Configural face processing in schizophrenia

Evidence suggests schizophrenia patients may have problems integrating visual features into perceptual wholes using configural information. This deficit may impact on higher order socio-cognitive abilities such as facial emotion perception. Twenty-six schizophrenia patients and 26 age and gender matched healthy control participants completed a Fractured Faces Task which disrupted configural face information yet maintained featural information. While participants were matched for performance when viewing whole, unaltered faces; schizophrenia patients were significantly less affected than control participants when the configural information was disrupted. The results indicate altered configural processing and potential over-reliance on featural processing in schizophrenia. The implications of such impaired processing strategies are discussed.