Counterfactual thinking is a set of mental representations of alternatives to the past actions. When it focuses on personal decisions, the emotion that results is regret, which has important implications for psychological distress (Borges et al., 2015). The Bedtime Counterfactual Processing Questionnaire (BCPQ; Schmidt and Linden, 2009) was developed to assess the frequency of regret-related counterfactual thoughts during the pre-sleep period.

To investigate the psychometric properties of the BCPQ (extended version) Portuguese version.

A community sample composed of 108 university students and 79 employees (78.1% females; mean age = 33.16 ± 13.175; range: 17-62) answered the Portuguese preliminary versions of the BCPQ and Regret Scale (Schwartz et al., 2002). To study the temporal stability, 31 participants (83.9% females; mean age = 26.54 ± 18.761) answered the BCPQ again after 6 weeks.

The BCPQ2 Cronbach alpha was “very good” (a = 0.81). All the items contributed to the internal consistency. The test-retest correlation coefficient was high, positive and significant (0.78; P = 0.05); there was not significant difference between test and re-test scores [29.87 ± 5.309 vs. 30.13 ± 5.353, t (30) = −0.204, P = 0.840]. Following the Kaiser and the Cattel's Scree Plot criteria, two meaningful factors were extracted which explained variance (EV) was of 65.06%: F1 Regret (EV 43.17%; a = 0.88), F2 low pride (21.88%; a = 0.88). Pearson correlations of EA total score with BCPQ2 and F1 were significant and moderate (r@.50) and with F2 was non-significant.

Although the Portuguese version of the extended version of BCPQ has good reliability and validity, the low pride-related dimension seems to be relatively independent of regret.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome in positive and negative subtypes of schizophrenia.

Sixty-two drug naïve hospitalized patients between 18 and 65 years (mean age: 33.6) with first episode of schizophrenia based on DSM IV-TR and 69 control subjects matched for age and sex completed this study. A semi-structured clinical interview was used to assess both groups. Clinical data were obtained and basic lab investigations and ultrasonography of abdomen were done in all subjects to exclude any related abdominal pathology. Axis-I disorders of DSM IV-TR were excluded in control subjects. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Rome III Urdu language version scale (cross-validation obtained) for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) were administered to assess the severity of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and subtypes of irritable bowel syndrome, IBS constipation (IBS-C), IBS Diarrhoea (IBS-D) and IBS Mix (IBS-M) in case and control groups respectively.

Forty-seven patients (75.8%) and 15 patients (24.2%) had positive and negative schizophrenia respectively. Patients with positive and negative schizophrenia had higher rate of IBS-C 6.5% (n = 4), IBS-D 8.1% (n = 5), IBS-M 12.9% (n = 8), non-IBS 72.6% (n = 45) versus healthy subjects IBS-C 1.4% (n = 1), IBS-D 2.9% (n = 2), IBS-M 2.9% (n = 2), and non-IBS 92.8% (n = 64), OR = 4.8; 95% CI.

Irritable bowel syndrome is more frequent in patients with schizophrenia than in general population. This functional gastrointestinal disorder associated with psychotic symptoms requires attention and management while managing patients with subtypes of schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Risperidone-ISM is a new long acting intramuscular formulation of risperidone, for monthly administration without oral supplementation.

To characterize the pharmacokinetic of risperidone over multiple intramuscular injections in patients with schizophrenia.

A multicenter, open label, two-arm, parallel design clinical trial was performed. Each patient received 4 intramuscular injections of 75 mg of risperidone-ISM in either, gluteal or deltoid muscle at 28-day intervals.

