Clinical Trial: Perception of Facial Emotions in Schizophrenia and 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

Study Status: Active, not recruiting
Recruit Status: Active, not recruiting
Study Type: Interventional




Official Title: Facial Expression Perception by Intensity in Schizophrenia and 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Neural Electrophysiological Evidence by Means of Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation

Brief Summary:

Background:

The present study aims to identify the mechanisms underlying the deficit in facial emotion recognition reported both in schizophrenia and the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, and thus, reveal a distinction between the two disorders. Indeed, despite the clinical overlap between the two syndromes, some of the symptoms appear to be specific to only one of them. In particular, the disturbance of visual functions is specifically observed in the 22q11.2DS. Hence, the difficulties in facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia and in the 22q11.DS are likely accounted by different cognitive impairments. Investigating which mechanisms are disturbed would allow a specialized support for patients.

Our main hypothesis is that the deficit in facial emotion recognition is more related to visual impairments in the 22q11.2DS than in schizophrenia. This hypothesis will be tested in two groups of patients (22q11.2DS and schizophrenic patients) and a control group (healthy subjects) using an experimental paradigm based on electroencephalography (EEG).

A second aim of this study is to determine whether the severity of the two disorders' symptoms is correlated with the cerebral response to facial expressions. To answer this question, a set of clinical and neuropsychological tests will be conducted for each patient.