Project Summary

Melissa Green, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Macquarie University, aims to study the effectiveness of an interactive computer program, called METT (Micro-Expression Training Tools), to help people with schizophrenia improve perception of emotion from facial expressions. Poor emotion perception in schizophrenia has been shown to be associated with aberrant visual scanning of faces due to a restricted scan path and reduced attention paid to salient facial features such as the eyes. METT is designed to teach participants to direct visual attention to relevant facial features to discriminate different expressions. The proposed study aims to examine METT’s reliability to remediate selective attention deficits in schizophrenia by monitoring visual attention (using eye-movement recordings) at various times before and after training. Dr. Green expects METT training will improve emotion perception and normalize viewing strategies in schizophrenia patients by reducing facial feature avoidance. Effectiveness will be monitored for two to six months. Findings could benefit participants, and may lead to new remediation methods that improve social and vocational functioning.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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