Sensibilidad en el Reconocimiento de Emociones Faciales Como Endofenotipo de Esquizofrenia

Endophentoypes are the traits present before the appearance of a disorder and could be useful to identify susceptibility genes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether persons suffering from schizophrenia and their immediate relatives performed less well than controls in the Emotional Expression Multi-transformation Task, which measures recognition of facial expressions. Persons with schizophrenia and their relatives showed less sensitivity than controls or required greater intensity to identify emotions than controls did. Accuracy in the identification of emotions was similar in relatives and controls, but lower in individuals with schizophrenia. This suggests that sensitivity in the recognition of facial emotions is an endophenotype for schizophrenia.