EMOTION RECOGNITION THROUGH SPANISH PROSODY IN PEOPLE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Introduction People with schizophrenia have deficits in the ability to identify emotions. An area of important dysfunction is the understanding of affective prosody, which can limit communication and social functionality. The objective of this study is to compare emotional recognition through prosody between a group of people with schizophrenia versus a control group without pathology, through the Reading the Mind in the Voice - Spanish Version scale (RMV-SV). Method A group of people with clinically stable schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder was recruited (n = 62). They were compared with a control group (n = 63) in sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, intelligence quotient, and performance on RMV-SV scale. Results The case group presented lower scores on the RMV-SV, with statistically significant differences (p <.001) compared to controls. In 17/22 items of wrong answers, the statements contained negative emotions. The correlation was positive between RMV-SV and IQ. RMV-SV and PANSS, mainly the negative subscale, and age were inversely correlated. Conclusions The RMV-SV scale, validated in autism, allows detecting the alterations of prosodic recognition in Spanish in schizophrenia, postulating itself as an evaluating tool of this domain of social cognition.