Functional activation abnormalities during facial emotion perception in schizophrenia patients and nonpsychotic relatives.

BACKGROUND

Deficits in facial emotion perception in schizophrenia may be a marker of disorder liability. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating these deficits have been limited by task demands that may recruit other impaired cognitive processes in schizophrenia.

METHODS

We used a family study design along with a passive viewing task during fMRI to investigate brain activation abnormalities underlying facial emotion perception in schizophrenia and examine whether such abnormalities are associated with the genetic liability to the disorder. Twenty-eight schizophrenia patients, 27 nonpsychotic relatives, and 27 community controls passively viewed images of facial emotions during an fMRI scan.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed hypoactivation in face processing areas for both patients and relatives compared to controls, and hyperactivation in relatives compared to both patients and controls for frontal regions implicated in emotion processing.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that activation abnormalities during facial emotion perception are manifestations of the genetic liability to schizophrenia, and may be accompanied by compensatory mechanisms in relatives. Studying mechanisms in nonpsychotic relatives is a valuable way to examine effects of the unexpressed genetic liability to schizophrenia on the brain and behaviour.