ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Faux Pas Test in schizophrenic patients

Teste de Faux Pas em pacientes com esquizofrenia
Juliana Negro1, Henrique Teruo Akiba2, Vivian Renne Gerber Lederman1, lvaro Machado Dias2
ABSTRACT

Keywords
Schizophrenia, social
cognition, Faux Pas
Recognition Test.

Objective: The aim of this study is to validate the adult version of Faux Pas Recognition Test
created by Stone and colleagues (1998) as a reliable instrument assess and discriminate social cognition among schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with a total of 196 participants (mean age = 26.45; CI (95%) [25.10; 27.83]) 51%
male. From those, 44 (22.4%) patients with schizophrenia and 152 (77.6%) healthy controls.
The participants answered a short version of the Faux Pas Recognition Test, composed by
10 stories. Results: Significant differences were found between both groups regarding their
scores on Faux Pas Recognition Test (p = 0.003). Patients with schizophrenia had lower score,
compared to healthy controls. Story 14 was the best to distinguish both groups, and Story 16,
the worst. Among the questions of Faux Pas stories, the one related to intuition presented the
most significant difference between the groups (p = 0.001), followed by the one related to
understanding (p = 0.003). Conclusion: The Brazilian version of the Faux Pas Recognition Test
is a valid test to assess social cognition in schizophrenia and can be an important instrument
to be used on the clinical practice.

RESUMO

Palavras-chave
Esquizofrenia, cognio
social, Teste de
Reconhecimento de
Faux Pas.

Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo validar a verso brasileira da verso adulta do Teste
de Reconhecimento de Faux pas criado por Stone e colaboradores (1998) como um instrumento confivel para avaliar e discriminar a cognio social entre pessoas com esquizofrenia
e controles saudveis. Mtodos: Trata-se de um estudo transversal com um total de 196
participantes (idade mdia = 26,45; IC (95%) [25,10; 27,83]), sendo 51% homens; destes, 44
(22,4%) eram pessoas com esquizofrenia e 152 (77,6%), controles saudveis. Os participantes
responderam a uma verso reduzida do Teste de Reconhecimento de Faux Pas, contendo 10
histrias. Resultados: Foram encontradas diferenas significativas entre grupos no Teste de
Reconhecimento de Faux Pas (p = 0,003). Pessoas com esquizofrenia obtiveram menor pontuao comparadas com o grupo controle. A histria 14 foi a mais eficiente para distinguir os
grupos, ao passo que a histria 16 foi a pior. Quanto s questes das histrias Faux Pas, aquela
referente intuio foi a que apresentou maior diferena entre grupos (p = 0,001) seguida
por compreenso (p = 0,003). Concluso: A verso brasileira do Teste de Reconhecimento
de Faux Pas um instrumento vlido para avaliar a cognio social em esquizofrenia e pode
ser um instrumento importante a ser usado na prtica clnica.

1 Presbyterian Mackenzie University, Developmental Disorders Program.

2 University of So Paulo, Institute of Psychology.
Received in
6/15/2015
Approved in
2/4/2016

DOI: 10.1590/0047-2085000000098

Address for correspondence: Juliana Gioia Negro

Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie. Rua Piau, 181, Higienpolis
01241-001 So Paulo, SP, Brazil.
E-mail: [email protected]

18

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Negro J et al.

