Cognition–emotion interactions in schizophrenia: Emerging evidence on working memory load and implicit facial-affective processing

Abstract

Although much is known about working memory (WM) and emotion perception deficits in schizophrenia, little is known of how these deficits interact. We sought to address this gap by conducting a narrative review of relevant literatures and distilling core themes. First, people with schizophrenia have difficulty with high load and during initial phases of WM (e.g., encoding, early rehearsal), yet are able to activate WM-related prefrontal brain regions to the same maximal degree as comparison controls under certain circumstances. Second, people with schizophrenia have difficulty identifying and expressing facial emotions, yet demonstrate heightened automatic/implicit processing of facial emotions. Third, people with schizophrenia behaviourally demonstrate intact cognition–emotion interactions on laboratory tasks wherein emotional processing is automatic/implicit, yet demonstrate cognition–emotion disconnections in other levels of analysis. Insights are drawn from basic science showing interdependency between WM load and implicit emotion. Future research questions are raised regarding interactions between WM load and implicit facial-affective processing in schizophrenia.

Keywords:

• Working memory
• Emotion
• Schizophrenia
• Psychosocial functioning

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations Advanced Fellowship Program to the VISN 22 Mental Illness Research and Clinical Centre (MIRECC). Funding sources had no further role in writing of this manuscript or decision to submit for publication.

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the manuscript.