Defeatist performance beliefs in individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia: Relationships with cognition and negative symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The cognitive model of negative symptoms of schizophrenia suggests that defeatist performance beliefs (DPB), or overgeneralized negative beliefs about one's performance, are an intermediary variable along the pathway from impaired neurocognitive performance to negative symptoms and functioning in daily life. Although reliable associations between these variables have been established in chronic schizophrenia, less is known about the nature of these relationships in recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSz). This current study tested the associations between DPB and variables in the cognitive model (neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, functioning) as well as mediation by DPB of the association between neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms in ROSz. METHODS: A total of 52 participants (32 adults with ROSz and 20 non-psychiatric healthy comparators; HC) completed in-lab measures of neurocognitive performance, self-reported defeatist performance beliefs, and clinician administered measures of negative symptoms and functional outcome. Bivariate relationships among these variables were tested with Pearson correlations. Bootstrapped regression analyses were conducted to test the strength of the indirect effect of neurocognitive performance on negative symptoms through DPB. RESULTS: Defeatist performance beliefs were significantly elevated in ROSz, and were associated with neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, and functional outcome as predicted by the cognitive model. There was a significant indirect effect of neurocognition on experiential negative symptoms through DPB, indicating DPB are a partial mediator of the relationship between neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms. CONCLUSION: These findings are consistent with the cognitive model of negative symptoms and extend previous findings in both ROSz and established schizophrenia. Specifically, these data demonstrate that DPB are elevated among ROSz and the associations with neurocognition and clinical outcomes (e.g., negative symptoms and functioning) are of similar magnitude to those reported in chronic schizophrenia. DPB may therefore be a viable treatment target in the early course of illness.

Stress-related gene regulation: Do isolated and connected individuals differ?

BACKGROUND: Social isolation and loneliness (known as social disconnection, collectively) lead to serious downstream health effects, including shortening of lifespan and higher risk for cardiac disease. We must better understand how isolation and loneliness lead to these negative health outcomes. Previous literature has demonstrated that social motivation and social ability are contributors to the likelihood of social isolation and loneliness. We examined the effect of the above social factors on immune gene expression in socially-connected and -isolated individuals. METHODS: Recruitment occurred via two online advertisements, one for socially isolated individuals and another for general research participants. Participants (n = 102) were separated into groups (isolated versus connected) based on which ad they responded to, and provided data on isolation, loneliness, social motivation, and social ability. The Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) stress gene regulation program was assessed with genome-wide transcriptional profiling. RESULTS: CTRA gene expression patterns were reversed between connected and isolated groups across several variables. Social isolation was associated with higher CTRA levels in the connected group, but lower levels in the isolated group. Social approach was associated with lower CTRA levels in the connected group, but higher in the isolated group, and the converse was true for social avoidance. CTRA levels were minimally affected by social ability measures. CONCLUSION: Prior work on social isolation and loneliness has focused on loneliness and has identified many negative downstream health effects. In this study we demonstrate that objective social isolation may not be associated with the same negative downstream health effects, and in fact, social interaction may be more stressful than social isolation for some socially-isolated individuals.

Peak alpha frequency in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and healthy volunteers: Associations with visual information processing and cognition.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are associated with information processing abnormalities, including visual perceptual and cognitive impairments, that impact daily functioning. Recent work in healthy samples suggests that peak alpha frequency (PAF) is an electrophysiological index of visual information processing speed that is also correlated with cognitive ability. There is evidence that PAF is slowed in SCZ, but it remains unclear whether PAF is reduced in BD, or if slower PAF is associated with impaired visual perception and cognition in these clinical disorders. METHODS: The current study recorded resting-state brain activity (both eyes open and closed) with electroencephalography (EEG) in 90 SCZ participants, 62 BD participants, and 69 healthy controls. Most participants also performed a visual perception task (backward masking) and cognitive testing (MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery). RESULTS: We replicated previous findings of reduced PAF in SCZ compared with healthy controls. In contrast, PAF in BD did not significantly differ from healthy controls. Further, PAF was significantly correlated with performance on the perceptual and cognitive measures in SCZ, but not BD. PAF was also correlated with visual perception in the healthy control group, and showed a trend-level correlation with cognition. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these results suggest that PAF deficits characterize SCZ, but not BD, and that individual differences in PAF relate to abnormalities in visual information processing and cognition in SCZ.

