Transdiagnostic deviant facial recognition for implicit negative emotion in autism and schizophrenia

Impaired facial affect recognition (FAR) is observed in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and has been linked to amygdala and fusiform gyrus dysfunction. ASD patient's impairments seem to be more pronounced during implicit rather than explicit FAR, whereas for schizophrenia data are inconsistent. However, there are no studies comparing both patient groups in an identical design. The aim of this three-group study was to identify (i) whether FAR alterations are equally present in both groups, (ii) whether they are present rather during implicit or explicit FAR, (iii) and whether they are conveyed by similar or disorder-specific neural mechanisms.
Source: European Neuropsychopharmacology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Source Type: research