1. ¹Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
2. ²Institute of Neuroscience and Biophysics—Medicine, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
3. ³Brain Imaging Center West, Jülich, Germany
4. ⁴Institute of Physics, University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
5. ⁵Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
6. ⁶Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Correspondence: NY Seiferth, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, Aachen D-52074, Germany, Tel: +49 241 80 89850, Fax: 49 241 8082 401, E-mail: nseiferth@ukaachen.de

Received 20 December 2007; Revised 15 May 2008; Accepted 23 May 2008; Published online 25 June 2008.

Abstract

Emotion discrimination deficits represent a well-established finding in schizophrenia. Although imaging studies addressed the cerebral dysfunctions underlying emotion perception in adult patients, the question of trait vs state characteristics is still unresolved. The investigation of juvenile patients offers the advantage of studying schizophrenia at an age where influences of illness course and long-term medication are minimized. This may enable a more detailed characterization of emotion discrimination impairments and their cerebral correlates with respect to their appearance and exact nature. A total of 12 juvenile patients with early onset schizophrenia and matched healthy juveniles participated in this study. fMRI data were acquired during an emotion discrimination task consisting of standardized photographs of faces displaying happy, sad, angry, fearful, or neutral facial expression. Similar to findings in adult patients, juvenile patients exhibited reduced performance specificity whereas sensitivity was unaffected. Independent of the valence, their processing of emotional faces was associated with hypoactivations in both fusiform gyri and in the left inferior occipital gyrus. In addition, hyperactivations in patients were found in the right cuneus common to happy, angry, and fearful faces. Further, most distinct changes were present in juvenile patients when processing sad faces. These results point to a dysfunction in cerebral circuits relevant for emotion processing already prominent in adolescent schizophrenia patients. Regions affected by a decrease in activation are related to visual and face processing, similar to deficits reported in adult patients. These changes are accompanied by hyperactivations in areas related to emotion regulation and attribution, possibly reflecting compensatory mechanisms.