Advancing the Measurement of Social Functioning in Schizophrenia: Applications of Egocentric Social Network Analysis.

People with schizophrenia face challenges with forming and maintaining social relationships, often resulting in poor social functioning. Commonly used measures of social functioning provide broad information relating to social relationships, but they do not adequately capture information regarding network structure and characteristics of network members. One method that can assess these more detailed aspects of social networks and provide a more comprehensive understanding of social functioning deficits is egocentric social network analysis (SNA). SNA is a scientific discipline that uses principles of network science and graph theory to analyze social relations quantitatively. Even though some types of SNA have been applied in prior schizophrenia studies, its application as a framework to measure social functioning has been extremely limited. Therefore, this article aims to formally introduce SNA and select quantitative SNA metrics, including measures of network composition, structure, homophily, and centrality, to schizophrenia researchers as novel ways of measuring components of social functioning. To demonstrate the application of SNA, we provide illustrative examples of the SNA metrics and graphical diagrams of social networks for two individuals with schizophrenia.

An EEG-Based Neuroplastic Approach to Predictive Coding in People With Schizophrenia or Traumatic Brain Injury.

Despite different etiologies, people with schizophrenia (SCZ) or with traumatic brain injury (TBI) both show aberrant neuroplasticity. One neuroplastic mechanism that may be affected is prediction error coding. We used a roving mismatch negativity (rMMN) paradigm which uses different lengths of standard tone trains and is optimized to assess predictive coding. Twenty-five SCZ, 22 TBI (mild to moderate), and 25 healthy controls were assessed. We used a frequency-deviant rMMN in which the number of standards preceding the deviant was either 2, 6, or 36. We evaluated repetition positivity to the standard tone immediately preceding a deviant tone (repetition positivity [RP], to assess formation of the memory trace), deviant negativity to the deviant stimulus (deviant negativity [DN], which reflects signaling of a prediction error), and the difference wave between the 2 (the MMN). We found that SCZ showed reduced DN and MMN compared with healthy controls and with people with mild to moderate TBI. We did not detect impairments in any index (RP, DN, or MMN) in people with TBI compared to controls. Our findings suggest that prediction error coding assessed with rMMN is aberrant in SCZ but intact in TBI, though there is a suggestion that severity of head injury results in poorer prediction error coding.

Sustained mental health and functional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Black and White Veterans with psychosis or recent homelessness.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted marginalized populations including Black Americans, people with serious mental illness, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Although the double disadvantage hypothesis would suggest that individuals with multiple minoritized statuses would experience worse psychosocial impacts from the pandemic, this may not be the case for vulnerable Black Veterans. The present study investigated the sustained mental health and functional responses to the pandemic in Black and White Veterans with psychosis or recent homelessness and in a control group of Veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare services. Clinical interviews and questionnaires were administered remotely by telephone at five time points from May 2020 through July 2021, including a retrospective time point for March 2020 (i.e., before the pandemic started). Overall, there was a striking absence of systematic differences by race in the trajectories of psychiatric symptoms and functioning among Veterans during the study period. These findings are consistent with a report on initial responses to the pandemic that revealed only a few select differences by race among Veteran groups. The lack of racial disparities is inconsistent with the double disadvantage hypothesis. Although further investigation is needed, one possible interpretation is that the wrap-around services offered by the Veterans Health Administration may have mitigated expected differences by race among Veterans with psychosis or homelessness. Future research should continue to examine whether VA services mitigate disparities in mental health and psychosocial outcomes.

An ERP Study of Face Processing in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Socially Isolated Individuals from the Community.

People with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) have impairments in processing social information, including faces. The neural correlates of face processing are widely studied with the N170 ERP component. However, it is unclear whether N170 deficits reflect neural abnormalities associated with these clinical conditions or differences in social environments. The goal of this study was to determine whether N170 deficits would still be present in SCZ and BD when compared with socially isolated community members. Participants included 66 people with SCZ, 37 with BD, and 125 community members (76 "Community-Isolated"; 49 "Community-Connected"). Electroencephalography was recorded during a face processing task in which participants identified the gender of a face, the emotion of a face (angry, happy, neutral), or the number of stories in a building. We examined group differences in the N170 face effect (greater amplitudes for faces vs buildings) and the N170 emotion effect (greater amplitudes for emotional vs neutral expressions). Groups significantly differed in levels of social isolation (Community-Isolated > SCZ > BD = Community-Connected). SCZ participants had significantly reduced N170 amplitudes to faces compared with both community groups, which did not differ from each other. The BD group was intermediate and did not differ from any group. There were no significant group differences in the processing of specific emotional facial expressions. The N170 is abnormal in SCZ even when compared to socially isolated community members. Hence, the N170 seems to reflect a social processing impairment in SCZ that is separate from level of social isolation.

