There is a convergence of evidence from neuropsychological,
psychophysiological, and neuroimaging studies
that breakdowns in temporolimbic-prefrontal circuits are
central to the expression of schizophrenia (1–4). Limbicprefrontal
systems show a reciprocal modulatory relationship
with autonomic (“body”) arousal via connections
with brainstem arousal circuits (5, 6). Abnormalities in
both tonic and phasic autonomic arousal have been observed
in chronic, first-episode, and high-risk samples (7,
8). We investigated limbic-prefrontal and arousal dysfunction
in schizophrenia during perception of facial expressions.
A growing number of studies have observed that impairments
in facial emotion perception in schizophrenia
patients are most pronounced for threat-related expressions
such as fear (9, 10). In healthy subjects, fear stimuli
typically evoke limbic and prefrontal activity, with preferential
engagement of the amygdala (11–14).