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Letkiewicz AM, Funkhouser CJ, Umemoto A, Trivedi E, Sritharan A, Zhang E, Buchanan SN, Helgren F, Allison GO, Kayser J, Shankman SA, Auerbach RP. Neurophysiological responses to emotional faces predict dynamic fluctuations in affect in adolescents. Psychophysiology 2024; 61:e14476. [PMID: 37905333 PMCID: PMC10939961 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14476] [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: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
The ability to accurately identify and interpret others' emotions is critical for social and emotional functioning during adolescence. Indeed, previous research has identified that laboratory-based indices of facial emotion recognition and engagement with emotional faces predict adolescent mood states. Whether socioemotional information processing relates to real-world affective dynamics using an ecologically sensitive approach, however, has rarely been assessed. In the present study, adolescents (N = 62; ages 13-18) completed a Facial Recognition Task, including happy, angry, and sad stimuli, while EEG data were acquired. Participants also provided ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data probing their current level of happiness, anger, and sadness for 1-week, resulting in indices of emotion (mean-level, inertia, instability). Analyses focused on relations between (1) accuracy for and (2) prolonged engagement with (LPP) emotional faces and EMA-reported emotions. Greater prolonged engagement with happy faces was related to less resistance to changes in happiness (i.e., less happiness inertia), whereas greater prolonged engagement with angry faces associated with more resistance to changes in anger (i.e., greater anger inertia). Results suggest that socioemotional processes captured by laboratory measures have real-world implications for adolescent affective states and highlight potentially actionable targets for novel treatment approaches (e.g., just-in-time interventions). Future studies should continue to assess relations among socioemotional informational processes and dynamic fluctuations in adolescent affective states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison M. Letkiewicz
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Carter J. Funkhouser
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Akina Umemoto
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA
| | - Esha Trivedi
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Aishwarya Sritharan
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Emily Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Savannah N. Buchanan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Fiona Helgren
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Grace O. Allison
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, CA
| | - Jürgen Kayser
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Translational Epidemiology, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Stewart A. Shankman
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Randy P. Auerbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York, NY, USA
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Zhang L, Liang H, Bjureberg J, Xiong F, Cai Z. The Association Between Emotion Recognition and Internalizing Problems in Children and Adolescents: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis. J Youth Adolesc 2024; 53:1-20. [PMID: 37991601 DOI: 10.1007/s10964-023-01891-7] [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: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023]
Abstract
Numerous studies have explored the link between how well youth recognize emotions and their internalizing problems, but a consensus remains elusive. This study used a three-level meta-analysis model to quantitatively synthesize the findings of existing studies to assess the relationship. A moderation analysis was also conducted to explore the sources of research heterogeneity. Through a systematic literature search, a total of 42 studies with 201 effect sizes were retrieved for the current meta-analysis, and 7579 participants were included. Emotion recognition was negatively correlated with internalizing problems. Children and adolescents with weaker emotion recognition skills were more likely to have internalizing problems. In addition, this meta-analysis found that publication year had a significant moderating effect. The correlation between emotion recognition and internalizing problems decreased over time. The degree of internalizing problems was also found to be a significant moderator. The correlation between emotion recognition and internalizing disorders was higher than the correlation between emotion recognition and internalizing symptoms. Deficits in emotion recognition might be relevant for the development and/or maintenance of internalizing problems in children and adolescents. The overall effect was small and future research should explore the clinical relevance of the association.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Zhang
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China.
- Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China.
| | - Heting Liang
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China
| | - Johan Bjureberg
- Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Fen Xiong
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhihui Cai
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China
- Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China
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Gordillo F, Arana JM, Lamas B, Pérez MÁ. Analysis of attentional biases in anxiety using 24 facial priming sequences. Cogn Process 2023; 24:339-351. [PMID: 36934379 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-023-01132-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/20/2023]
Abstract
The processing of emotional facial expressions helps people to adjust to the physical and social environment. Furthermore, mental disorders such as anxiety have been linked to attentional biases in the processing of this type of information. Nevertheless, there are still contradictory results that might be due to the methodology used and to individual differences in the manifestation of anxiety. Our research goal was to use 24 facial priming sequences to analyse attentional biases in the detection of facial expressions of fear, considering the levels and the ways in which individuals express anxiety. With higher levels of cognitive anxiety and general trait anxiety, those sequences that began in the upper half (vs. lower half) elicited a speedier response in the detection of fear. The results are discussed within the context of other techniques and disorders that prompt a deficit in the processing of facial information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Gordillo
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. de La Merced, 109-131, 37005, Salamanca, Spain.
