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- Gold, Rinat, et al.
(author)
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Auditory Emotion Recognition Impairments in Schizophrenia : Relationship to Acoustic Features and Cognition
- 2012
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In: American Journal of Psychiatry. - : American Psychiatric Association Publishing. - 0002-953X .- 1535-7228. ; 169:4, s. 424-432
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Schizophrenia is associated with deficits in the ability to perceive emotion based on tone of voice. The basis for this deficit remains unclear, however, and relevant assessment batteries remain limited. The authors evaluated performance in schizophrenia on a novel voice emotion recognition battery with well-characterized physical features, relative to impairments in more general emotional and cognitive functioning. Method: The authors studied a primary sample of 92 patients and 73 comparison subjects. Stimuli were characterized according to both intended emotion and acoustic features (e.g., pitch, intensity) that contributed to the emotional percept. Parallel measures of visual emotion-recognition, pitch perception, general cognition, and overall outcome were obtained. More limited measures were obtained in an independent replication sample of 36 patients, 31 age-matched comparison subjects, and 188 general comparison subjects. Results: Patients showed statistically significant large-effect-size deficits in voice emotion recognition (d=1.1) and were preferentially impaired in recognition of emotion based on pitch features but not intensity features. Emotion recognition deficits were significantly correlated with pitch perception impairments both across (r=0.56) and within (r=0.47) groups. Path analysis showed both sensory-specific and general cognitive contributions to auditory emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia. Similar patterns of results were observed in the replication sample. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that patients with schizophrenia show a significant deficit in the ability to recognize emotion based on tone of voice and that this deficit is related to impairment in detecting the underlying acoustic features, such as change in pitch, required for auditory emotion recognition. This study provides tools for, and highlights the need for, greater attention to physical features of stimuli used in studying social cognition in neuropsychiatric disorders.
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| 2. |
- Wicks, S., et al.
(author)
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Social Risk or Genetic Liability for Psychosis? A Study of Children Born in Sweden and Reared by Adoptive Parents
- 2010
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In: American Journal of Psychiatry. - : American Psychiatric Association Publishing. - 0002-953X .- 1535-7228. ; 167, s. 1240-1246
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Recent studies suggest a role for social factors during childhood in the later development of schizophrenia. Since social conditions in childhood are closely related to parental psychiatric illness, there is a need to disentangle how genes and social environmental factors interact. Method: A total of 13,163 children born in Sweden between 1955 and 1984 and reared in Swedish adoptive families were linked to the National Patient Register until 2006 regarding admissions for non-affective psychoses, including schizophrenia. Hazard ratios for nonaffective psychoses were estimated in relation to three indicators of socioeconomic position in childhood (household data of the rearing family obtained via linkage to the National Censuses of 1960–1985) and in relation to indicator of genetic liability (biological parental inpatient care for psychosis). In addition, the total Swedish-born population was investigated. Results: Increased risks for nonaffective psychosis were found among adoptees (without biological parental history of psychosis) reared in families with disadvantaged socioeconomic position, which consisted of adoptive parental unemployment (hazard ratio=2.0), single-parent household (hazard ratio=1.2), and living in apartments (hazard ratio=1.3). The risk was also increased among persons with genetic liability for psychosis alone (hazard ratio=4.7). Among those exposed to both genetic liability and a disadvantaged socioeconomic situation in childhood, the risk was considerably higher (hazard ratio=15.0, 10.3, and 5.7 for parental unemployment, single-parent household, and apartment living, respectively). Analyses in the larger population supported these results. Conclusions: The results indicate that children reared in families with a disadvantaged socioeconomic position have an increased risk for psychosis. There was also some support for an interaction effect, suggesting that social disadvantage increases this risk more in children with genetic liability for psychosis.
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