Face classification in schizophrenia: Evidence for a sensitivity to distinctiveness

The face-processing skills of people with schizophrenia were compared with those of

a group of unimpaired individuals. Participants were asked to make speeded face-classification

decisions to faces previously rated as being typical or distinctive. The schizophrenic group

responded more slowly than the unimpaired group; however, both groups demonstrated the

customary sensitivity to the distinctiveness of the face stimuli. Face-classification latencies made

to typical faces were shorter than those made to distinctive faces. The implication of this finding

with the schizophrenic group is discussed with reference to accounts of face-processing deficits

attributed to these individuals.