title: Behavioral predispositions to approach or avoid emotional words in schizophrenia.
abstract: Many data suggest a disjunction between decreased emotional expressions and relatively preserved experience of and ability to assess emotions in schizophrenia. Based in an embodied approach of cognition, several studies have highlighted affective stimulus-response congruency effect in healthy subjects that show a direct link between the perception of emotion and associated motor responses. This study investigated whether the categorization of emotional words involves an automatic sensorimotor simulation of approach and avoidance behaviors. We asked 28 subjects with schizophrenia and 28 controls to execute arm movements of approach or avoidance to categorize emotional words, according to their valence (positive or negative). Controls were faster to respond to a positive stimulus with a movement of approach and a negative stimulus with a movement of avoidance (congruent condition) than to perform the inverted response movements (incongruent condition). However, responses of patients with schizophrenia did not differ according to congruence condition. Our results support the apparent non-involvement of covert sensorimotor simulation of approach and avoidance in the categorization of emotional stimuli by patients with schizophrenia, despite their understanding of the emotional valence of words. This absence of affective stimulus-response compatibility effect would imply a decoupling between emotional and bodily states in patients with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France; Epsylon Laboratory, EA4556, Dynamics of Human Abilities and Health Behaviors, University of Montpellier III, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: j.sevos@hotmail.fr.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sevos
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France; Epsylon Laboratory, EA4556, Dynamics of Human Abilities and Health Behaviors, University of Montpellier III, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grosselin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France.
authors.forename: Tatyana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fedotova
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France; EA TAPE, University of Jean Monnet, Saint-Étienne, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Massoubre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
keywords: Affective stimulus-response congruency; Cognition; Embodiment; Emotion; Motor responses; Sensorimotor simulation