Abstract
Semantic priming tasks are classically used to influence and implicitly promote target behaviors. Recently, several studies
have demonstrated that prosocial semantic priming modulated feelings of social affiliation. The main aim of this study was
to determine whether inducing feelings of social affiliation using priming tasks could modulate nonverbal social behaviors
in schizophrenia. We used the Scrambled Sentence Task to prime schizophrenia patients according to three priming group
conditions: pro-social, non-social or anti-social. Forty-five schizophrenia patients, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR, were
randomly assigned to one of the three priming groups of 15 participants. We evaluated nonverbal social behaviors using
the Motor-Affective subscale of the Motor-Affective-Social-Scale. Results showed that schizophrenia patients with pro-social
priming had significantly more nonverbal behaviors than schizophrenia patients with anti-social and non-social priming
conditions. Schizophrenia patient behaviors are affected by social priming. Our results have several clinical implications for
the rehabilitation of social skills impairments frequently encountered among individuals with schizophrenia