Face recognition in schizophrenia: do individual and average ROCs tell the same story?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Schizophrenia is associated with impaired recollection but spared familiarity.
• Previous studies averaged Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, masking individual differences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate individual recognition processes in schizophrenia using a face-recognition task.
• To explore the relationship between recognition subtypes and clinical symptoms.

Main Methods:

• Computed individual ROC curves for schizophrenia patients and controls.
• Classified participants into familiarity-only and familiarity-recollection subgroups.
• Correlated clinical symptom scores (SAPS, SANS) with recognition parameters.

Main Results:

• Schizophrenia patients' performance was impaired only when recognition relied solely on familiarity.
• Familiarity-alone patients' positive symptom scores correlated with familiarity variance.
• Familiarity-recollection patients' negative symptom scores correlated with decision criterion and recollection probability.

Conclusions:

• Impaired recognition in schizophrenia is not solely due to recollection deficits.
• Individual ROC analysis can differentiate schizophrenia subtypes.
• ROC analysis provides a basis for tailored cognitive remediation therapies.