Social cognition and social motivation in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: are impairments linked to the disorder or to being socially isolated?

BACKGROUND: People with schizophrenia on average are more socially isolated, lonelier, have more social cognitive impairment, and are less socially motivated than healthy individuals. People with bipolar disorder also have social isolation, though typically less than that seen in schizophrenia. We aimed to disentangle whether the social cognitive and social motivation impairments observed in schizophrenia are a specific feature of the clinical condition v. social isolation generally. METHODS: We compared four groups (clinically stable patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, individuals drawn from the community with self-described social isolation, and a socially connected community control group) on loneliness, social cognition, and approach and avoidance social motivation. RESULTS: Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 72) showed intermediate levels of social isolation, loneliness, and social approach motivation between the isolated (n = 96) and connected control (n = 55) groups. However, they showed significant deficits in social cognition compared to both community groups. Individuals with bipolar disorder (n = 48) were intermediate between isolated and control groups for loneliness and social approach. They did not show deficits on social cognition tasks. Both clinical groups had higher social avoidance than both community groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, and high social avoidance motivation in both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are distinct features of the clinical conditions and not byproducts of social isolation. In contrast, differences between clinical and control groups on levels of loneliness and social approach motivation were congruent with the groups' degree of social isolation.

Trajectories and predictors of response to social cognition training in people with schizophrenia: A proof-of-concept machine learning study.

BACKGROUND: Social cognition training (SCT) can improve social cognition deficits in schizophrenia. However, little is known about patterns of response to SCT or individual characteristics that predict response. METHODS: 76 adults with schizophrenia randomized to receive 8-12 weeks of remotely-delivered SCT were included in this analysis. Social cognition was measured with a composite of six assessments. Latent class growth analyses identified trajectories of social cognitive response to SCT. Random forest and logistic regression models were trained to predict membership in the trajectory group that showed improvement from baseline measures including symptoms, functioning, motivation, and cognition. RESULTS: Five trajectory groups were identified: Group 1 (29 %) began with slightly above average social cognition, and this ability significantly improved with SCT. Group 2 (9 %) had baseline social cognition approximately one standard deviation above the sample mean and did not improve with training. Groups 3 (18 %) and 4 (36 %) began with average to slightly below-average social cognition and showed non-significant trends toward improvement. Group 5 (8 %) began with social cognition approximately one standard deviation below the sample mean, and experienced significant deterioration in social cognition. The random forest model had the best performance, predicting Group 1 membership with an area under the curve of 0.73 (SD 0.24; 95 % CI [0.51-0.87]). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that there are distinct patterns of response to SCT in schizophrenia and that those with slightly above average social cognition at baseline may be most likely to experience gains. Results may inform future research seeking to individualize SCT treatment for schizophrenia.

Clarifying directional dependence among measures of early auditory processing and cognition in schizophrenia: leveraging Gaussian graphical models and Bayesian networks.

BACKGROUND: Research using latent variable models demonstrates that pre-attentive measures of early auditory processing (EAP) and cognition may initiate a cascading effect on daily functioning in schizophrenia. However, such models fail to account for relationships among individual measures of cognition and EAP, thereby limiting their utility. Hence, EAP and cognition may function as complementary and interacting measures of brain function rather than independent stages of information processing. Here, we apply a data-driven approach to identifying directional relationships among neurophysiologic and cognitive variables. METHODS: Using data from the Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia 2, we estimated Gaussian Graphical Models and Bayesian networks to examine undirected and directed connections between measures of EAP, including mismatch negativity and P3a, and cognition in 663 outpatients with schizophrenia and 630 control participants. RESULTS: Chain structures emerged among EAP and attention/vigilance measures in schizophrenia and control groups. Concerning differences between the groups, object memory was an influential variable in schizophrenia upon which other cognitive domains depended, and working memory was an influential variable in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Measures of EAP and attention/vigilance are conditionally independent of other cognitive domains that were used in this study. Findings also revealed additional causal assumptions among measures of cognition that could help guide statistical control and ultimately help identify early-stage targets or surrogate endpoints in schizophrenia.

