Aberrant brain activation during facial emotion discrimination has been described in chronic schizophrenia, while little is known about early stages of the illness. The aim of the current study was to investigate valence-specific brain activation of emotion discrimination in first-episode schizophrenia. These patients provide the advantage of lacking the effects of long-term medication and chronic illness course and can hence further enhance the understanding of underlying psychopathological mechanisms.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, 8939 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite C230, La Jolla, San Diego, CA 92037, USA. mreske@ucsd.edu