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Risperidone versus haloperidol for facial affect recognition in schizophrenia: findings from a randomised study
Eric Fakra1, Pilar Salgado-Pineda, Nathalie Besnier
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Marseille, Marseille, France. eric.fakra@ap-hm.fr
Summary
Risperidone improved facial affect recognition in schizophrenia patients more than haloperidol. This suggests risperidone may specifically enhance processing of emotion-related facial information, not general face perception.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Schizophrenia patients exhibit deficits in facial affect recognition.
- The impact of antipsychotic medications on this deficit and their mechanisms remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differential effects of haloperidol and risperidone on facial affect recognition in acute schizophrenia.
- To explore the mechanisms underlying these drug effects on face processing.
Main Methods:
- 25 acute schizophrenia patients were randomized to haloperidol or risperidone.
- Facial affect and identity discrimination tasks (upright and inverted faces) were assessed at baseline, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks.
- Correlations with negative symptoms were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Risperidone showed superior improvement in facial affect and inverted face discrimination compared to haloperidol at 2 weeks.
- No significant difference was observed for upright face identification.
- Negative symptoms were inversely correlated with affect discrimination and upright face identification.
Conclusions:
- Risperidone's benefit in affect recognition is likely specific to emotion processing, not global face processing.
- The drug may enhance processing of salient facial features, but this doesn't fully explain improved affect recognition.
- Findings suggest risperidone specifically targets emotion-laden information processing in schizophrenia.
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