title: Preserved implicit mentalizing in schizophrenia despite poor explicit performance: evidence from eye tracking.
abstract: Schizophrenia has been characterized by an impaired mentalizing. It has been suggested that distinguishing implicit from explicit processes is crucial in social cognition, and only the latter might be affected in schizophrenia. Two other questions remain open: (1) Is schizophrenia characterized by an hypo- or hyper attribution of intentions? (2) Is it characterized by a deficit in the attribution of intention or of contingency? To test these three questions, spontaneous mentalizing was tested in 29 individuals with schizophrenia and 29 control subjects using the Frith-Happé animations, while eye movements were recorded. Explicit mentalizing was measured from participants' verbal descriptions and was contrasted with implicit mentalizing measured through eye tracking. As a group, patients made less accurate and less intentional descriptions of the goal-directed and theory of mind animations. No group differences were found in the attribution of contingency. Eye tracking results revealed that patients and controls showed a similar modulation of eye movements in response to the mental states displayed in the Frith-Happé animations. To conclude, in this paradigm, participants with schizophrenia showed a dissociation between explicit and implicit mentalizing, with a decrease in the explicit attribution of intentions, whereas their eye movements suggested a preserved implicit perception of intentions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, UMR 8554, CNRS-ENS-EHESS, Institut d'études de la cognition, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 29 Rue d'Ulm, 75005, Paris, France.|Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie d'adultes, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, 177 rue de Versailles, 78157 Le Chesnay, France.|Laboratoire HandiRESP EA4047, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines, 2 Avenue de la Source de la Bièvre, 78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.|Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, UMR 8554, CNRS-ENS-EHESS, Institut d'études de la cognition, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 29 Rue d'Ulm, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Service Universitaire de Psychiatrie d'adultes, Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, 177 rue de Versailles, 78157 Le Chesnay, France.|Laboratoire HandiRESP EA4047, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines, 2 Avenue de la Source de la Bièvre, 78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.|Fondation Fondamental, Créteil, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Passerieux
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, UMR 8554, CNRS-ENS-EHESS, Institut d'études de la cognition, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, 29 Rue d'Ulm, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*