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Updated: May 2, 2026
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Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
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Emotional granularity and social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia: an experience sampling study
David Kimhy1, Julia Vakhrusheva2, Samira Khan3
1Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
Journal of Psychiatric Research
|February 25, 2014
Summary
Individuals with schizophrenia struggle with differentiating emotions, impacting social functioning. While they can distinguish negative emotions, difficulties with positive-negative differentiation may explain their social difficulties.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Low emotional granularity (EG) is linked to poorer social functioning (SF) in healthy individuals.
- It remains unclear if this association applies to clinical disorders with impaired SF, like schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare SF and EG in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls.
- To examine the relationship between EG and SF within the schizophrenia group.
Main Methods:
- Experience Sampling Method (ESM) used to collect momentary emotion ratings from 77 schizophrenia patients and 27 healthy controls over two days.
- Calculated two EG indices: EGIall (all emotions) and EGIneg (negative emotions).
- Assessed SF in a subsample of schizophrenia patients using self-report, interviews, and ability-based measures.
Main Results:
- Individuals with schizophrenia showed significantly poorer SF and lower EGIall compared to controls.
- EGIn eg was comparable between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls.
- Within the schizophrenia group, EGIall, but not EGIneg, predicted social dysfunction.
Conclusions:
- Individuals with schizophrenia can differentiate negative emotions but struggle to differentiate between positive and negative emotions.
- This difficulty in differentiating broad emotional states may contribute to social dysfunction in schizophrenia.
Keywords:
Ambulatory assessmentEcological momentary assessmentEmotion processingEmotion regulationEmotional awarenessEmotional granularityEmotionsExperience Sampling MethodSchizophreniaSocial cognitionSocial functioningSocial supportMore Related Videos
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