The impact of psychological strengths on Veteran populations' mental health trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PURPOSE: Mental health trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic have been examined in Veterans with tenuous social connections, i.e., those with recent homelessness (RHV) or a psychotic disorder (PSY), and in control Veterans (CTL). We test potential moderating effects on these trajectories by psychological factors that may help individuals weather the socio-emotional challenges associated with the pandemic (i.e., 'psychological strengths'). METHODS: We assessed 81 PSY, 76 RHV, and 74 CTL over 5 periods between 05/2020 and 07/2021. Mental health outcomes (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety, contamination concerns, loneliness) were assessed at each period, and psychological strengths (i.e., a composite score based on tolerance of uncertainty, performance beliefs, coping style, resilience, perceived stress) were assessed at the initial assessment. Generalized models tested fixed and time-varying effects of a composite psychological strengths score on clinical trajectories across samples and within each group. RESULTS: Psychological strengths had a significant effect on trajectories for each outcome (ps < 0.05), serving to ameliorate changes in mental health symptoms. The timing of this effect varied across outcomes, with early effects for depression and anxiety, later effects for loneliness, and sustained effects for contamination concerns. A significant time-varying effect of psychological strengths on depressive symptoms was evident in RHV and CTL, anxious symptoms in RHV, contamination concerns in PSY and CTL, and loneliness in CTL (ps < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Across vulnerable and non-vulnerable Veterans, presence of psychological strengths buffered against exacerbations in clinical symptoms. The timing of the effect varied across outcomes and by group.

Neurophysiological indices of face processing in people with psychosis and their siblings: An event-related potential study.

People with schizophrenia experience difficulties with social interactions. One contributor to these social deficits is dysfunction in processing facial features and facial emotional expressions. However, it is not known whether face processing deficits are evident in those with other psychotic disorders or in those genetically at-risk for psychosis (i.e., first-degree relatives of those with psychosis). We assessed event-related potentials (ERPs) during a facial and emotion processing task in 100 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or another psychotic condition (PSY), 32 of their siblings (SIB) and 45 healthy comparison participants (CTL). In separate blocks, participants identified the sex (male or female) or emotion (happy, angry, neutral) of faces. In a comparison condition, participants indicated whether buildings had one or two floors. ERPs were examined in two stages. First, we compared ERPs across the emotion, sex and building identification conditions. Second, we compared ERPs among the three different facial emotions. PSY exhibited significantly lower amplitudes over parietal-occipital regions between 111 and 151 ms when viewing faces but not buildings than CTL, consistent with a face-selective N170 ERP component deficit. The SIB group was intermediate for faces, but not significantly different than PSY or CTL. During emotion identification, all three groups showed increased N170 amplitudes to angry and happy versus neutral expressions, with no group differences. In follow up analyses, we examined differences between PSY with or without affective psychosis, and differences between those with schizophrenia versus other psychotic disorders; there were no significant differences in these analyses. Face processing deficits assessed with ERPs were observed in a group of diverse psychotic disorders, though deficits were not seen to be modulated by facial emotion expression. Additionally, N170 deficits are not evident in siblings of those with PSY.

The schizophrenia syndrome, circa 2024: What we know and how that informs its nature.

