Psychophysiological correlates of social skills deficits in persons with schizophrenia

Social skill deficits in schizophrenia profoundly affect patients' life-lon g outcome, although the profile of the underlying cognitive dysfunction sti ll remains a matter of debate. In the present study, we investigated the re lationship between social skills and event-related potentials (ERPs) in an auditory selective attention task, in addition to the neurocognitive indice s obtained from the degraded-stimulus continuous performance test (CPT) and clinical indices, such as Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BRPS) and global assessment of function (GAF) scores. Social skills were assessed using a J apanese version of the structured role play test. Fourteen persons with sch izophrenia participated in the study. Non-verbal skills showed a positive c orrelation with GAF, the performance level, N1 and N2b amplitude in the ERP task, and hit rate in the CPT, and a negative correlation with reaction ti me in the CPT. Verbal communication skills showed a positive correlation wi th GAF, the performance level and N2b amplitude in the ERP task, and hit ra te in the CPT, and a negative correlation with reaction time in the CPT. Pr ocessing skills showed a positive correlation with the performance level an d N1 amplitude in the ERP task and a negative correlation with reaction tim e in the CPT. These findings suggested that the social skill deficits of pe rsons with schizophrenia were related to the vigilance level and controlled stimulus detection processing. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.