Facial information processing in schizophrenia

The processing of facial identity and emotion in schizophrenia and its relation with these patients’ cognitive and social functioning has been extensively studied over the last 25 years. In this paper, the results of 32 studies indexed in the PubMed database and published between 2001 and 2005 are analyzed and synthesized. Following the description of the problem and presentation of current hypotheses, methodological aspects and findings concerning the processing of facial emotion and identity are discussed. The analysis shows that, despite the growing attention dedicated to the theme and the provision of more specific results, the question of dependence/ independence between the two processes emotion and identity recognition and between these and the pervasive cognitive deficits found in schizophrenia remains unanswered.