Facing up to Schizophrenia

Monday 10 October 2005

HMRI / NISAD researchers from the University of Newcastle's Centre for Mental Health Studies, in collaboration with the Neuroscience Institute of Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders (NISAD), are launching a study into the way people with schizophrenia view faces, which could lead to new methods of treatment.

Dr Carmel Loughland, from the Centre for Mental Health Studies and NISAD, said many people with schizophrenia continue to experience cognitive problems which limit their ability to participate socially. These problems are strongly linked with their ability to interpret facial emotion.

"People with schizophrenia spend less time viewing the facial features with high informational value such as the eyes and mouth," said Dr Loughland.

The study will investigate eye movement in people with schizophrenia by recording participants' eye movements while they view pictures of faces. This will provide a valuable insight into how people with schizophrenia interpret facial expressions.

Dr Loughland said, "Of particular interest is whether these eye movements can be altered using remediation training and ultimately provide a better understanding of the way people process the emotional content of faces."

"Ultimately, we hope to develop a remediation training program that will help people with schizophrenia, who have difficulty in processing facial expressions, by reducing the impact that these difficulties on their ability to participate socially," said Dr Loughland.

The study is recruiting people between 18-65 years who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The research involves a brief interview and a two-hour testing session where participants will view pictures of faces displaying different emotions while their eye movements are recorded.

People interested in participating should contact the Centre for Mental Health Studies on (02) 4924 6780.

Media contact: Dr Carmel Loughland on (02) 4924 6611.