DOI:10.6129/CJP.202003_62(1).0004
Chinese Journal of Psychology 2020, Vol.62, No.1, 73-98

Facial Emotion Recognition and Its Relationships with Neurocognition and Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia

Yung-Li Ku（Department of Applied Psychology, Hsuan Chuang University）；Ming-Teng Lin（Department of Psychiatry, Hsinchu Branch, Taipei Veterans General Hospital）

Abstract

The present study aimed at clarifying the relationships among neurocognition (attention/vigilance, working memory, reasoning and problem solving), facial emotion recognition and theory of mind in patients with schizophrenia. Participants were 106 patients with schizophrenia recruited from two medical institutes in north Taiwan. Participants completed the Short Version of Chinese Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, Conners’ Continuous Performance TaskII (CPT-II), the Chinese Wechsler Memory Scale-III, Working Memory Index subtests (WMI), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expression of Emotion (JACFEE), and the Chinese Theory of Mind Tasks, including Faux Pas, implication stories, and non-verbal task. Structural equation modeling technique with path analyses indicated that, under the control of age and the general intelligence, except for working memory from the WMI, attention/vigilance from the CPT-II and reasoning and problem solving from the WCST respectively influenced facial emotion recognition from the JACFEE, which in turn influenced three tasks of theory of mind. These results can be interpreted as providing evidences to support the hypotheses of this study. The conclusions of this study are attention/ vigilance and reasoning and problem solving are important ingredients of facial emotion recognition. In addition, facial emotion recognition is an important ingredient of theory of mind. The practical implication for clinical working is discussed.

Keywords: facial emotion recognition, neurocognition, schizophrenia, social cognition, theory of mind