INTRODUCTION
Schizophrenic patients suffer from impaired social functioning1, such as compromised empathy and difficulties to initiate and maintain social interactions2. These difficulties are
related to impaired social cognition, which expresses itself
in traits such as abnormal perception and interpretation of
others intentions, ability known as Theory of Mind (ToM)1.
ToM is the ability of a person to attribute mental states,
as beliefs, thoughts, intentions to oneself and others, understanding the distinction between agencies in both cases4.
Among other impaired social cognition abilities, ToM deficits
have been suggested as trait markers for schizophrenia, even
in remission patients and has been found to be present in
first degree relatives4-6.
The ability to prospect someone elses intentionality is
linked to brain activity in different areas, among which the
ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) and temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) play a prominent role7. Schizophrenia is
a pervasive syndrome with symptoms that involve serious
social cognitive deficits, which have been correlated with
impaired brain activation in the two above-mentioned areas:
VMPC and TPJ8.
ToM abilities can be evaluated using different tasks as stories or pictures reporting false beliefs, irony, faux pas or intentionality5,9. Studies with Mental State Attribution were initially
done with autistic population6. Stone et al.10 developed the
adult version of Faux Pas Recognition Test, which consists of
stories describing Faux Pas situations, where characters interact and unintentionally say socially inadequate sentences.
In order to understand the story, the subject must recognize
that the character who said the sentence did not intend to
offend the other character, and also assess the other interlocutors feelings and describe how he must have felt in face of
the socially awkward saying. After story presentation, a few
questions are made in order to evaluate this process.
Previous studies showed significant difference between
schizophrenic patients, their relatives and healthy controls
in ToM index, evaluated by the Faux Pas Recognition Test.
This index revealed a moderate to strong association with
scores in the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), showing correlation between the intensity of
negative symptoms and worse performance in Faux Pas recognition in schizophrenic patients and even in their relatives.
Mental State Attribution deficit could be influenced by genetics, and could be considered an endophenotype of this
disease11,12.
The Faux Pas Recognition Test is a well-known instrument used to evaluate ToM in individuals with Autism
Spectrum Disorders. Although, schizophrenic patients have
similar ToM deficits, few instruments are able to target this
function in this population.
J Bras Psiquiatr. 2016;65(1):17-21.

The present study aims to validate a reduced, translated

to Portuguese and cultural-adapted version of the Faux Pas
Recognition Test as a reliable instrument to discriminate
Mental State Attribution between Schizophrenia patients
and matched healthy controls. The hypothesis is that schizophrenia patients should have lower scores compared to
healthy controls. Our perspective is that this test can be of
great clinical use.

METHODS
The ethical committee of the Federal University of So Paulo where the study was developed approved this study
(09/54836-7). All participants agreed and signed the informed consent form, which was read and explained. Participants received an identification number to preserve their
identity.
This cross-sectional study engaged 196 participants: 44
schizophrenia patients recruited from The Schizophrenia
Program of the Federal University of So Paulo (PROESQ), a
day-treatment program dedicated to schizophrenia and related disorders, and 152 healthy control volunteers.
The inclusion criteria for the clinical group (S) were: (i)
Individuals with schizophrenia, diagnosed accordingly to
the DSM-IV criteria and the Positive and Negative Syndrome
Scale13; (ii) a minimum timespan of six months, in which the
severe symptoms must be maintained. (iii) Age between 18
and 50 years. The inclusion criteria for the control group (C)
were: (i) age between 18 and 35 years; (ii) score less than 7
points on Psychiatric Screening Questionnaire (SRQ-20)14,
(iii) do not have either psychiatric or neurological disease
history. The exclusion criteria were: (i) inability to diagnose
schizophrenia, (ii) schizoaffective disorder; (iii) or inability to
provide informed consent.
Ten stories (2, 3, 5, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, and 20) of Faux
Pas Recognition Test11 were translated to Brazilian Portuguese and culturally adapted to Brazilian culture. A group composed by specialists in social cognition chose these stories
and the final version was approved by judges with at least
PhD degree. Five of the chosen stories were control conditions stories, without a faux pas (3, 5, 8, 17, 20); and five were
Faux Pas stories (2, 11, 14, 16 and 18). Each subject listened
and read the stories and answered eight standard questions
afterwards. Six of the questions were directly related to the
Faux Pas situation (1 and 2 Faux Pas detection; 3 understanding inappropriateness; 4 intention; 5 belief and 6
empathy) and the last two (questions 7 and 8), control questions, to assure the story comprehension, as described by
Stone et al. (1998)10. To ensure that the given answers were
not affected by the lack of understanding of the story, only
stories which had the last two answers correctly answered

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Faux Pas Test in schizophrenic patients

were accounted on the analysis. The reliability of the answers

of each question was verified between groups. The data collection was made in a single individual session.
To analyze the results of this experiment the Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests were employed for group comparison. Non-parametric statistics were used since normality
approximations were rejected by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.
The comparison of the weight of each question, story and
factor to discriminate (C) and (S) groups was performed using
Logistic Regression. Cronbachs alpha coefficient was performed to evaluate internal consistency of the Faux Pas Recognition Test. The established significance level was p < 0.05.

