title: The nature of anhedonia and avolition in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with schizophrenia have intact ability to experience emotion, but empirical evidence suggests that they fail to translate emotional salience into effortful behaviour. Previous research in patients with chronic schizophrenia suggests that working memory is important in integrating emotion and behaviour. This study aimed to examine avolition and anhedonia in patients with first-episode schizophrenia and clarify the role of working memory in emotion-behaviour coupling.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited 72 participants with first-episode schizophrenia and 61 healthy controls, and used a validated emotion-inducing behavioural paradigm to measure participants' affective experiences and how experienced emotion coupled with behaviour. Participants were given the opportunity to expend effort to increase or decrease their exposure to emotion-inducing photographs. Participants with schizophrenia having poor working memory were compared with those with intact working memory in their liking and emotion-behaviour coupling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with first-episode schizophrenia experienced intact 'in-the-moment' emotion, but their emotion was less predictive of the effort expended, compared with controls. The emotion-behaviour coupling was significantly weaker in patients with schizophrenia with poor working memory than in those with intact working memory. However, compared with controls, patients with intact working also showed substantial emotion-behaviour decoupling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings provide strong evidence for emotion-behaviour decoupling in first-episode schizophrenia. Although working memory deficits contribute to defective translation of liking into effortful behaviour, schizophrenia alone affects emotion-behaviour coupling.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: S S Y
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.affiliation: Castle Peak Hospital,Hong Kong Special Administration Region,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: A C Y
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Castle Peak Hospital,Hong Kong Special Administration Region,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: W W H
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Chui
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department,Western University,London,Ontario,Canada.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Heerey
authors.affiliation: Castle Peak Hospital,Hong Kong Special Administration Region,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: E F C
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,Key Laboratory of Mental Health,Institute of Psychology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing,People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: R C K
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anhedonia; avolition; first-episode schizophrenia; schizophrenia; working memory