Abstract
Using still pictures of emotional facial expressions as experimental stimuli, reduced amygdala responses or impaired recognition of basic emotions were repeatedly found in people with psychopathic traits. The amygdala also plays an important role in short‐latency facial mimicry responses. Since dynamic emotional facial expressions may have higher ecological validity than still pictures, we compared short‐latency facial mimicry responses to dynamic and static emotional expressions between adolescents with psychopathic traits and normal controls. Facial EMG responses to videos or still pictures of emotional expressions (happiness, anger, sadness, fear) were measured. Responses to 500‐ms dynamic expressions in videos, as well as the subsequent 1500‐ms phase of maximal (i.e., static) expression, were compared between male adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders and high (n = 14) or low (n = 17) callous‐unemotional (CU) traits, and normal control subjects (n = 32). Responses to still pictures were also compared between groups. EMG responses to dynamic expressions were generally significantly smaller in the high‐CU group than in the other two groups, which generally did not differ. These group differences gradually emerged during the 500‐ms stimulus presentation period but in general they were already seen a few hundred milliseconds after stimulus onset. Group differences were absent during the 1500‐ms phase of maximal expression and during exposure to still pictures. Subnormal short‐latency mimicry responses to dynamic emotional facial expressions in the high‐CU group might have negative consequences for understanding emotional facial expressions of others during daily life when human facial interactions are primarily dynamic.
Highlights
Children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD), including the DSM-5 categories of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), exhibit various forms of antisocial behavior
It is involved in the earliest, automatic responses to emotional facial expressions, in particular dynamic expressions (Adolphs, 2002)
In the current study we investigated whether adolescents with DBD and high or low CU traits showed abnormalities in short-latency mimicry responses, to dynamic emotional facial expressions
Summary
Children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD), including the DSM-5 categories of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), exhibit various forms of antisocial behavior. The amygdala might play an important role in short- latency facial mimicry responses It is involved in the earliest, automatic responses to emotional facial expressions, in particular dynamic expressions (Adolphs, 2002). In the current study we investigated whether adolescents with DBD and high or low CU traits showed abnormalities in short-latency mimicry responses, to dynamic emotional facial expressions. The major question of our study was whether adolescents with high CU traits showed abnormal short-latency mimicry responses to dynamic emotional expressions. For this purpose we analyzed facial EMG responses during subsequent 100-ms intervals following onset of 500-ms video clips
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