RESULTS
Groups were matched by gender (2 (1) = 1.280, p = 0.297),
however, significant differences were found between age
(u = 8,807, p < 0.001) and socioeconomic status (u = -6,107,
p < 0.001). While the (S) group was composed by 59% males, mean age 39 11 years, 52% of the subjects in A or B
economic status by the ABIPEME Index (2012) the (C) group,
had 48% males, mean age 22 4 years, having 89% of the
subjects in the A or B economic status.
The five control stories (3, 5, 8, 17 and 20) were understood by both (S) and (C) groups with no significant differences (p = 0.859) (Table 1). On the other hand, story 16, one
of the five Faux Pas stories, was not understood by the (S)
group, as assessed by the control questions in this story.

19

The (S) group presented a significant difference with the (C)

group (p = 0.03) in this story, so it was withdrawn from the
analysis. The calculated Cronbachs alpha for the (S) group
was 0.933 and 0.944 for the (C) group.
Among the four Faux Pas stories understood by both
groups (stories 2, 11, 14 and 18), story 11 did not show significant values for identifying failure of Mental State Attribution
(p = 0.351). Conversely, story 14 seemed to be the best for
discrimination of ToM performance, and logistic regression
infers that for each point achieved in this story, there is a
350% increase in the chance of the individual to be healthy.
In story 2, each point increases chance in 82% of the individual to be healthy, while in story 18, each point increase the
chance by 43% (Table 1).
Table 2 represents the results of the Comprehension
Questions of all the 10 stories. The (C) and (S) group showed
significant differences responding only to Faux Pas questions
(p = 0.003), while control questions were answered with no
significant differences (p = 0.081).
Regarding the questions of the Faux Pas 4 stories (2, 11,
14, and 18), the two controls (questions 7 and 8) were understood by both groups, with no significant differences
(p = 0.244), fitting their purpose. For the remaining questions
(1 to 6), which relate directly to a Faux Pas situation, significant differences between the groups were observed and
each question served its purpose. Question 4 (Intuition) was
shown to be the one that most significantly discriminates
both groups (p = 0,001; OR = 3.76), followed by question 3
(Understanding) (p = 0,003; OR = 2.63) (Table 3).

Table 1. Performance on the Stories Comprehension in total Faux Pas Test

Group (Mean SD)

95% CI for OR

Faux Pas

Controls
(n = 152)

Schizophrenia
(n = 44)

P-value

Odds Ratio
(OR)

Lower

Upper

FPH2*

5.81 0.51

4.09 2.23

0.040

1.82

1.03

3.22

FPH11*

5.62 1.22

4.05 2.30

0.351

1.17

0.84

1.62

FPH14*

5.89 0.71

3.11 2.64

< 0.001

3.52

1.78

6.94

FPH16*

5.63 1.22

2.64 2.63

0.001

2.38

1.44

3.92

FPH18*

5.41 1.63

3.73 2.42

0.016

1.43

1.07

1.91

FPH CONTROL

9.51 1.10

8.14 2.81

0.859

1.03

0.73

1.45

* Items 1 to 6 of each story are included.

** FPH CONTROL is the sum of FPH3, FPH5, FPH8, FPH17, FPH20.

Table 2. Performance on the Comprehension Questions in total Faux Pas Test

Group (Mean SD)

Faux Pas Question

95% CI for OR

Odds Ratio
(OR)

Lower

Upper

1.07

1.36

Controls
(n = 152)

Schizophrenia
(n = 44)

P-value*

32.24 3.24

23.11 8.90

0.003

1.21

Control Question

17.75 0.57

16.18 2.58

0.081

1.88

0.92

3.81

Total

49.99 3.36

39.30 10.46

0.003

1.2

1.06

1.35

* p-value from Logistic Regression controlling by age and social economic status.

J Bras Psiquiatr. 2016;65(1):17-21.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Negro J et al.

20

Table 3. Questions Performance on the 5 stories of the Faux Pas Test

Group (Mean SD)
Faux Pas

95% CI for OR

Controls

Schizophrenia

(n = 152)

(n = 44)

P-value

Odds Ratio
(OR)

Lower

Upper

Detection

7.72 0.86

5.77 2.59

0.006

1.98

1.21

3.23

Understanding

3.81 0.57

2.23 1.55

0.003

2.63

1.38

5.02

Intuition

3.74 0.59

1.98 1.55

0.001

3.76

1.75

8.07

Belief

3.77 0.55

2.64 1.46

0.010

2.69

1.26

5.74

Empathy

3.69 0.60

2.36 1.42

0.006

2.71

1.32

5.54

Story Comprehension

7.89 0.33

7.36 1.20

0.244

1.76

0.68

4.57

Stories included 1, 5, 6, 9.
p-value Logistic Regression controlling by age and social economic status.
Story Comprehension is the sum of FPH1C1, FPH1C2, FPH5C1, FPH5C2, FPH6C1, FPH6C2, FPH9C!, FPH9C2.

DISCUSSION
Studies about mental state attributions in patients with schizophrenia point to the existence of a failure in agency attribution of mental states and behaviors, which have deep
nosological connection to other symptoms of the syndrome.
From the perspective of the cognitive dimension, affected
subjects tend to have impairments in working memory, visual memory, verbal memory, verbal learning and visual stimuli, processing speed, executive functions and social cognition15,16. Other studies have shown the association of these
deficits with gray matter reduction in the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, superior temporal
gyrus and Insular; and less activation of the angular gyrus,
inferior parietal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus and left middle
temporal gyrus; thalamus, hippocampus and striatum may
and intraparietal sulcus may be affected. The cortico-striato-thalamic circuitry may be strongly related to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia17.
Several studies have shown how difficult it is for individuals suffering with acute schizophrenic manifestations to
properly deal with other peoples intentions and actions. The
Faux Pas Recognition Test is well established as an instrument that measures such qualifications through the recognition of gaffes, proved to be consolidated in the ASD (Autistic
Syndrome Disorder) field18, differentiating them from healthy individual. However, little literature is found about its use
in the assessment of schizophrenic patients, and there are no
studies using it as a validated instrument in Brazil19,20.
The selected control stories served their purpose and
were recognized by both groups. Faux Pas stories also served their purpose, allowing the discrimination between
groups, except for story 16, which was removed to avoid
interpretation biases; as both groups exhibited difficulties
in comprehending it. Within the Faux Pas stories, all questions have shown relevance in identifying flaws in assigning
mental status, being all equally important. Even with an understanding of the stories, the schizophrenic group failed to
J Bras Psiquiatr. 2016;65(1):17-21.

accomplish the Faux Pas. Similar results were found by other

researchers21,22.
Failure to detect the social inadequacy of a sentence and
understand the characters feelings in a story involving social
interaction, may suggest how these individuals fail to understand social situations of their daily life23. Hasson-Ohayon
et al.24 showed that individuals with schizophrenia have poor
performance on metacognition and social cognition tasks
impacting the social quality of their lives.
Another important characteristic of schizophrenic individuals is that they have difficulty distinguishing subjectivity
and objectivity, as shown by the results of Faux Pas Recognition Test applied in them. Therefore, their misfit in relation
to the environment increased the likelihood of a poor response to the applied task, because of their altered information processing25. In a meta-analysis conducted by Bora et al.5
found that cognitive deficits have intimate relation with ToM
on patients with schizophrenia. These impairments remain
even after symptom remission, suggesting that this cognitive disorder is a central trait in schizophrenia, associated
with the way the individual relates socially, regardless of the
environment26.
This study aimed to elucidate how a reduced version
translated into Portuguese and culturally adapted Faux Past
Test10 is able to point out disparities in allocation of mental
status between a group of schizophrenics and control group.
In support of the hypothesis, it was observed that patients
with schizophrenia have a major deficit of allocation mental status, compared to healthy controls, suggesting that the
Faux Pas Recognition Test is suitable for measuring this cognitive process.
This study have common limitations regarding cross-sectional studies, making it difficult to make causal inferences,
the results may differ if another time-frame had been chosen
and it also may be affected by the prevalence-incidence bias.
Although statistics corrections in an effort to avoid any bias,
another important limitation to this study is the difference
between samples regarding size, age and economic status.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Finally, we used a single instrument to assess social cognition, as, until the moment of data collection, there was no
other validated instrument to assess social cognition availa
ble in Brazil.

