Russian specialists from the V.P. Serbsky National Medical Research Center of Psychiatry and Narcology have devised a procedure enabling the detection of schizophrenia based on four types of brain reactions to other people’s faces. The authors shared the study’s findings in the journal Consortium Psychiatricum (ConPsy).
A group of experts conducted an experiment involving 86 volunteers: 26 of them suffered from schizophrenia, 26 had a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, and 34 had no mental abnormalities. Schizoaffective disorder combines symptoms of schizophrenia and mood disorder. This condition is referred to as an intermediate clinical form between two common types of impairments.
The brain’s electrical activity was recorded using 128-channel electroencephalography while participants performed tasks involving the recognition of facial expressions: joyful, frightened, and neutral.
Scientists analyzed four key components of the brain response, intended to reflect different stages of information processing, starting from initial perception to deep comprehension of emotions. Based on this information, experts created a diagnostic model that accurately distinguishes patients with schizophrenic spectrum pathologies from healthy individuals. The method’s sensitivity is 73.3%, and specificity is 80%.
Deficits in social cognition, including difficulties in recognizing emotions on other people’s faces, are considered a central factor in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Experts managed to locate neurophysiological markers that objectively reflect these characteristics, the authors of the work clarify.
The researchers anticipate that this approach will soon supplement conventional diagnostic methods that rely on clinical interviews and observations, and will assist in lessening the impact of subjective judgments. The technology may quickly become a dependable tool for more precise and rapid identification of mental disorders.
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