Characteristics of emotional related cognitive function in schizophrenia evaluating by exploratory eye movements and fMRI : comparison with healthy subjects.

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Exploratory eye movements (EEMs) have been used as a tool to investigate biological correlates of information processing. So far, little is known about the effect of facial-affect on EEMs in schizophrenic patients. Schizophrenic patients have been shown to manifest a significant deficit in the ability to correctly identify the emotions associated with facial expressions. Such patients have a distinctive deficit in emotional appropriateness, and an impaired ability to correctly identify facial affect might contribute to this deficit. The present study compared the effects of facial affective stimuli on EEMs and functional MRI (fMRI) in schizophrenic patients and age-matched healthy subjects using a crying baby and a smiling baby. Using the exploratory eye movements, both the total eye scanning length when viewing a smiling baby under comparison condition was longer than that when viewing a crying for healthy subjects but, the TESL when viewing a smiling baby was shorter that that when viewing a crying baby for patients. Both the total number of eye gaze points (TNGP) and reactive searching scores (RSS) for the smiling baby were larger than those for the crying baby in healthy subjects but, both the TNGP and RSS for the smiling baby were smaller than those for the crying baby in patients. Activation of fMRI around amygdara area was observed when viewing the crying baby, but not when viewing the smiling baby under comparison condition in healthy subjects. However, activated amygdara area was recorded for the smiling baby but not for the crying baby under comparison condition in patients. These observations indicate that exploratory eye movements (EEMs) and fMRI were useful tools to evaluate emotional cognitive impairments in schizophrenic patients. Patients may cause mismatch the emotional process, especially positive emotion caused by the positive affection such as smiling.