Faux Pas Test in schizophrenic patients

21

5. Bora E, Yucel M, Pantelis C. Theory of mind impairment in schizophrenia: meta-analysis.

Schizophr Res. 2009;109(1-3):1-9.
6. Janssen I, Krabbendam L, Jolles J, van Os J. Alterations in theory of mind in patients with
schizophrenia and nonpsychotic relatives. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2003;108(2):110-7.
7. Saxe R, Wexler A. Making sense of another mind: the role of the right temporo-parietal
junction. Neuropsychologia. 2005;43(10):1391-9.

CONCLUSION

8. Saxe R, Kanwisher N. People thinking about thinking people. The role of the temporoparietal junction in theory of mind. Neuroimage. 2003;19(4):1835-42.

The Brazilian version of the Faux Pas Recognition Test is a

valid instrument to access individuals suffering with schizophrenia. It is one of the few instruments available for ToM
assessment in Brazil. Further studies with a larger cohort
should follow this work, as well as a longitudinal study.

9. Brne M. Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia: a review of the literature. Schizophr Bull.

2005;31(1):21-42.

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Juliana Negro Wrote the manuscript draft and conduc
ted the statistical analysis.
Henrique Teruo Akiba Translated and adapted the
instrument, collected data, supervised the statistical analysis
and critically reviewed the paper.
Vivian Renne Gerber Lederman Assisted on the composition of the manuscript draft and critically reviewed the
paper.
lvaro Machado Dias Led the team, created the study
design and critically reviewed the paper.

10. Stone VE, Baron-Cohen S, Knight RT. Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. J Cogn
Neurosci. 1998;10(5):640-56.
11. Martino DJ, Bucay D, Butman JT, Allegri RF. Neuropsychological frontal impairments and
negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res. 152:121-8.
12. de Achval D, Costanzo EY, Villarreal M, Juregui IO, Chiodi A, Castro MN, et al. Emotion
processing and theory of mind in schizophrenia patients and their unaffected first-degree
relatives. Neuropsychologia. 2010;48(5):1209-15.
13. Chaves AC, Shirukawa I. Escala das sndromes negativa e positiva PANSS e seu uso no
Brasil. Rev Psiq Clin. 1998;25(6):337-43.
14. Berwick DM, Murphy JM, Goldman PA, Ware JE Jr, Barsky AJ, Weinstein MC. Performance
of a five-item mental health screening test. Med Care. 1991;29(2):169-76.
15. Nuechterlein KH, Barch DM, Gold JM, Goldberg TE, Green MF, Heaton RK. Identification of
separable cognitive factors in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 2004;72(1):29-39.
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das perturbaes do pensamento e linguagem na esquizofrenia. Psilogos. 2005;2(1):3952.
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ConflictS of interest

19. Caletti E, Paoli RA, Fiorentini A, Cigliobianco M, Zugno E, Serati M, et al. Neuropsychology,
social cognition and global functioning among bipolar, schizophrenic patients and healthy
controls: preliminary data. Front Hum Neurosci. 2013;7:661.

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

20. Gil AC. Mtodos e tcnicas de pesquisa social. So Paulo: Atlas; 1999.

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J Bras Psiquiatr. 2016;65(1):17-21.