Social cognition in schizophrenia: a review of face processing.

BACKGROUND: People with schizophrenia have difficulties in interpreting social information. Much social information is gathered from faces, and face processing represents a well-characterized model to study the basis of social deficits in schizophrenia. SOURCES OF DATA: A narrative review of selected literature. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: Individuals with schizophrenia have impairments in recognizing basic emotions and making social judgements from facial stimuli. Areas of controversy The neural basis of these abnormalities is still being determined. However, initial evidence implicates dysfunction of frontal and temporal lobe brain regions. Hyper-activation of the amygdala, a brain region involved in fear, to facial stimuli may be an important underlying neural abnormality. GROWING POINTS: The present article highlights the difficulties that people with schizophrenia have in interpreting social cues from faces. AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH: Research is required to understand more about both the basis of social deficits in schizophrenia and their potential remediation.