[Faces affect recognition in schizophrenia].

Clinical observations and the results of many experimental researches indicate that individuals suffering from schizophrenia reveal difficulties in the recognition of emotional states experienced by other people; however the causes and the range of these problems have not been clearly described. Despite early research results confirming that difficulties in emotion recognition are related only to negative emotions, the results of the researches conducted over the lat 30 years indicate that emotion recognition problems are a manifestation of a general cognitive deficit, and they do not concern specific emotions. The article contains a review of the research on face affect recognition in schizophrenia. It discusses the causes of these difficulties, the differences in the accuracy of the recognition of specific emotions, the relationship between the symptoms of schizophrenia and the severity of problems with face perception, and the types of cognitive processes which influence the disturbances in face affect recognition. Particular attention was paid to the methodology of the research on face affect recognition, including the methods used in control tasks relying on the identification of neutral faces designed to assess the range of deficit underlying the face affect recognition problems. The analysis of methods used in particular researches revealed some weaknesses. The article also deals with the question of the possibilities of improving the ability to recognise the emotions, and briefly discusses the efficiency of emotion recognition training programs designed for patients suffering from schizophrenia.