Deficits In Recognition Of Facial Expressions Research Articles

Facial expression recognition deficits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analytic investigation of effects of phenotypic variant, task modality, geographical region and symptomatic specificity.

Deficits in social cognition may be present in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we conduct a qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis of facial expression recognition studies in which we compare the deficits between both disorders. Furthermore, we investigate the specificity of the deficit regarding phenotypic variant, domain-specificity, emotion category, task modality, and geographical region. The results reveal that both FTD and AD are associated with facial expression recognition deficits, that this deficit is more pronounced in FTD compared to AD and that this applies for the behavioral as well as for language FTD-variants, with no difference between the latter two. In both disorders, overall emotion recognition was most frequently impaired, followed by recognition of anger in FTD and by fear in AD. Verbal categorization was the most frequently used task, although matching or intensity rating tasks may be more specific. Studies from Oceania revealed larger deficits. On the other hand, non-emotional control tasks were more impacted by AD than by FTD. The present findings sharpen the social cognitive phenotype of FTD and AD, and support the use of social cognition assessment in late-life neuropsychiatric disorders.

Facial expressions recognition and discrimination in Parkinson's disease.

Emotion processing impairment is a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson's Disease (PD). Previous literature reported conflicting results concerning, in particular, the performance for different emotions, the relation with cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms and the affected stage of processing. This study aims at assessing emotion recognition and discrimination in PD. Recognition of six facial expressions was studied in order to clarify its relationship with motor, cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Sensitivity in discriminating happy and fearful faces was investigated to address controversial findings on impairment in early stages of emotion processing. To do so, seventy PD patients were tested with the Ekman 60 Faces test and compared with 46 neurologically unimpaired participants. Patients' performances were correlated with clinical scales and neuropsychological tests. A subsample of 25 PD patients and 25 control participants were also tested with a backward masking paradigm for sensitivity in happiness and fear discrimination. Results showed that PD patients were impaired in facial emotion recognition, especially for fearful expressions. The performance correlated with perceptual, executive and general cognitive abilities, but facial expression recognition deficits were present even in cognitively unimpaired patients. In contrast, patients' sensitivity in backward masking tasks was not reduced as compared to controls. Taken together our data demonstrate that facial emotion recognition, and fear expression in particular, is critically affected by neurodegeneration in PD and related to cognitive abilities; however, it appears before other cognitive impairments. Preserved performances in discriminating shortly presented facial expressions, suggest unimpaired early stages of emotion processing.

Facial expression recognition in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Facial expression recognition is an important social cognitive skill. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects cognitive function. Whether facial expression recognition deficits and attention bias exist in T2DM is unknown. Facial expression search task is a commonly used paradigm to measure emotional processing. In this study, facial expression recognition features of T2DM patients were studied by facial expression search task. Thirty outpatients with T2DM and 30 normal controls matched by sex, age and education etc. were selected. Standardized stick drawings with happy, neutral and sad emotion expressions were selected as stimulus materials, and facial expression search task was used to Search for expression targets in neutral interferers to compare the response time between the two groups. The reaction time of identifying the positive expression (happy) in the diabetic group and the control group was greater than that of the negative expression (sad). The response time of the diabetic group to identify positive expressions and negative expressions was greater than that of the control group. The slope of the search for positive expressions in the diabetic group was 419.14 ms, and the search slope for negative expressions in the diabetic group was 237.97 ms. The slope of the search for positive expressions in the control group was 300.4 ms, and that of the control group for negative expressions was 119.07 ms. In the diabetic group and the control group, the reaction time of identifying the positive expression was positively delayed compared with the negative expression, which showed a negative attention bias; Patients with type 2 diabetes significantly prolonged the response time of recognizing positive expression and negative expression without obvious clinical cognitive impairment.

Deficits in recognizing disgust facial expressions and Internet addiction: Perceived stress as a mediator

Studies have examined social maladjustment among individuals with Internet addiction, but little is known about their deficits in specific social skills and the underlying psychological mechanisms. The present study filled these gaps by (a) establishing a relationship between deficits in facial expression recognition and Internet addiction, and (b) examining the mediating role of perceived stress that explains this hypothesized relationship. Ninety-seven participants completed validated questionnaires that assessed their levels of Internet addiction and perceived stress, and performed a computer-based task that measured their facial expression recognition. The results revealed a positive relationship between deficits in recognizing disgust facial expression and Internet addiction, and this relationship was mediated by perceived stress. However, the same findings did not apply to other facial expressions. Ad hoc analyses showed that recognizing disgust was more difficult than recognizing other facial expressions, reflecting that the former task assesses a social skill that requires cognitive astuteness. The present findings contribute to the literature by identifying a specific social skill deficit related to Internet addiction and by unveiling a psychological mechanism that explains this relationship, thus providing more concrete guidelines for practitioners to strengthen specific social skills that mitigate both perceived stress and Internet addiction.

The ANKK1/DRD2 locus is a genomic substrate for affective priming and recognition of angry faces.

Ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing I (ANKK1) and dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) genes have been associated with psychopathic traits in clinical samples. On the other hand, individuals high in psychopathy show reduced affective priming and deficits in facial expression recognition. We have hypothesized that these emotion-related cognitive phenomena are associated with Taq IA (rs18000497) SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) of the ANKK1 gene and with C957T (rs6277) SNP of the DRD2 gene. We performed a genetic association analysis in 94 self-reported Caucasian healthy volunteers. The participants completed 144 trials of an affective priming task, in which primes and targets were emotional words. They also had to recognize 64 facial expressions of happiness, sadness, anger, and fear in an expression recognition task. Regarding the genetic analyses, Taq IA and C957T SNPs were genotyped. We found that the C957T SNP TT genotype was associated with a stronger priming effect and a better recognition of angry expressions. No associations were found for the Taq IA SNP. In addition, in silico analysis demonstrated that C957T SNP is a marker of a regulatory sequence at the 5' UTR of ANKK1 gene, thus suggesting the involvement of the whole ANKK1/DRD2 locus in cognitive-emotional processing. These results suggest that affective priming and recognition of angry facial expressions are endophenotypes that lie on the pathway between the ANKK1/DRD2 locus and some deviant phenotypes.

Anodal tDCS targeting the right orbitofrontal cortex enhances facial expression recognition.

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) has been implicated in the capacity to accurately recognise facial expressions. The aim of the current study was to determine if anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the right OFC in healthy adults would enhance facial expression recognition, compared with a sham condition. Across two counterbalanced sessions of tDCS (i.e. anodal and sham), 20 undergraduate participants (18 female) completed a facial expression labelling task comprising angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, sad and neutral expressions, and a control (social judgement) task comprising the same expressions. Responses on the labelling task were scored for accuracy, median reaction time and overall efficiency (i.e. combined accuracy and reaction time). Anodal tDCS targeting the right OFC enhanced facial expression recognition, reflected in greater efficiency and speed of recognition across emotions, relative to the sham condition. In contrast, there was no effect of tDCS to responses on the control task. This is the first study to demonstrate that anodal tDCS targeting the right OFC boosts facial expression recognition. This finding provides a solid foundation for future research to examine the efficacy of this technique as a means to treat facial expression recognition deficits, particularly in individuals with OFC damage or dysfunction.

The nature of facial expression recognition deficits following orbitofrontal cortex damage.

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) damage has been associated with facial expression recognition deficits in some, but not all, previous studies. The pattern of performance of a group of patients with OFC damage was assessed across a series of facial expression recognition tasks. We aimed to determine whether some tasks were more sensitive at detecting deficits than others. Seven patients with damage to the OFC, 6 control patients with frontal lesions that spared the OFC, and a group of healthy controls completed a series of facial expression recognition tasks including 2 labeling tasks and 2 matching tasks. The OFC patient group demonstrated impaired labeling of negative facial expressions (i.e., anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) shown for a short time (500 ms) relative to the comparison groups. When facial expressions were shown for a longer time (5,000 ms), the OFC patient group's performance did not differ significantly from either comparison group. The OFC patient group was impaired when matching subtle, low intensity negative facial expressions, but not when matching high intensity, prototypical facial expressions. The pattern of performance across tasks revealed that only certain facial expression recognition tasks appear to be sufficiently sensitive to detect deficits in patients with OFC damage. These findings have important implications for the assessment of facial expression recognition difficulties in patients with OFC damage and more broadly, for special populations.

