cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia are very frequent. They concern
both neurocognition and social cognition, including facial emotion recognition. These
impairments have a negative impact on the daily functioning, in particular the social and
vocational rehabilitation of people with schizophrenia. Previous studies in this area clearly
demonstrated the interest of cognitive remediation to improve neurocognitive and social
cognitive functioning in schizophrenia. They also established clear links between facial
emotion recognition skills and attentional processes. The present study compares the
GAÏA s-face program (GAÏA arm), which focuses on facial emotion recognition processes,
with the RECOS program (RECOS arm), a neurocognitive remediation therapy focusing
on selective attention. Forty people with schizophrenia were randomly distributed
between each study arm and assessed pre- (T1) and post- (T2) therapy. The single-blind
assessment focused on facial emotion recognition (the main criteria), symptoms, social
and subjective functioning, and neurocognitive and social cognitive performance. Both
programs were conducted by nurses after a 3-day training session. The study showed
a significant improvement in facial emotion recognition performance in both groups,
with a significantly larger effect in the GAÏA arm. Symptoms and social functioning also
improved in the GAÏA arm, and certain neurocognitive and social cognitive processes
improved in both study arms. Further studies are recommended, with larger population
samples and a follow-up assessing the long-term preservation of these improvements.