Journal article
Performance during face processing differentiates schizophrenia patients with delusional misidentifications.
- Walther S University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- Federspiel A
- Horn H
- Wirth M
- Bianchi P
- Strik W
- Müller TJ
- 2010-01-30
Published in:
- Psychopathology. - 2010
Adult
Capgras Syndrome
Delusions
Diagnosis, Differential
Discrimination Learning
Face
Female
Humans
Male
Memory, Short-Term
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Reaction Time
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenic Psychology
Young Adult
English
BACKGROUND
Delusional misidentification syndrome (DMS) is of considerable interest, but rarely diagnosed clinically. It is supposed to occur relatively frequently in schizophrenia, and to be related to the pathophysiology of face processing. Two antagonistic forms of DMS are the hypoidentification (Capgras) and hyperidentification (Fregoli) syndromes. We aimed to highlight differences between these subtypes using a face recognition memory task.
METHODS
Twenty schizophrenia patients (10 with DMS) and 21 healthy controls memorized the images of unknown neutral faces (targets). After a 10-min interval, accuracy and reaction times were recorded during a recognition task consisting of targets (newly learned faces), as well as familiar and unfamiliar face images. The 10 DMS patients could be further subdivided into 6 patients with Fregoli syndrome and 4 with Capgras syndrome.
RESULTS
Patients with DMS had longer reaction times than controls or patients without DMS (p < 0.001). Fregoli patients had longer reaction times (p < 0.001) and lower discrimination accuracy than Capgras patients (p = 0.019). These results were independent of other clinical variables.
CONCLUSIONS
Face recognition differs between clinically identified subgroups of schizophrenia and between types of DMS. The results indicate independent pathophysiological mechanisms for Capgras (hypoidentification) and Fregoli (hyperidentification) syndromes in schizophrenia.
Delusional misidentification syndrome (DMS) is of considerable interest, but rarely diagnosed clinically. It is supposed to occur relatively frequently in schizophrenia, and to be related to the pathophysiology of face processing. Two antagonistic forms of DMS are the hypoidentification (Capgras) and hyperidentification (Fregoli) syndromes. We aimed to highlight differences between these subtypes using a face recognition memory task.
METHODS
Twenty schizophrenia patients (10 with DMS) and 21 healthy controls memorized the images of unknown neutral faces (targets). After a 10-min interval, accuracy and reaction times were recorded during a recognition task consisting of targets (newly learned faces), as well as familiar and unfamiliar face images. The 10 DMS patients could be further subdivided into 6 patients with Fregoli syndrome and 4 with Capgras syndrome.
RESULTS
Patients with DMS had longer reaction times than controls or patients without DMS (p < 0.001). Fregoli patients had longer reaction times (p < 0.001) and lower discrimination accuracy than Capgras patients (p = 0.019). These results were independent of other clinical variables.
CONCLUSIONS
Face recognition differs between clinically identified subgroups of schizophrenia and between types of DMS. The results indicate independent pathophysiological mechanisms for Capgras (hypoidentification) and Fregoli (hyperidentification) syndromes in schizophrenia.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1159/000277002
- PMID 20110765
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/1270
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