title: Abnormalities in the processing of emotional prosody from single words in schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abnormalities in emotional prosody processing have been consistently reported in schizophrenia and are related to poor social outcomes. However, the role of stimulus complexity in abnormal emotional prosody processing is still unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recorded event-related potentials in 16 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 16 healthy controls to investigate: 1) the temporal course of emotional prosody processing; and 2) the relative contribution of prosodic and semantic cues in emotional prosody processing. Stimuli were prosodic single words presented in two conditions: with intelligible (semantic content condition-SCC) and unintelligible semantic content (pure prosody condition-PPC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients showed reduced P50 for happy PPC words, and reduced N100 for both neutral and emotional SCC words and for neutral PPC stimuli. Also, increased P200 was observed in schizophrenia for happy prosody in SCC only. Behavioral results revealed higher error rates in schizophrenia for angry prosody in SCC and for happy prosody in PPC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Together, these data further demonstrate the interactions between abnormal sensory processes and higher-order processes in bringing about emotional prosody processing dysfunction in schizophrenia. They further suggest that impaired emotional prosody processing is dependent on stimulus complexity.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychophysiology Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal; Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Boston VA Healthcare System, Brockton Division and Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Ana P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Boston VA Healthcare System, Brockton Division and Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Neguine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rezaii
authors.affiliation: Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andréia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rauber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Second Military Medical University (SMMU), Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Taosheng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Nestor
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Boston VA Healthcare System, Brockton Division and Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McCarley
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychophysiology Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Oscar F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Boston VA Healthcare System, Brockton Division and Harvard Medical School, Brockton, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Margaret A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Niznikiewicz
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D013997:Time Factors; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: Emotional prosody; Event-related potentials; Language; Schizophrenia