With new data about different aspects of schizophrenia being continually generated, it becomes necessary to periodically revisit exactly what we know. Along with a need to review what we currently know about schizophrenia, there is an equal imperative to evaluate the construct itself. With these objectives, we undertook an iterative, multi-phase process involving fifty international experts in the field, with each step building on learnings from the prior one. This review assembles currently established findings about schizophrenia (construct, etiology, pathophysiology, clinical expression, treatment) and posits what they reveal about its nature. Schizophrenia is a heritable, complex, multi-dimensional syndrome with varying degrees of psychotic, negative, cognitive, mood, and motor manifestations. The illness exhibits a remitting and relapsing course, with varying degrees of recovery among affected individuals with most experiencing significant social and functional impairment. Genetic risk factors likely include thousands of common genetic variants that each have a small impact on an individual's risk and a plethora of rare gene variants that have a larger individual impact on risk. Their biological effects are concentrated in the brain and many of the same variants also increase the risk of other psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder, autism, and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Environmental risk factors include but are not limited to urban residence in childhood, migration, older paternal age at birth, cannabis use, childhood trauma, antenatal maternal infection, and perinatal hypoxia. Structural, functional, and neurochemical brain alterations implicate multiple regions and functional circuits. Dopamine D-2 receptor antagonists and partial agonists improve psychotic symptoms and reduce risk of relapse. Certain psychological and psychosocial interventions are beneficial. Early intervention can reduce treatment delay and improve outcomes. Schizophrenia is increasingly considered to be a heterogeneous syndrome and not a singular disease entity. There is no necessary or sufficient etiology, pathology, set of clinical features, or treatment that fully circumscribes this syndrome. A single, common pathophysiological pathway appears unlikely. The boundaries of schizophrenia remain fuzzy, suggesting the absence of a categorical fit and need to reconceptualize it as a broader, multi-dimensional and/or spectrum construct.

Linking social motivation, general motivation, and social cognition to interpersonal functioning in schizophrenia: insights from exploratory graph analysis.

Motivation in general, and social motivation in particular are important for interpersonal functioning in individuals with schizophrenia. Still, their roles after accounting for social cognition, are not well understood. The sample consisted of 147 patients with schizophrenia. General motivation was measured using the Behavioral inhibition/activation scale (BIS/BAS). Social motivation was measured by Passive social withdrawal and Active social avoidance items from PANSS. Interpersonal functioning was evaluated with Birchwood's Social Functioning Scale (SFS). We used Exploratory Graph Analysis for network estimation and community detection. Active social avoidance, passive social withdrawal, and social withdrawal/engagement (from SFS) were the most important nodes. In addition, three distinct communities were identified: Social cognition, Social motivation, and Interpersonal functioning. Notably, the BIS and BAS measures of general motivation were not part of any community. BAS showed stronger links to functioning than BIS. Passive social withdrawal was more strongly linked to interpersonal functioning than social cognitive abilities. Results suggest that social motivation, especially social approach, is more closely related to interpersonal functioning in schizophrenia than general motivation. In contrast, we found that general motivation was largely unrelated to social motivation. This pattern highlights the importance of type of motivation for understanding variability in interpersonal difficulties in schizophrenia.

Social Connectivity and Coping Among Vulnerable Veterans During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically changed how people socialized. However, little is known about the extent to which the pandemic changed the social connections of people with tenuous interpersonal relationships at baseline, including homeless-experienced people and people with psychotic disorders. We sought to understand how these populations experienced changes in their social connectivity and to identify coping strategies employed. We conducted 43 semi-structured interviews with 27 vulnerable participants (11 homeless-experienced people and 16 people with psychotic disorders) and 16 comparison group participants, all of whom used services at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Vulnerable participants in both groups had sparse prepandemic social connectedness; few perceived pandemic-related social network changes. While many homeless-experienced participants struggled with transitioning to technology to communicate, participants with psychotic disorders used technology to stay connected. Resilience derived from military service experiences was adaptive during the pandemic, complemented by VA services that provided supports.

Effort-based decision-making as a determinant of supported employment outcomes in psychotic disorders.

Schizophrenia is associated with a heavy economic burden in the United States that is partly due to the high rates of chronic unemployment. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is an evidenced-based type of supported employment that can improve job obtainment and work outcomes in psychotic disorders. Outcomes vary widely and a persistent challenge for IPS is low levels of engagement in the initial job search phase. Past studies have focused on interview-based motivation deficits as a key determinant of poor treatment engagement and work outcomes in schizophrenia. New validated performance-based measures of motivation, including effort-based decision-making (EBDM) tasks, may explain supported employment outcomes and provide insights into individual differences in IPS outcomes. This study investigated the degree to which IPS engagement (i.e., number of sessions attended during the first four months of service delivery) was related to baseline interview-based motivation deficits and performance on three EBDM tasks - two tasks of physical effort and one of cognitive effort (i.e., Balloon Task, Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task, Deck Choice Effort Task) - in a sample (N = 47) of people with a psychotic disorder. Results indicated that the level of EBDM performance, specifically on the Balloon Task, predicted IPS engagement, accounting for an additional 17 % of the variance above and beyond interview-based motivation deficits (total R2 = 24 %). Overall, these findings suggest that addressing motivational deficits in effort-based decision-making may be beneficial to IPS engagement, which in turn may improve the trajectory of work outcomes.

