotic-Like Symptom Screener (APSS), a self-report measure of PLEs, and the Penn Emotion Recognition-40 Test (Penn ER-40), a measure of facial emotion recognition, were completed by 793 children aged 10-13 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children who reported PLEs performed significantly more poorly on FER (β=-0.03, p=0.035). Recognition of sad faces was the major driver of effects, with children performing particularly poorly when identifying this expression (β=-0.08, p=0.032).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current findings show that PLEs are associated with poorer FER. Further work is needed to elucidate causal relationships with implications for the design of future interventions for those at risk of developing psychosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. sarah.roddy@gmail.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roddy
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tiedt
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kelleher
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rawdon
authors.forename: R A P
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Calkins
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Kohler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cannon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires