Visual Attention to Emotional Face in Schizophrenia: An ‎Eye Tracking Study

Objective: Deficits in the ‎processing of facial emotions ‎have been reported extensively ‎in patients with schizophrenia. To ‎explore whether restricted ‎attention is the cause of impaired ‎emotion processing in these ‎patients, we examined visual ‎attention through tracking eye ‎movements in response to ‎emotional and neutral face ‎stimuli in a group of patients with ‎schizophrenia and healthy ‎individuals. We also examined ‎the correlation between visual ‎attention allocation and ‎symptoms severity in our patient ‎group‏. ‏ Method: Thirty adult patients with ‎schizophrenia and 30 matched ‎healthy controls participated in ‎this study. Visual attention data ‎were recorded while participants ‎passively viewed emotional-‎neutral face pairs for 500 ms. ‎The relationship between the ‎visual attention and symptoms ‎severity were assessed by the ‎Positive and Negative Syndrome ‎Scale (PANSS) in the ‎schizophrenia group. Repeated ‎Measures ANOVAs were used to ‎compare the groups‏. ‏ Results: Comparing the number ‎of fixations made during face-‎pairs presentation, we found that ‎patients with schizophrenia made ‎fewer fixations on faces, ‎regardless of the expression of ‎the face. Analysis of the number ‎of fixations on negative-neutral ‎pairs also revealed that the ‎patients made fewer fixations on ‎both neutral and negative faces. ‎Analysis of number of fixations ‎on positive-neutral pairs only ‎showed more fixations on ‎positive relative to neutral ‎expressions in both groups. We ‎found no correlations between ‎visual attention pattern to faces ‎and symptom severity in ‎schizophrenic patients‏.‏ Conclusion: The results of this ‎study suggest that the facial ‎recognition deficit in ‎schizophrenia is related to ‎decreased attention to face ‎stimuli. Finding of no difference ‎in visual attention for positive-‎neutral face pairs between the ‎groups is in line with studies that ‎have shown increased ability to ‎positive emotional perception in ‎these patients