Understanding the Causal Pathway of Social Determinants of Psychosis: The Role of Social Functioning, Relevance of Animal Models, and Implications for Treatment.

There is mounting evidence that the social determinants of psychosis operate via a long and circuitous route. Here, we comment on the striking findings from a recent study by Ku et al., that area-level social environmental factors yield social disability and increased risk for schizophrenia through intervening variables and over a long time course. We discuss the relevance of animal models of social isolation to understand how environmental factors interrelate with individual-level mechanisms. We also discuss treatment implications, including the search for novel psychopharmacological treatments for reduced social motivation, and the need for a comprehensive prediction and prevention model.

Approaches to Studying and Improving Social Motivation in Schizophrenia.

Social motivation impairments, or "asociality," have long been considered a core clinical feature of schizophrenia. Although the prevalence and pervasive negative impact of poor social motivation is well-documented, our understanding is limited regarding causal mechanisms. Advances in definition, conceptualization, and characterization are needed to inform research aimed at understanding these mechanisms and developing effective interventions. This theme issue is intended to accelerate efforts to study and treat social motivation in schizophrenia by synthesizing the current knowledge and providing new frameworks to guide future research in this area.

Financial health and psychiatric symptoms among veterans with psychosis or recent homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted the physical health of some vulnerable groups, but further study is needed to investigate the pandemic's impact on financial health and mental well-being. We analyzed data from 158 participants, consisting of 59 veterans with a psychotic disorder (PSY), 49 recently housed veterans (RHV), and a control group of 50 veterans (CTL) who were assessed five times from May 2020-July 2021. This study compared the financial health of these three groups and examined the relation between financial health and psychiatric symptoms. Although the CTL group reported significantly higher income and savings than the PSY and RHV groups, the CTL group reported greater negative financial shocks than the PSY group. The RHV group reported greater material hardship but greater propensity to plan for finances and less financial shocks than the PSY group. Across all three groups, there was a reduction in financial shocks over time and no group showed more change than another. Across time, material hardship, financial shocks, and propensity to plan for finances were each significantly associated with symptoms of major depression. Together, these findings suggest the COVID-19 pandemic did not greatly impact the financial health of PSY and RHV groups possibly because of their limited income and resilience to adversity. Financial health was related to mental health supporting the U.S. government's strategic plan to include financial empowerment services in efforts to improve mental health and reduce veteran suicide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Neurobehavioral indices of gaze perception are associated with social cognition across schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND: Gaze perception is a basic building block of social cognition, which is impaired in schizophrenia (SZ) and contributes to functional outcomes. Few studies, however, have investigated neural underpinnings of gaze perception and their relation to social cognition. We address this gap. METHOD: We recruited 77 SZ patients and 71 healthy controls, who completed various social-cognition tasks. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants (62 SZ, 54 controls) completed a gaze-perception task, where they judged whether faces with varying gaze angles were self-directed or averted; as a control condition, participants identified stimulus gender. Activation estimates were extracted based on (a) task versus baseline, (b) gaze-perception versus gender-identification, (c) parametric modulation by perception of stimuli as self-directed versus averted, and (d) parametric modulation by stimulus gaze angle. We used latent variable analysis to test associations among diagnostic group, brain activation, gaze perception, and social cognition. RESULTS: Preferential activation to gaze perception was observed throughout dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, and insula. Activation was modulated by stimulus gaze angle and perception of stimuli as self-directed versus averted. More precise gaze perception and higher task-related activation were associated with better social cognition. Patients with SZ showed hyperactivation within left pre-/postcentral gyrus, which was associated with more precise gaze perception and fewer symptoms and thus may be a compensatory mechanism. CONCLUSIONS: Neural and behavioral indices of gaze perception were related to social cognition, across patients and controls. This suggests gaze perception is an important perceptual building block for more complex social cognition. Results are discussed in the context of dimensional psychopathology and clinical heterogeneity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).