Recognition of emotions in facial expression of visual half-field images by schizophrenic and depressed patients
Schneider, F.; Koch, J.D.; Mattes, R.; Heimann, H.
Der Nervenarzt 63(9): 545-550
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-2804 PMID: 1407225 Document Number: 388028
Twenty schizophrenics, 20 depressives, and 20 normal controls were asked to identify positive and negative emotional expressions of faces tachistoscopically presented to the left and/or right visual hemifields. Results replicated the frequently cited recognition advantage for emotional stimuli presented in the left visual hemifield (right hemispheric processing). A significant reduction in decoding advantage was observed in both patient groups, which could be explained in terms of an interhemispheric disconnection syndrome in schizophrenics and depressives. Bilateral findings in particular tend to support this hypothesis, since they revealed that both cerebral hemispheres processed contrary information simultaneously.