The level of cognitive function and recognition of emotions in older adults.

Marianna Virtanen,Catherine J Harmer,G David Batty,Klaus P Ebmeier,Archana Singh-Manoux,Markus Jokela,Mika Kivimäki,André Aleman

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185513

Abstract

BackgroundThe association between cognitive decline and the ability to recognise emotions in interpersonal communication is not well understood. We aimed to investigate the association between cognitive function and the ability to recognise emotions in other people’s facial expressions across the full continuum of cognitive capacity.MethodsCross-sectional analysis of 4039 participants (3016 men, 1023 women aged 59 to 82 years) in the Whitehall II study. Cognitive function was assessed using a 30-item Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), further classified into 8 groups: 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, and <24 (possible dementia) MMSE points. The Facial Expression Recognition Task (FERT) was used to examine recognition of anger, fear, disgust, sadness, and happiness.ResultsThe multivariable adjusted difference in the percentage of accurate recognition between the highest and lowest MMSE group was 14.9 (95%CI, 11.1–18.7) for anger, 15.5 (11.9–19.2) for fear, 18.5 (15.2–21.8) for disgust, 11.6 (7.3–16.0) for sadness, and 6.3 (3.1–9.4) for happiness. However, recognition of several emotions was reduced already after 1 to 2-point reduction in MMSE and with further points down in MMSE, the recognition worsened at an accelerated rate.ConclusionsThe ability to recognize emotion in facial expressions is affected at an early stage of cognitive impairment and might decline at an accelerated rate with the deterioration of cognitive function. Accurate recognition of happiness seems to be less affected by a severe decline in cognitive performance than recognition of negatively valued emotions.

Highlights

The ability to recognize emotions is a key element in maintaining interpersonal relationships in aging and an important resource for mental health [1]
We aimed to investigate the association between cognitive function and the ability to recognise emotions in other people’s facial expressions across the full continuum of cognitive capacity
Recognition of several emotions was reduced already after 1 to 2-point reduction in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and with further points down in MMSE, the recognition worsened at an accelerated rate

Summary

Introduction

The ability to recognize emotions is a key element in maintaining interpersonal relationships in aging and an important resource for mental health [1]. Poorer recognition of emotions in facial expressions has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease [4, 7, 8] in which interpersonal problems have been identified as important targets for intervention [9]. Cognitive function, such as short-term memory, speed of reasoning and reaction time, tend to decrease at older ages even in the absence of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease. We aimed to investigate the association between cognitive function and the ability to recognise emotions in other people’s facial expressions across the full continuum of cognitive capacity

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion