Transdiagnostic associations between subjective gesture behaviour and objective performance in schizophrenia and...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Social communication deficits are prevalent in mental health disorders.
• Understanding self-perception of gesture behavior is crucial for social functioning.
• Disruptions in self-awareness are linked to social communicative impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare self-reported gesture behaviors in individuals with schizophrenia, depression, and healthy controls.
• To explore the relationship between self-reported gestures, objective performance, and symptom severity.
• To investigate disorder-specific profiles of gesture self-awareness.

Main Methods:

• Recruited 274 participants: 113 with schizophrenia, 65 with depression, and 96 healthy controls.
• Compared self-reported gesture behaviors in social and non-social contexts.
• Correlated self-reports with objective gesture performance and expert ratings of symptoms and social functioning.

Main Results:

• Both patient groups reported diminished social gesture production compared to controls.
• Schizophrenia patients uniquely reported reduced gesture perception and use.
• Schizophrenia group showed distinct associations between self-reported social perception, gesture perception, and production, linking self-report to objective deficits.

Conclusions:

• Self-awareness of gesture behaviors varies significantly across mental health disorders.
• Integrating self-report and objective measures is vital for understanding social communication deficits.
• Findings inform tailored interventions for enhancing social communication and self-awareness in psychiatric populations.