FACIAL RECOGNITION IN HYPOTHETICALLY SCHIZOTYPIC COLLEGE-STUDENTS - THE ROLE OF GENERALIZED POOR PERFORMANCE

This study investigated facial and facial affect recognition abilities among hypothetically schizotypic college men, defined by high scores on the perceptual aberration, magical ideation, and schizotypy scales. Groups were commensurate in age, handedness, and general intelligence . Multiple analyses of variance revealed that high-scoring subjects, r elative to control subjects, made more errors on a facial affect recog nition task (F = 5.32, p < .05) and on a facial recognition task (F = 8.5, p < .01). Additional multiple analyses of covariance using the fa ce recognition scores as the covariant found no group differences. The se results extend similar findings in schizophrenic individuals to hyp othetically schizotypic college students, and suggest that both groups exhibit affect recognition deficits that reflect generalized attentio n and vigilance deficits rather than a specific emotion recognition de ficit.