A total of 70 patients were randomized, 67 received at least one dose of study medication. Preliminary data show that mean Cmax of the active moiety was achieved 24-48 hours (Tmax) after each administration and ranged over four consecutive doses from 39.6-53.2 ng/mL and 54.1-61 ng/mL, when given in gluteal or deltoid, respectively. All subjects achieved therapeutic levels (> 7.5 ng/mL for the active moiety) between 2-8 hours after drug administration. The mean concentrations were maintained above therapeutic levels throughout the 4-week dosing period. No significance changes across the study were observed, either on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale or Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale. Overall, 63 subjects (94%) experienced at least 1 Treatment Emergent Adverse Event (TEAE) during the study. One serious TEAE (dystonia) was related to study treatment. One death not related to study medication was informed. The most frequently reported TEAEs were hyperprolactinaemia (57.7%) and injection site pain (32.8%).

Risperidone-ISM achieved therapeutic levels from the first hours after drug administration and provided a sustained release throughout the 4-weeks dosing period over multiple intramuscular injections independently of the injection site. Risperidone-ISM was found to be safe and well tolerated.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Empathy, which refers to the ability to understand and share the thoughts and feelings of others, has emerged as an important topic in the field of social neuroscience. It is one of the most understudied dimensions of social cognition in schizophrenia (SCZ).

To investigate the relationship between cognitive and affective empathy and CT in SCZ.

Fifty-eight outpatients with stable SCZ completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire retrospectively assessing five types of childhood trauma (emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect). They also completed the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) comprising five subscales intended to assess cognitive and affective components of empathy.

Patients with a history of sexual abuse better emotion contagion scores (P = 0.048) which means that develop more easily self-oriented emotional state matching the affective states of others. Patients with a history of emotional neglect or/and in denial of CT had higher scores in perspective taking score (P = 0.017). Perspective taking assesses the extent to which respondents can take another's perspective or see things from another's point-of-view.

Investigating psychosocial mechanisms, specifically the role of CT, underlying the development of empathic capacities is important since empathy can represent a treatment-target.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Existing research shows that individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) show substantial deficits in social cognitive domains, including facial emotion recognition (FER), empathy, and Theory of Mind (ToM). Their exact relationship with the different dimensions included in the “Clinician- Rated Dimensions of Psychosis Symptom Severity” of the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) remains unexplored.

To investigate the relationship between different social cognition dimensions and the dimensions of psychosis included in the DSM-5.

Fifty-eight outpatients with stable SCZ completed the Intention-Inferencing Task (IIT), a non-verbal ToM task and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). They also completed a newly developed and validated FER task constructed from photographs of the face of a famous Tunisian actress and evaluating the ability to correctly identify Ekman's six basic facial emotions. The clinician-rated dimensions of psychosis symptom severity was used to evaluate 8 dimensions of psychosis.

The patients presenting higher cognitive empathy capacities had less present abnormal psychomotor behaviour scores (P = 0.05). Higher levels of affective empathy were correlated to lower present delusions score (P = 0.037). Better scores in the IIT were correlated to less present negative scores (P = 0.013) and less impaired cognition scores (P = 0.009). FER task score didn’t correlated with any clinical dimension.

Our results suggest the existence of specific relationships between social cognition dimensions and psychosis dimensions. Further studies are needed to confirm these relationships.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Data regarding schizophrenia treatment has been increasing whereas the information about predictors of treatment response is limited. In this study, our aim is to investigate the serum levels of reproductive hormones as a biological predictor in terms.

Thirty-three hospitalized male patients in GATA Haydarpasa Training Hospital with the diagnosis of first episode psychosis were included into the study. The study was prospective and naturalistic in design. The clinical course was recorded by means of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) in pretreatment period, 2nd and 6th weeks of the study. Prolactin, FSH, LH, estrogen, testesterone and oxytocin serum levels were also measured at the same dates.

Treatment response was assessed as unresponsive when PANSSttl scores were lower than 25%, partial response when PANSSttl scores were between 25%-40% changes, and response when PANSSttl scores were higher than 40%. Patients were grouped according to those cut-off points. There was a significant positive correlation between oxytocin, FSH serum levels and positive symptoms (ρ = 0.437, P = 0.011; r = 0.385, P = 0.027). There was also significant negative correlation between testesterone serum levels and negative and total psychopathology scores (r = −0.352, P = 0.044; r = −0.429, P = 0.013). It was seen that pretreatment testerone levels had a significant biological marker on predicting remission when the serum levels were lower than 460,91 ng/dL.

