Emotion recognition in pictures of facial affect: Is there a difference between forensic and non-forensic patients with schizophrenia?

Background and Objectives: Abundant research has demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia have difficulties in recognizing the emotional content in facial expressions. However, there is a paucity of studies on emotion recognition in schizophrenia patients with a history of violent behavior compared to patients without a criminal record. Methods: Emotion recognition skills were examined in thirty-three forensic patients with schizophrenia. In addition, executive function and psychopathology was assessed. Results were compared to a group of 38 schizophrenia patients in regular psychiatric care and to a healthy control group. Results: Both patient groups performed more poorly on almost all tasks compared to controls. However, in the forensic group the recognition of the expression of disgust was preserved. When the excitement factor of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was co-varied out, forensic patients outperformed the non-forensic patient group on emotion recognition across modalities. Conclusions: The superior recognition of disgust could be uniquely associated with delinquent behavior.