Olfactory dysfunction and face processing of social cognition in first-episode psychosis

Abstract

Olfactory functional deficits have been reported in psychotic disorders. Olfactory dysfunction has a predictive value for prognosis and disease course. Thus, it is important to know which specific symptoms and cognitive changes are associated with olfactory dysfunction in early-stage psychosis. Deficits in social cognition are a difficult problem in psychosis. Here we conduct a detailed assessment of odor function and face processing and show that odor discrimination capacity is specifically associated with face processing function in patients with first episode psychosis. This finding indicates that the high-throughput olfactory assessment may aid a prediction of the difficult clinical dimension from early-stage psychosis.

Keywords: Face processing; First episode psychosis; Olfactory dysfunction; Schizophrenia; Social cognition.