EPA-0475 – Emotional processing in women with borderline personality disorder - preliminary findings

Introduction Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with aberrant processing of emotional facial expressions and emotional memory which may contribute to patients’ interpersonal difficulties. However, findings are conflicting and warrant further investigation. Aims To clarify whether patients with BPD show deficits in facial expression recognition and self-referent incidental memory. Objectives To examine facial expression recognition and/or in emotional categorization and recall of self-referent personality characteristics in a cohort of female patients with BPD in comparison with healthy controls. Methods 14 patients and 11 healthy controls were given a facial expression recognition task and a self-referent emotional categorization and recall task using positive and negative personality characteristics; both tasks were from the Emotional Test Battery (P1Vital, Oxford). Results BPD patients showed general impairment of facial expression recognition as reflected by increased response latency (F(1,23)=4.58, p=0.043). Examination of each emotion across different intensity levels revealed specific reduction in the sensitivity to happy expressions (F(1,23)=4.74, p=0.040). Patients also demonstrated reduced categorization accuracy for positive versus negative self-referent words (F(1,23)=5.15, p=0.033) and generally increased response latency on this task relative to controls (F(1,23)=4.46, p=0.046). This was associated with subsequent reduction in overall recall of these self-referent words in patients versus controls (F(1,23)=7.69, p=0.011). Conclusions These preliminary findings highlight deficits in facial expression recognition and emotional categorization and recall as potential biomarkers of BPD, which may contribute to patients interpersonal difficulties.

Associations of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems with Facial Expression Recognition in Preschoolers: The Generation R Study

AbstractAltered patterns of facial expression recognition (FER) have been linked to internalizing and externalizing problems in school children and adolescents. In a large sample of preschoolers (N = 727), we explored concurrent and prospective associations between internalizing/externalizing problems and FER. Internalizing/externalizing problems were rated by parents at 18 and 36 months using the Child Behavior Checklist. FER was assessed at 36 months using age‐appropriate computer tasks of emotion matching and emotion labeling. Internalizing problems were associated with emotion‐specific differences at both ages: at 18 months they predicted more accurate labeling of sadness; at 36 months they were associated with less accurate labeling of happiness and anger. Externalizing problems at both ages were associated with general FER deficits, particularly for matching emotions. Findings suggest that in preschoolers, internalizing problems contribute to emotion‐specific differences in FER, while externalizing problems are associated with more general FER deficits. Knowledge of the specific FER patterns associated with internalizing/externalizing problems can be proven useful in the refinement of emotion‐centered preventive interventions.

Do facial expression recognition deficits in disordered eating reflect a general impairment in attention and executive function?

Impaired facial expression recognition (FER) has been found to be related to clinical and subclinical disordered eating. Impairments in attention and executive function have also been associated with FER deficits in a number of psychological disorders, and with eating psychopathology. The current study aimed to determine whether FER deficits observed in disordered eating reflect more global impairments in cognitive function. Participants with high and low scores on the eating disorders inventory-II (EDI-II) were compared on their ability to recognise emotional facial expressions using the BU-3DFE photographic database. They also completed a battery of neuropsychological tasks on the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Relative to the low-EDI group, high-EDI participants accurately recognised significantly more angry and surprised faces. Visual attention was impaired in high-EDI participants. Cognitive flexibility and body dissatisfaction were significant predictors of surprise recognition. Cognitive flexibility explained a significant proportion of variance in general emotion recognition, whilst bulimia significantly predicted anger recognition accuracy. These findings remained significant after controlling for the effects of depression, anxiety and alexithymia. Subsequent analyses revealed that gender differences may explain the differences between current findings and previous evidence.

