EEG correlates of face recognition in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A systematic review

To systematically assess EEG studies and evaluate neuropsychological changes of face recognition in the context of neutral face stimuli in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

A literature search was conducted using the PubMed database from inception to March 2018. Studies included in the review measured any event-related potentials, neural oscillations, or phase synchrony.

A total of 113 articles were identified. Twenty-nine studies were included for the review. The majority of the studies focused on the N170 component. Smaller N170 amplitudes were consistently reported in schizophrenia patients compared to the healthy control group. Significant correlations between N170 amplitudes and social functioning scales were reported. Other results were quite inconsistent; however, group differences were more prominent for tasks with specific conditions.

Older patients with longer disease duration show more consistent neuropsychological correlations. Alterations of event-related potentials are likely to be linked to higher severity of symptoms. The N170 component seems to be the most promising event-related potential to be used for evaluation of present status and for dynamic control of cognitive impairments, social functioning, and rehabilitation effectiveness.

This systematic review provides evidence of (1) neuropsychological alterations of face processing outside an emotional context, and (2) a potential role of N170 as a diagnostic and treatment monitoring biomarker.