Since RDoC domains aim to examine constructs that relate to basic neurobiological processes, abnormalities would have implications across phenotypically defined disorders. The emotion identification test was applied in the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes. They reported progressively increased deficits compared to controls from bipolar disorder to schizoaffective disorder to schizophrenia. There was some specificity of effects related to the emotion, with proband and relative groups showing similar deficits for angry and neutral faces, while schizophrenia probands had deficits for fearful, happy and sad faces (Ruocco et al., 2014). This finding is consistent with the pattern of emotion identification deficits observed in relatives of probands with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders who had bipolar illness (Calkins et al., 2010). Thus, emotion identification deficits are evident across psychosis and recruiting individuals to studies based on performance on social cognition measures could shade light on a spectrum of severe psychiatric disorders as envisioned by the RDoC.
