Functional significance of preserved affect recognition in schizophrenia

Affect recognition (AR) is a core component of social information processing; thus, it may be critical to understanding social behavior and functioning in broader aspects of daily living. Deficits in AR are well documented in schizophrenia, but there is also evidence that many individuals with schizophrenia perform AR tasks at near-normal levels. In the current study, we sought to evaluate the functional significance of AR deficits in schizophrenia by comparing subgroups with normal-range and impaired AR performance on proxy and interviewer-rated measures of real-world functioning. Schizophrenia outpatients were classified as normal-range (N = 17) and impaired (N = 31) based on a logistic cut point in the sample distribution of Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT) scores, referenced to a normative sample of healthy control subjects (N = 56). The derived schizophrenia subgroups were then compared on proxy [University of California San Diego Performance-Based Skill Assessment (UPSA), Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA), Medication Management Ability Assessment (MMAA)] and interviewer-rated [Quality of Life Scale (QLS), Independent Living Skills Survey (ILSS)] measures of functioning, as well as a battery of neurocognitive tests. Initial analyses indicated superior MMAA and QLS performance in the near-normal AR subgroup. Covariate analyses indicated that group differences in neurocognition fully mediated the observed associations between AR and MMAA, and attenuated the observed relationships between AR classification and QLS. These results support three main conclusions. First, AR, like many other domains of psychopathology studied in schizophrenia, is preserved in select subgroups. Second, there is a positive relationship between AR performance and functional outcome measures. Third, neurocognition appears to mediate the relationship between AR and measures of functioning.