title: Facial emotion identification in early-onset psychosis.
abstract: Facial emotion identification (FEI) deficits are common in patients with chronic schizophrenia and are strongly related to impaired functioning. The objectives of this study were to determine whether FEI deficits are present and emotion specific in people experiencing early-onset psychosis (EOP), and related to current clinical symptoms and functioning. Patients with EOP (n=34, mean age=14.11, 53% female) and healthy controls (HC, n=42, mean age 13.80, 51% female) completed a task of FEI that measured accuracy, error pattern and response time. Relative to HC, patients with EOP (i) had lower accuracy for identifying facial expressions of emotions, especially fear, anger and disgust, (ii) were more likely to misattribute other emotional expressions as fear or disgust, and (iii) were slower at accurately identifying all facial expressions. FEI accuracy was not related to clinical symptoms or current functioning. Deficits in FEI (especially for fear, anger and disgust) are evident in EOP. Our findings suggest that while emotion identification deficits may reflect a trait susceptibility marker, functional deficits may represent a sequelae of illness.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; The Brain Dynamics Centre, Sydney Medical School and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Sophie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Barkl
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Suncica
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lah
authors.affiliation: Walker Unit, Concord Centre for Mental Health, Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Starling
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, The Children's Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Cassandra
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hainsworth
authors.affiliation: The Brain Dynamics Centre, Sydney Medical School and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Discipline of Psychiatry, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Anthony W F
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: The Brain Dynamics Centre, Sydney Medical School and Westmead Millennium Institute, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia; Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, CA, USA. Electronic address: leawilliams@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Leanne M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004644:Emotions; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Early onset psychosis; Facial emotion; Schizophrenia; Social cognition