The Impact of Social Stress on Trustworthiness Judgments in Schizophrenia.

The present study examines the impact of induced social stress on facial trustworthiness judgments in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) and the associations between symptoms and trustworthiness ratings. Thirty-three individuals with SCZ and forty healthy controls (HC) were asked to rate the trustworthiness of 24 digitally morphed faces in two counterbalanced conditions. Mild social stress was induced by listening to loud noises from a busy street.

Theory of mind - not emotion recognition - mediates the relationship between executive functions and social functioning in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: Dysfunction of social-cognitive abilities is one of the hallmark features of schizophrenia and is associated with neurocognition and social functioning. The Green and Nuechterlein model proposed that social cognition mediates the relationship between neurocognition and functional outcome. We tested this hypothesis in schizophrenia patients in the everyday clinical setting.