Ambiguous emotion recognition in temporal lobe epilepsy: The role of expression intensity

The lateralization of emotion processing is currently debated and may be further explored by examining facial expression recognition (FER) impairments in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Furthermore, there is also debate in the literature whether FER deficits in individuals with TLE are more pronounced in the right than in the left hemisphere. Individuals with TLE were tested with an FER task designed to be more sensitive than those classically used to shed light on this issue. A total of 25 right- and 32 left-TLE patients, candidates for surgery, along with controls, underwent an FER task composed of stimuli shown not only at full-blown intensities (100 %), but also morphed to lower-intensity display levels (35 %, 50 %, and 75 %). The results showed that, as compared to controls, right-TLE patients showed deficits in the recognition of all emotional categories. Furthermore, when considering valence, right-TLE patients were impaired only in negative emotion recognition, but no deficits for positive emotions were highlighted in left-TLE patients. Finally, only the right-TLE patients' impairment was found to be related to the age of epilepsy onset. Our work demonstrates that the FER deficits in TLE span multiple emotional categories and show manifestations dependent on the laterality of the epileptic focus. Taken together, our findings provide the strongest evidence for the right-hemisphere model, but they also partially support the valence model. We suggest that current models are not exhaustive at explaining emotional-processing cerebral control, and further that multistep models should be developed.

1006 – Basic emotion recognition and psychopathology in schizophrenia

Socio-emotional competence is a key aspect of schizophrenia, both in terms of psychopathological vulnerability and outcome. In this respect, current research increasingly emphasizes the importance of deficits in facial expression recognition. The focus of the present study is the performance in recognizing six basic emotions (sadness, anger, happiness, fear, disgust, surprise), which play an essential role in shaping daily function and interpersonal interactions. A group of 20 patients diagnosed with DSM-IV schizophrenia were compared with a group of 20 matched controls on a facial expression recognition task, derived from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF; Lundqvist et al., 1998), and were subsequently assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Facial expression recognition performance was significantly more impaired in patients, and was selectively correlated with the Positive and Cognitive dimensions of the PANSS. Furthermore, significant group differences were found with respect to joy and surprise.

The recognition of facial expressions: An investigation of the influence of age and cognition

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate changes in facial expression recognition across the lifespan, as well as to determine the influence of fluid intelligence, processing speed, and memory on this ability. Peak performance in the ability to identify facial affect was found to occur in middle-age, with the children and older adults performing the poorest. Specifically, older adults were impaired in their ability to identify fear, sadness, and happiness, but had preserved recognition of anger, disgust, and surprise. Analyses investigating the influence of cognition on emotion recognition demonstrated that cognitive abilities contribute to performance, especially for participants over age 45. However, the cognitive functions did not fully account for the older adults’ impairments on expression recognition. Overall, the age-related deficits in facial expression recognition have implications for older adults’ use of non-verbal communicative information.

Reconocimiento de expresiones faciales de emociones en la enfermedad de Parkinson: una revisión teórica

Emotional facial expression is a basic guide during social interaction and, therefore, alterations in their expression or recognition are important limitations for communication. To examine facial expression recognition abilities and their possible impairment in Parkinson's disease. First, we review the studies on this topic which have not found entirely similar results. Second, we analyze the factors that may explain these discrepancies and, in particular, as third objective, we consider the relationship between emotional recognition problems and cognitive impairment associated with the disease. Finally, we propose alternatives strategies for the development of studies that could clarify the state of these abilities in Parkinson's disease. Most studies suggest deficits in facial expression recognition, especially in those with negative emotional content. However, it is possible that these alterations are related to those that also appear in the course of the disease in other perceptual and executive processes. To advance in this issue, we consider necessary to design emotional recognition studies implicating differentially the executive or visuospatial processes, and/or contrasting cognitive abilities with facial expressions and non emotional stimuli. The precision of the status of these abilities, as well as increase our knowledge of the functional consequences of the characteristic brain damage in the disease, may indicate if we should pay special attention in their rehabilitation inside the programs implemented.