This study shows that hypothalamo-hypophysial-gonadal axis hormones and reproductive hormones, especially testesterone, may be an important biological marker of treatment response prediction in first episode psychosis.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Antipsychotic drugs are effective in schizophrenic disorders, but they are also used to treat other psychiatric conditions. Typical antipsychotics cause important extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), which frequently result in non-compliance with antipsychotic medication. It has been stated that the second-generation antipsychotics (atypical) provoke EPS side effects less frequently than typical antipsychotics. However, there is some controversy around this statement, especially because of inefficient measures of EPS. Clinical assess of EPS normally relies upon observer-based ratings, but their reliability and validity has not been consistently established.

In the present work, we have explored the convergent and discriminant validity of the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) and the Simpson-Angus Scale (SEE), in a Spanish sample of patients with severe mental disorders. Patients could be under typical or atypical antipsychotics, antidepressants, benzodiacepines, or a combination of these.

Sixty-one patients with severe mental disorders from the Mental Health Day Hospital of St. Agustín (Linares, Spain) participated in the study. Inclusion criteria were DSM-V diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizophrenic disorder, bipolar, or borderline personality disorders, and age between 18-61. In order to explore the discrimination capacity of each rating scale, Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted.

ROC curves indicated a suitable construct validity of the scales in the measurement of drug-induced motor symptoms. However, the scales were not sensitive to the number of years under treatment.

In line with previous research, our results question the use of rating scales as the only measure in the evaluation of EPS symptoms.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

To assess the efficacy of Metacognitive Training (MCT) in symptoms and metacognitive variables in people with a recent onset of psychosis.

A multicenter, randomized and controlled clinical trial was performed. One hundred and twenty-six patients were randomized to MCT or a psycho-educational intervention. Patients with a recent onset of psychosis were recruited from 9 centers of Spain. The treatment consisted in 8 weekly sessions in both groups. Patients were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and 6 months of follow-up. Symptoms were assessed by the PANSS. Metacognition was assessed by a battery of questionnaires of cognitive biases and social cognition: BCIS, IPSAQ, TCI, Hinting task and Emotional Recognition Test.

PANSS positive symptoms significant declined between baseline and post-treatment in psycho-educational (P = 0.04) and MCT group (P = 0.01), while general PANSS and total PANSS were significant between baseline and post-treatment in the MCT group only (P = 0.008; P = 0.005). Across time, the MCT group was superior to psycho-educational on the BCIS total and self-certainty subscale (P = 0.042). Regarding irrational beliefs, the intolerance to frustration subscale declined more strongly in the MCT in relation to psycho-educational group (P = 0.016). ToM, Personalizing Bias and JTC improved more strongly in the MCT group compared to psycho-educational group (P < 0.001–0.032). Most results remained significant at the follow-up.

MCT could be an effective psychological intervention for people with a recent onset of psychosis in order to improve symptoms, insight, tolerance to frustration and personalizing bias.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The primary objective of this study was to determine if second generation antipsychotic (SGA) administration was associated with lower aggressiveness scores compared to first generation (FGA) in schizophrenia (SZ). The secondary objective was to determine if antidepressants, mood stabilizers and benzodiazepines administration were respectively associated with lower aggressiveness scores compared to patients who were not administered these medications.

Three hundred and thirty-one patients with schizophrenia (n = 255) or schizoaffective disorder (n = 76) (mean age = 32.5 years, 75.5% male gender) were systematically included in the network of FondaMental Expert Center for Schizophrenia and assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders and validated scales for psychotic symptomatology, insight and compliance. Aggressiveness was measured by the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) score. Ongoing psychotropic treatment was recorded.

Patients who received SGA had lower BPAQ scores than patients who did not (P = 0.01). On the contrary, patients who received benzodiazepines had higher BPAQ scores than patients who did not (P = 0.04). These results were found independently of socio-demographical variables, psychotic symptomatology, insight, compliance into treatment, daily-administered antipsychotic dose, the way of antipsychotic administration (oral vs long acting), current alcohol disorder and daily cannabis consumption.

The results of the present study are in favor of the choice of SGA in SZ patients with aggressiveness, but these results need further investigation in longitudinal studies. Given the potent side effects of benzodiazepines (especially dependency and cognitive impairment) and the results of the present study, their long-term prescription is not recommended in patients with schizophrenia and aggressive behavior.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Adequate emotion identification ability facilitates forming emotional relationships and effective communication. Patients suffering from schizophrenia have deficits in emotional recognition (ER), which leads to impaired social and occupational functioning.

To compare the differences in ER between the healthy control group (HC) and two patient groups at different phases of illness: first episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic, multi-episode schizophrenia (MEP).

To investigate the pattern of emotional recognition deficit during the course of schizophrenia.

We compared three groups of participants: MEP, FEP and HC, each containing 50 participants, based on their emotional recognition abilities using the Penn Emotion Recognition Task and The I FEEL Pictures. Patients were diagnosed using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria for schizophrenia (schizophreniform disorder) with their psychopathology rated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scale. Besides ER tasks, patients were administered self-evaluation scales for the assessment of quality of life, depression, suicidality, impulsivity, aggression, and relationship with their parents.

Our findings showed deficits in emotional recognition ability of both patient groups in comparison with HC, especially in the identification of negative emotions: sadness, fear and anger. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in the identification of happiness. First episode patients showed better results than the MEP group.

Although the FEP group was more successful than the ME group, our results showed that the emotional recognition impairment exists at a significant level even at the beginning of the illness.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Aripiprazole long-acting injection is the latest long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic medication released in the market which requires a monthly injection.

The aim of our study is to present our experience in the use of Aripiprazole long-acting injection as maintenance therapy in patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

Our sample consists of 20 patients who started treatment with long acting aripiprazole during the last 6 months of its release. Validated scales for collecting information on sociodemographic, clinical evaluation (CGI scale), quality of life (health questionnaire SF-36) and function (Sheehan Disability Inventory and social relationship scale SBS) were used.

The health condition of the patients was generally good and 68% reported feeling better than during the last year. Social functioning was adequate (level 1 or 2) in about 70% of the patients. Social, employment and family's disability was mild in 57% of cases, the average stress’ perception was 23% and the average social support perception was 72%. Regarding the clinical evaluation, in comparison to the initiation of the treatment 18% of the patients were slightly better, 45% moderately better and 36% much better.

A remarkable clinical improvement was observed, maintaining good health, with an acceptable level of functionality. This study shows that the incorporation of long-acting Aripiprazole to the treatment of our sample has been a significant improvement in overall functioning of the patient.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Neurocognition may represent an indicator of genetic risk and poor outcome in schizophrenia patients (SCZ) predicting real life functioning.

As cognitive performance of unaffected first-degree relatives (UR) is intermediate between SCZ and healthy controls (HC), neurocognitive impairment may represent a marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia.

To investigate social and neurocognition in all subjects and their impact on functional capacity of patients as markers of vulnerability.

Sample: 922 SCZ, 379 UR and 780 HC. Assessment: MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (neurocognition), Facial Emotion Identification Test and Awareness of Social Inference Test (social cognition) and Specific Level of Functioning Scale (social functioning). Analyses: Structural Equation Model (SEM) analyses to model the impact of all variables on functional outcome.

SCZ scored worse in all domains than UR and HC. UR had significant impairments in all cognitive domains with respect to HC. Cognitive functioning had direct and indirect impacts on functional outcome mainly through social cognition and functional capacity. Social cognition had a direct impact on outcome, independent of neurocognition.

SCZ and UR display similar patterns of social and neurocognition deficits. Our results confirm a strong impact of neurocogniton on functional outcome. Social cognition has become an interesting object of study and its conceptualization as trait variable and the existence of a continuum between SCZ and UR are hypotheses for further research.

