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Sketchpad Series

Neural Processing of Dynamic Facial Emotion in Early Course Psychosis

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Rebekah Trotti^1,2 (rtrotti@bidmc.harvard.edu), Nicolas Raymond¹, Prachi Patel¹, Emma Oss¹, Daphne Ying¹, Brendan Stiltner¹, Paulo Lizano^1,2; ¹Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, ²Harvard Medical School

Background: Facial emotion recognition underlies social disability in psychotic spectrum disorders, but most studies of emotion processing rely on unmoving stimuli with limited ecological validity. Examining neural activity in response to naturalistic, changing facial expressions could better probe the real-time neural underpinnings of socioemotional deficits. Thus, we aim to use dynamic face stimuli and event-related neural oscillations to examine this possibility in early course psychosis (ECP). Methods: 4-second videos of faces changing from a neutral to a happy, sad, or other neutral expression were presented to 48 participants (24 ECP, 24 healthy controls [HC]) while electroencephalography was recorded and participants identified emotions with a button press. Analyses will be performed by applying Fast Fourier transforms to extract frequency data. Oscillatory power in 1-second windows after stimulus presentation will be examined with ANOVAs to assess effects of emotion and group (α=.05). Results: A prior magnetoencephalography study in chronic schizophrenia demonstrated reduced alpha power at central sensors and delayed emotion recognition during dynamic face processing. We expect to replicate these effects and extend this analysis to other frequency bands and clinical correlates. Conclusions: Support for hypotheses would indicate that disruptions in real-time visuo-emotional processing are present early in psychotic illness and are trait-like biomarkers, rather than a downstream result of chronic illness or medication. Additional future analyses will examine relationships between oscillatory activity and socio-emotional behavior in ECP. Frequency and spatial qualities of impairments will guide a future trial of transcranial alternating current stimulation to enhance social functioning in ECP.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Person perception