Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on July 21, 2008
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn085
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Emotion Processing in Persons at Risk for Schizophrenia
2 Department of Psychology, Harvard University
3 Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Mental Health Center Public Psychiatry Division of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
4 Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; Harvard University, Department of Psychology, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; tel: 781-718-7921, fax: 617-998-5007, e-mail: laurak.phillips{at}gmail.com.
Evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate emotion-processing deficits. However, the nature and extent of emotion abnormalities in individuals considered at risk for schizophrenia have not been previously summarized. This article provides a review of the recent literature pertaining to emotion processing in 3 at-risk populations: those at familial high risk, those with schizotypal characteristics, and those in the putative prodrome to psychosis. Studies are reviewed across the components of emotion perception, experience, and expression. Further, we discuss investigations into psychophysiology, brain structure, and brain function that employ emotion probes. Review of the literature suggests that individuals at high risk demonstrate similar abnormalities to those with schizophrenia but at an attenuated level. The most robust findings in at-risk groups are in the areas of reduced emotion perception, self-reported anhedonia, and increased negative affect. We conclude with an agenda for future research.
Keywords: high risk / schizophrenia / emotion / review