Basic Emotion Recognition and Psychopathology in Schizophrenia

Socio-emotional competence is a key aspect of schizophrenia, both in terms of psychopathological vulnerability and outcome. In this respect, current research increasingly emphasizes the importance of deficits in facial expression recognition. The focus of the present study is the performance in recognizing 6 basic emotions (sadness, anger, happiness, fear, disgust, surprise) which play an essential role in shaping daily function and interpersonal interactions. A group of 20 patients diagnosed with DSM-IV schizophrenia were compared with a group of 20 matched controls on a facial expression recognition task, derived from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (Lundqvist D, Flykt A, Ohmann A (1998) The Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). Stockholm (Sweden): Karolinska Institute), and were subsequently assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Facial expression recognition performance was significantly more impaired in patients, and was selectively correlated with the positive and cognitive dimensions of the positive and negative syndrome scale. Furthermore, significant group differences were found with respect to happiness and surprise.

Deficits in facial expression recognition in male adolescents with early‐onset or adolescence‐onset conduct disorder

Background:We examined whether conduct disorder (CD) is associated with deficits in facial expression recognition and, if so, whether these deficits are specific to the early-onset form of CD, which emerges in childhood. The findings could potentially inform the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour, which suggests that early-onset and adolescence-limited forms of CD are subject to different aetiological processes.Method:Male adolescents with either early-onset CD (n =42) or adolescence-onset CD (n =39), and controls with no history of serious antisocial behaviour and no current psychiatric disorder (n =40) completed tests of facial expression and facial identity recognition. Dependent measures were: (a) correct recognition of facial expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, and (b) the number of correct matches of unfamiliar faces.Results:Relative to controls, recognition of anger, disgust, and happiness in facial expressions was disproportionately impaired in participants with early-onset CD, whereas recognition of fear was impaired in participants with adolescence-onset CD. Participants with CD who were high in psychopathic traits showed impaired fear, sadness, and surprise recognition relative to those low in psychopathic traits. There were no group differences in facial identity recognition.Conclusions:Both CD subtypes were associated with impairments in facial recognition, although these were more marked in the early-onset subgroup. Variation in psychopathic traits appeared to exert an additional influence on the recognition of fear, sadness and surprise. Implications of these data for the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour are discussed.

Facial expression recognition deficits and faulty learning: Implications for theoretical models and clinical applications.

The ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion is vita l for effective social interaction. Facial expressions convey emotional cues (Adolphs, 2002, 2003; Darwin, 1872/1965; Ekman, 1992, 1993) and accurate recognition of these cues is a necessary step in the evaluation of interpersonal interactions and for the subsequent application of appropriate social skills (Collins & Nowicki, 2001; Hampson, van Anders, & Mullin, 2006; Philippot & Feldman, 1990). Research has shown support for the association between facial expression recognition (FER) abilities and social competency (Custrini & Feldman, 1989; Lancelot & Nowicki, 1997; Nowicki & Duke, 1994); relationship difficulties (Barth & Bastiani, 1997; Blair & Coles, 2000; Lancelot & Nowicki, 1997); and various psychological and psychiatric conditions (Blair et al., 2004; Penn & Combs, 2000; Russell, Chu & Phillips, 2006; Silver, Goodman, Knoll, & Isakov, 2004; van Beek & Dubas, 2008), including anxiety (Easter et al., 2005), bipolar disorder (Brotman et al., 2008), and psychopathology (Blair et al., 2004). Other studies have shown support for associations between FER deficits and childhood maltreatment (Pears & Fisher, 2005; Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000) and attachment (Cooley, 2005; Magai, Distel & Liker, 1995; Niedenthal, Brauer, Robin & Innes-Ker, 2002). According to emotions theorist Izard (2002), the inability to recognize nonverbal forms of emotion expression can negatively affect intra-and interpersonal behavior, and may serve as a risk factor for poor adjustment and future adverse outcomes. Although the particular mechanisms underlying FER are under debate, the study of the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion continues to be the subject of research within various fields, including psychology (Hall, 2006; Ekman, Friesen, & Tomkins, 1971; Nowicki & Carton, 1992), psychiatry (Herba & Phillips, 2004; Wang, Lee, Sigman, & Dapretto, 2007), as well as computer science and philosophy (Adolphs, 2002). Facial expression recognition research findings have been provided from varied perspectives, such as neuroscience (Wang et al., 2007); social-cognitive processing and early childhood experiences (Masten et al., 2008; Mullins & Duke, 2004; & Pollack & Sinha, 2000); as well as perception (Pollak, Messner, Kisler, & Cohn, 2009). Other researchers have integrated information from differing fields, such as social psychology and perception (Calder, Young, Keane, & Dean, 2000; Pollak et al., 2009) and behavior studies and neuroscience (Herba & Phillips, 2004). Thus, facial recognition research appears to be bridging some of the natural gaps caused by distinct fields of investigation. The authors of this paper will attempt to present findings from FER studies that are particularly relevant for behavioral psychologists. Following a brief history of the study of FER, we highlight findings from various fields (e.g., social psychology, nonverbal processing), that focused on FER with particular clinical populations. Discussion of suggested clinical implications and applications from a clinical behavioral perspective, and suggestions for future research directions, concludes this article on the importance of FER in clinical work. History of Facial Expression Recognition Study Current research and public interest in facial expression recognition stems from a rich history. Scientific study and understanding of emotion is thought to have begun in the 19th century with Charles Darwin's The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (originally published in 1872) and G.G. Duchenne de Bologne's The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression (originally published in 1862) (Mayne & Bonanno, 2001). These early works focused on the important role of facial displays in emotional life and introduced the theory that emotions may be understood as biologically-based reflex behaviors serving adaptive functions. …

Identifying differences in biased affective information processing in major depression

This study investigates the extent to which participants with major depression differ from healthy comparison participants in the irregularities in affective information processing, characterized by deficits in facial expression recognition, intensity categorization, and reaction time to identifying emotionally salient and neutral information. Data on diagnoses, symptom severity, and affective information processing using a facial recognition task were collected from 66 participants, male and female between ages 18 and 54 years, grouped by major depressive disorder ( N = 37) or healthy non-psychiatric ( N = 29) status. Findings from MANCOVAs revealed that major depression was associated with a significantly longer reaction time to sad facial expressions compared with healthy status. Also, depressed participants demonstrated a negative bias towards interpreting neutral facial expressions as sad significantly more often than healthy participants. In turn, healthy participants interpreted neutral faces as happy significantly more often than depressed participants. No group differences were observed for facial expression recognition and intensity categorization. The observed effects suggest that depression has significant effects on the perception of the intensity of negative affective stimuli, delayed speed of processing sad affective information, and biases towards interpreting neutral faces as sad.

Facial expression recognition deficits in schizophrenia

Facial expression recognition deficits in schizophrenia

Facial processing deficits and social dysfunction: how are they related?

Social and developmental disorders (SDD), which include the psychiatric diagnoses of autism and Asperger's syndrome and the neurological diagnosis of social-emotional processing disorder (SEPD), are characterized by impaired social function. Face perception per se and facial expression processing in particular are important for social interaction, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Criteria for Autism and Asperger's Disorder emphasizes both facial expression processing deficits and social dysfunction as features of these disorders. It is therefore unsurprising that previous studies of individuals with SDD have focused on the examination of facial expression recognition deficits. Facial expression perception was impaired in autistic individuals, for example (e.g. Hobson et al ., 1988). Furthermore, whilst many previous studies have highlighted the roles of specific neural regions, including the amygdala and fusiform gyrus, in normal facial expression and identity perception (e.g. Haxby et al ., 2000; Phillips et al ., 2003), neuroimaging studies in autistic individuals indicate impaired function in these regions (e.g. Critchley et al ., 2000; Pierce et al ., 2001; Hubl et al ., 2003) and abnormal amygdalar volumes (e.g. Howard et al ., 2000; Pierce et al ., 2001; Salmond et al ., 2003). These data …