Deficits in emotion processing are core features of psychotic disorders. Electrophysiology research in schizophrenia suggests deficits in sustained engagement with emotional content (indexed by the late positive potential [LPP]) may contribute to emotion processing impairments. Despite similar behavioral emotion processing dysfunction in those at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, limited research has examined neural mechanisms of impaired emotion processing in the high-risk period, where research can inform risk models. To examine mechanisms of emotion processing deficits in those at CHR for psychosis, the present study used a passive viewing task to elicit the LPP in response to emotionally engaging and neutral stimuli in 28 CHR and 32 control participants (60% female). Relative to controls, CHR participants showed reduced LPP amplitude when viewing unpleasant images (d = 0.75, p = .005) but similar LPP amplitude in response to both neutral (d = 0.35, p = .19) and pleasant images (d = 0.31, p = .24). This pattern suggests that individuals at CHR for psychosis exhibit a deficit in sustained engagement with unpleasant stimuli. Clinical and trait questionnaires were administered to examine potential exploratory explanations for group differences in LPP amplitude. Consistent with evidence suggesting LPP amplitude reflects engagement of approach/avoidance motivational systems, greater LPP amplitude was associated with greater trait-level behavioral avoidance in control participants (r = .42, p = .032) but not CHR participants (r = -.21, p = .40). Together, the present research is consistent with LPP studies in psychosis and implicates reduced sustained engagement with emotional content in the high-risk period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

---

精神病综合征的临床高风险与对不愉快图像的神经反应减弱有关。

情绪处理缺陷是精神障碍的核心特征。精神分裂症的电生理学研究表明，持续参与情绪内容的缺陷（以晚期正电位 [LPP] 为索引）可能会导致情绪处理障碍。尽管精神病临床高风险（CHR）患者也存在类似的行为情绪处理功能障碍，但有限的研究检查了高风险时期情绪处理受损的神经机制，研究可以为风险模型提供信息。为了检查 CHR 精神病患者情绪处理缺陷的机制，本研究使用被动观看任务来引发 28 名 CHR 和 32 名对照参与者（60% 女性）对情感参与和中性刺激的 LPP 反应。相对于对照组，CHR 参与者在观看不愉快的图像 (d = 0.75，p = .005) 时表现出较低的 LPP 幅度，但在观看中性 (d = 0.35，p = .19) 和愉快的图像 (d = 0.31) 时 LPP 幅度相似，p = .24)。这种模式表明，在 CHR 接受精神病治疗的个体在持续参与不愉快的刺激方面表现出缺陷。进行临床和性状调查问卷，以检查 LPP 幅度组差异的潜在探索性解释。与表明 LPP 幅度反映接近/回避动机系统的参与的证据一致，较大的 LPP 幅度与对照参与者 (r = .42，p = .032) 较大的特质水平行为回避相关，但与 CHR 参与者无关 (r = -。 21，p = .40）。总之，目前的研究与 LPP 对精神病的研究一致，并表明在高风险时期对情感内容的持续参与减少。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。