The study was carried out within the project “Multicenter study on factors influencing real-life social functioning of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia” of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A consensus definition of symptomatic remission in schizophrenia was recently established based on a fixed threshold for symptom severity and a time component. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical relevance of this definition in a Chinese population and find the predictors of symptomatic remission, functional outcome and cognition.

Seventy-five schizophrenic patients were recruited within a period of 2 years. All patients need to prospectively be followed up in an outpatient clinic for at least 6 months. During this period, it was not allowed to adjust their medications. Three different definitions of symptomatic remission included the Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group (RSWG), clinical global impression (CGI) and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) was evaluated. In addition, the function and cognition was assessed as the measured outcomes. The prediction model of outcomes measurement was used for statistic analysis.

The cumulative percentage of achieving remission criteria among three different definitions of symptomatic remission was 52% in RSWG criteria, 63% in CGI and 65% in BPRS, respectively. In comparison of remitted and non-remitted groups, there were significant differences in sex, education, function and cognition in terms of RSWG definition but not in CGI and BPRS. Female gender and education were two factors for predicting symptomatic remission and function, whereas body mass index and education were two factors for prediction of better cognition.

Our study indicates that the definition of RSWG was more clinical relevant compared with CGI and BPRS in Chinese schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Schizophrenia (SZ) patients present subtle motor deficits known as Neurological Soft Signs (NSS). Those deficits encompass impairments of motor coordination, sequencing of complex motor acts and sensory integration. It has been shown that SZ patients present also deficits of higher motor functions as implicit motor learning. Growing number of studies indicate that both NSS and implicit motor learning deficits are associated with impairments of common cortico-cerebellar pathways, however relationship between these two deficits has not been evaluated yet.

To assess NSS and implicit motor learning in SZ patients.

To evaluate associations between NSS and implicit motor learning scores in SZ patients.

Twenty schizophrenia patients and 20 healthy controls were examined. Patients were under olanzapine, clozapine or quetiapine treatment. NSS were assessed with Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES). Implicit motor learning were assessed with a use of Serial Reaction Time Task.

SZ patients presented statistically higher NSS scores than healthy controls (P < 0.001) and presented no signs of implicit motor learning. There was statistically significant negative correlation between implicit motor learning score and total score of neurological soft signs (r = −0.44), sequence of motor acts subscore (r = −0.54) and sensory integration subscore (r = −0.47) in SZ patients group (P < 0.05).

There is association between implicit motor learning deficits and neurological soft signs in SZ patients.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A certain degree of depressive symptoms is common in schizophrenic patients. The assessment and treatment of depressive symptoms in schizophrenia is clinically challenging.

We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the depressive dimension of schizophrenic patients.

The aim was to evaluate the effect of pharmacotherapy on depressive symptomatology.

Thirty-four outpatients (18-65 years old) with stable schizophrenia in monotherapy with FGAs or SGAs. We evaluated: depressive symptoms with Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia; positive and negative symptoms (with Positive and Negative Symptom Scale); neurocognition (with Matrics Cognitive Consensus Battery); social cognition (with Facial Emotional Identification Test); social functioning (with Personal and Social Performance Scale and with UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment). Collected data underwent statistical analyses.

A SGAs therapy was associated with: lower depressive symptoms (mean SGAs group = 4.0; mean FGAs group = 7.86, P < 0.05); lower mean positive symptoms (mean SGAs group = 12.65; mean FGAs group = 17.43, P < 0.05); lower negative symptoms (mean SGAs group = 21.35; mean FGAs group = 29.07, P < 0.05); lower scores on the PANSS-total (mean SGAs group = 71.05; mean FGAs group = 91.86, P < 0.01). After correction for multiple variables, the SGAs group still had significantly lower values towards the FGAs group (P < 0.05).

