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Sandra Baez, Camila Castellanos, David Ospina-Nieto, Alisia Gonzalez, Karen Jacome, Hernando Santamaria-Garcia
Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Neurol Clin Neurosci
Statement of the Problem: Social cognition impairments have been widely described in patients with schizophrenia. These impairments include deficits in the recognition of basic emotions. However, no previous studies have investigated moral emotions in patients with schizophrenia.
Methodology: in this study, 15 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 15 healthy controls performed an experimental task designed to trigger counter-empathic moral emotions (i.e., envy and Schadenfreude–pleasure at others’ misfortunes). Both groups were matched in terms of age, sex, education level and estimative intellectual functioning. We also assessed general cognitive state and executive functions.
Findings: results showed that, compared to controls, patients with schizophrenia exhibited higher envy levels. There were no group differences in ratings of Schadenfreude and control conditions. Besides, group differences in envy levels are not explained by cognitive or executive impairments.
Conclusion & Significance: These results suggest that the experience of counter-empathic moral emotions is exacerbated in patients with schizophrenia. Our findings contribute to further understanding of social cognition deficits observed in patients with schizophrenia.
Sandra Baez is professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Los Andes University. She holds a degree in Psychology, a Master in Neuropsychology, and a Ph.D. in Psychology. She conducted her postdoctoral and received training in functional and structural neuroimaging at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. She has experience in neuropsychological assessment and cognitive stimulation techniques for patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders. Her interests and research experience are focused on neuropsychological aspects as well as neurophysiological and neuroanatomical correlates of social cognition domains in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. She has more than 50 publications in leading journals, such as Nature Human Behavior, Neurology, Brain, JAMA Neurology, among others. She is Associate Editor of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Frontiers in Psychiatry, and ad hoc Reviewer for more than 20 journals. She is also part of the Project team taskforce of the Human Affectome Project.
E-mail: sj.baez@uniandes.edu.co
+44 73620 49920
