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Moosavi J, Resch A, Lecchi A, Sokolov AN, Fallgatter AJ, Pavlova MA. Reading language of the eyes in female depression. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae253. [PMID: 38990517 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Revised: 05/31/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Aberrations in non-verbal social cognition have been reported to coincide with major depressive disorder. Yet little is known about the role of the eyes. To fill this gap, the present study explores whether and, if so, how reading language of the eyes is altered in depression. For this purpose, patients and person-by-person matched typically developing individuals were administered the Emotions in Masked Faces task and Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, modified, both of which contained a comparable amount of visual information available. For achieving group homogeneity, we set a focus on females as major depressive disorder displays a gender-specific profile. The findings show that facial masks selectively affect inferring emotions: recognition of sadness and anger are more heavily compromised in major depressive disorder as compared with typically developing controls, whereas the recognition of fear, happiness, and neutral expressions remains unhindered. Disgust, the forgotten emotion of psychiatry, is the least recognizable emotion in both groups. On the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test patients exhibit lower accuracy on positive expressions than their typically developing peers, but do not differ on negative items. In both depressive and typically developing individuals, the ability to recognize emotions behind a mask and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test are linked to each other in processing speed, but not recognition accuracy. The outcome provides a blueprint for understanding the complexities of reading language of the eyes within and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Moosavi
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Annika Resch
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alessandro Lecchi
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander N Sokolov
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas J Fallgatter
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Marina A Pavlova
- Social Neuroscience Unit, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Calwerstr. 14, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
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Surber C, Hoepfel D, Günther V, Kersting A, Rufer M, Suslow T, Bodenschatz CM. Deployment of attention to facial expressions varies as a function of emotional quality-but not in alexithymic individuals. Front Psychiatry 2024; 15:1338194. [PMID: 38510803 PMCID: PMC10950908 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1338194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Alexithymia is a risk factor for emotional disorders and is characterized by differences in automatic and controlled emotion processing. The multi-stimulus free-viewing task has been used to detect increased negative and reduced positive attentional biases in depression and anxiety. In the present eye-tracking study, we examined whether lexical emotional priming directs attention toward emotion-congruent facial expressions and whether alexithymia is related to impairments in lexical priming and spontaneous attention deployment during multiple face perception. Materials and methods A free-viewing task with happy, fearful, angry, and neutral faces shown simultaneously was administered to 32 alexithymic and 46 non-alexithymic individuals along with measures of negative affect and intelligence. Face presentation was preceded by masked emotion words. Indices of initial orienting and maintenance of attention were analyzed as a function of prime or target category and study group. Results Time to first fixation was not affected by prime category or study group. Analysis of fixation duration yielded a three-way interaction. Alexithymic individuals exhibited no prime or target category effect, whereas non-alexithymic individuals showed a main effect of target condition, fixating happy faces longer than neutral and angry faces and fearful faces longer than angry faces. Discussion Our results show evidence of attentional biases for positive and fearful social information in non-alexithymic individuals, but not in alexithymic individuals. The lack of spontaneous attentional preference for these social stimuli in alexithymia might contribute to a vulnerability for developing emotional disorders. Our data also suggest that briefly presented emotion words may not facilitate gaze orientation toward emotion-congruent stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Surber
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Dennis Hoepfel
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vivien Günther
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anette Kersting
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Rufer
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich (PUK), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Clinic Zugersee, Triaplus AG, Zug, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Charlott Maria Bodenschatz
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany
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Wen M, Dong Z, Zhang L, Li B, Zhang Y, Li K. Depression and Cognitive Impairment: Current Understanding of Its Neurobiology and Diagnosis. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2022; 18:2783-2794. [PMID: 36471744 PMCID: PMC9719265 DOI: 10.2147/ndt.s383093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Eye movement is critical for obtaining precise visual information and providing sensorimotor processes and advanced cognitive functions to the brain behavioral indicator. METHODS In this article, we present a narrative review of the eye-movement paradigms (such as fixation, smooth pursuit eye movements, and memory-guided saccade tasks) in major depression. RESULTS Characteristics of eye movement are considered to reflect several aspects of cognitive deficits regarded as an aid to diagnosis. Findings regarding depressive disorders showed differences from the healthy population in paradigms, the characteristics of eye movement may reflect cognitive deficits in depression. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of different eye movement paradigms for MDD screening. CONCLUSION Depression can be distinguished from other mental illnesses based on eye movements. Eye movement reflects cognitive deficits that can help diagnose depression, and it can make the entire diagnostic process more accurate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min Wen
- School of Psychology and Mental Health, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, People's Republic of China.,Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China.,Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Mental and Behavioral Disorders, Baoding, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhen Dong
- Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China
| | - Lili Zhang
- Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China
| | - Bing Li
- Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China.,Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Mental and Behavioral Disorders, Baoding, People's Republic of China
| | - Yunshu Zhang
- Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China.,Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Mental and Behavioral Disorders, Baoding, People's Republic of China
| | - Keqing Li
- Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, People's Republic of China.,Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Mental and Behavioral Disorders, Baoding, People's Republic of China
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