Our study support the notion that switch from a FGA to a SGA could be a relatively simple first-step for the treatment of this condition. Atypical antipsychotics might exercise antidepressant effects with different potential mechanism including: remission of a FGA-induced depression and action on of 5-hydroxytryptamine, dopamine [other than postsynaptic D2], and α1-noradrenergic receptor sites.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Second-generation long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) constitute a valuable alternative for the treatment of schizophrenia and combine advantages of both long-acting injectable drugs and atypical antipsychotics. Realistic, naturalistic studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of LAIs on specific cluster of symptoms.

To collect clinical and functioning outcomes in outpatients with schizophrenia treated with LAIs during a follow-up period of 6 months.

To determine the impact on symptoms and functioning of second-generation LAIs.

It is a 6-month naturalistic, observational, prospective, non-interventional study of patients diagnosed with DSM-V schizophrenia disorder. Clinical data were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). For statistical analysis, we used the Wallwork's five-factor model of the PANSS.

A total of 50 schizophrenia patients (70% male; mean age: 36.2 ± 10.4) referred to the Depot Clinic at Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome was included. Eight patients received treatment with risperidone LAI (RLAI), 20 with paliperidone-palmitate LAI (PLAI), 10 with olanzapine-pamoate LAI (OLAI) and 12 with aripiprazole LAI (ALAI). LAIs were overall associated with improved functioning and positive symptoms; OLAI, ALAI e PLAI correlated with improved negative symptoms, RLAI, OLAI e PLAI with improved disorganised/concrete symptoms, OLAI e PLAI with improved excited symptoms; ALAI improved depressive symptoms.

Over the 6-month period, LAIs were associated with improved functioning and illness severity in schizophrenia patients with different symptoms profile. Treatment with PLAI and OLAI showed the major clinical advantages, whereas only ALAI correlated with improved depressive symptoms.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Stigma towards people with mental illness can have very negative consequences for the persons that experience it. So, it becomes strongly necessary to combat this problem.

Evaluate the effectiveness of multiple interventions to reduce stigma against mental illness in a group of high school students.

Quasi-experimental study. Seventy-six students between 16 to 19 years old from 3 schools of southern Madrid State participated. No significant differences in age and gender between groups were found. The quasi-control group was obtained from 3 different classrooms (1 in each school). This group did not go through any treatment. The experimental group had 2 treatments. Treatment “A” consisted in 1 psychoeducation session. Treatment “B” was 1 visit (real or virtual) to the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum. Persons exercising as museum guides had been diagnosed with mental illness. They already were participants in the PCEA program of the CRPS Latina. The instrument to assess stigma was the AQ-27, validated in Spanish.

We found significant reductions of stigma in all dimensions explored: Anger (A vs BC; P < 0.001), Threat (A vs BC; P < 0.001), Fear (A vs BC; P < 0.001), Coercion (A vs BC; P < 0.001) Segregation (A vs BC; P < 0.001) and Avoidance (A vs BC; P < 0.001).

The combination of treatments for intervention on stigma in samples of school students seems to be a very effective option to reduce stigma.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Current research suggested that avolition in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) is not due to a deficit of hedonic experience, but to a poor ability to translate pleasurable experiences into motivational states. In line with this hypothesis, several evidences showed a preserved hedonic experience, even in the presence of severe trait anhedonia and avolition in SCZ.

To test the hypothesis that memory dysfunction, generally found in SCZ, could lead to inaccurate representations of emotional experiences and interfere with translation of pleasurable experience in motivation.

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationships between state and trait anhedonia, avolition and cognitive functioning in 35 SCZ.

In SCZ and matched healthy controls (HC) the Temporal experience of Pleasure (TEPS) and Chapman's scales were used to assess trait anhedonia. The MID task was used to assess in-the-moment hedonic experience. Avolition was measured by the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome. MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery was used to assess cognition.

SCZ did not differ from HC on TEPS or on MID task performance but reported higher scores for trait social anhedonia. Trait social anhedonia was associated with memory dysfunction and showed a correlation with avolition.

Our results confirm the disjunction between state and trait anhedonia and demonstrate a relationship of the latter with memory impairment and avolition, suggesting that inaccurate representations of emotional experiences might impede their translation in motivation to act.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.