The effects of familiarity and emotional expression on face processing examined by ERPs in patients with schizophrenia Stéphanie Caharel a , Christian Bernard a , Florence Thibaut b , Sadec Haouzir b , Carole Di Maggio-Clozel b , Gabrielle Allio b , Gaël Fouldrin b , Michel Petit b , Robert Lalonde c , Mohamed Rebaï a, ⁎ a Université de Rouen, Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoire Psychologie et Neurosciences de la Cognition (PSY.CO EA-1780), 76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan Cedex, France b Département de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rouen, Hôpital Le Rouvray, INSERM U614, IFRMP23, Rouen, France c Université de Rouen, Faculté des Sciences, France Received 13 April 2006; received in revised form 13 June 2007; accepted 15 June 2007 Available online 17 July 2007 Abstract Background: The main objective of the study was to determine whether patients with schizophrenia are deficient relative to controls in the processing of faces at different levels of familiarity and types of emotion and the stage where such differences may occur. Methods: ERPs based on 18 patients with schizophrenia and 18 controls were compared in a face identification task at three levels of familiarity (unknown, familiar, subject's own) and for three types of emotion (disgust, smiling, neutral). Results: The schizophrenic group was less accurate than controls in the face processing, especially for unknown faces and those expressing negative emotions such as disgust. P1 and N170 amplitudes were lower and P1, N170, P250 amplitudes were of slower onset in patients with schizophrenia. N170 and P250 amplitudes were modulated by familiarity and face expression in a different manner in patients than controls. Conclusions: Schizophrenia is associated with a genelarized defect of face processing, both in terms of familiarity and emotional expression, attributable to deficient processing at sensory (P1) and perceptual (N170) stages. These patients appear to have difficulty in encoding the structure of a face and thereby do not evaluate correctly familiarity and emotion. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Schizophrenia; ERP; Face recognition; Face processing; Emotion 1. Introduction It has been demonstrated that subjects with schizo- phrenia are deficient in the recognition of the emotion underlying facial expressions, in particular fear and disgust (Edwards et al., 2002; Mandal et al., 1998). This deficit is stable throughout different clinical stages during the course of the disease (Addington and Addington, 1998; Borod et al., 1993; Salem et al., 1996) and shows a certain degree of specificity relative to other neuropsychiatric diseases (Addington and Addington, 1998; Loughland et al., 2002; Mueser Schizophrenia Research 95 (2007) 186 – 196 www.elsevier.com/locate/schres ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 2 35 14 66 27; fax: +33 2 35 14 63 49. E-mail address: med.rebai@wanadoo.fr (M. Rebaï). 0920-9964/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2007.06.015