| | - José M Arana
- Departamento de Psicología Básica, Psicobiología y Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad de Salamanca, Avda. de La Merced, 109-131, 37005, Salamanca, Spain
| | - Beatriz Lamas
- Departmento de Psicología, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Castillo de Alarcón nº 49, 28692-Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid, Spain
| | - Miguel Ángel Pérez
- Departmento de Psicología, Universidad Camilo José Cela, Castillo de Alarcón nº 49, 28692-Villafranca del Castillo, Madrid, Spain
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Xu Q, Sommer W, Recio G. Control over emotional facial expressions: Evidence from facial EMG and ERPs in a Stroop-like task. Biol Psychol 2023; 181:108611. [PMID: 37302517 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Facial expressions carry important social signals that must be precisely regulated despite potentially conflicting demands on veridicality, communicative intent, and the social situation. In a sample of 19 participants we investigated the challenges of deliberately controlling two facial expressions (smiles and frowns) by the emotional congruency with the expressions of adult and infant counterparts. In a Stroop-like task requiring participants' deliberate expressions of anger or happiness, we investigated the impact of task-irrelevant background pictures of adults and infants showing negative, neutral, or positive facial expressions. Participants' deliberate expressions were measured with electromyogram (EMG) of the M. zygomaticus major and M. corrugator supercilii. The latencies of EMG onsets revealed similar congruency effects for smiles and frowns with significant facilitation and inhibition components relative to the neutral condition. Interestingly, the facilitation effect for frown responses by negative facial expressions was significantly smaller vis a vis infant as compared to adult background faces. This diminished facilitation of frowns by infant's expressions of distress may relate to the activation of caregiver behavior or empathy. We investigated the neural correlates of the observed performance effects by recording event-related-potentials (ERPs). Increased amplitudes in ERP components were observed in incongruent relative to neutral conditions, revealing interference effects on both types of deliberate facial expressions, at different processing stages, namely, structural facial encoding (N170), conflict monitoring (N2), to semantic analysis (N400).
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Xu
- Department of Psychology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
| | - Werner Sommer
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Guillermo Recio
- Departament de Psicologia Clínica i Psicobiologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Neurociències, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
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Beckenstrom AC, Coloma PM, Dawson GR, Finlayson AK, Malik A, Post A, Steiner MA, Potenza MN. Use of experimental medicine approaches for the development of novel psychiatric treatments based on orexin receptor modulation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 147:105107. [PMID: 36828161 PMCID: PMC10165155 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105107] [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: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Despite progress in understanding the pathological mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders, translation from animal models into clinical use remains a significant bottleneck. Preclinical studies have implicated the orexin neuropeptide system as a potential target for psychiatric disorders through its role in regulating emotional, cognitive, and behavioral processes. Clinical studies are investigating orexin modulation in addiction and mood disorders. Here we review performance-outcome measures (POMs) arising from experimental medicine research methods which may show promise as markers of efficacy of orexin receptor modulators in humans. POMs provide objective measures of brain function, complementing patient-reported or clinician-observed symptom evaluation, and aid the translation from preclinical to clinical research. Significant challenges include the development, validation, and operationalization of these measures. We suggest that collaborative networks comprising clinical practitioners, academics, individuals working in the pharmaceutical industry, drug regulators, patients, patient advocacy groups, and other relevant stakeholders may provide infrastructure to facilitate validation of experimental medicine approaches in translational research and in the implementation of these approaches in real-world clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy C Beckenstrom
- P1vital Ltd, Manor House, Howbery Business Park, Wallingford OX10 8BA, UK.
| | - Preciosa M Coloma
- Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, Allschwil 4123, Switzerland
| | - Gerard R Dawson
- P1vital Ltd, Manor House, Howbery Business Park, Wallingford OX10 8BA, UK
| | - Ailidh K Finlayson
- P1vital Ltd, Manor House, Howbery Business Park, Wallingford OX10 8BA, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
| | - Asad Malik
- P1vital Ltd, Manor House, Howbery Business Park, Wallingford OX10 8BA, UK
| | - Anke Post
- Corlieve Therapeutics, Swiss Innovation Park, Hegenheimermattweg 167A, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland
| | | | - Marc N Potenza
- Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and the Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, 1 Church Street, Room 726, New Haven, CT 06510, USA; Connecticut Mental Health Center, 34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519, USA; Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Wethersfield, CT, USA; The Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, 100 College St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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Mobach L, Rinck M, Becker ES, Carl T, Klein AM, Rapee RM, Hudson JL. Facing Uncertainty: Interpretation of Ambiguous Emotional Faces in Childhood Social Anxiety Disorder. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL FOR THE SOCIETY OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, DIVISION 53 2022; 51:955-969. [PMID: 35617097 DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2022.2070850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The current study examined whether children with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) demonstrate divergent facial emotion processing and a disorder-specific negative interpretation bias in the processing of facial emotional expressions. This study aimed to overcome previous study limitations by including both a nonsocially anxious control group and a healthy control group to examine whether childhood SAD is characterized by a general emotion labeling deficit, and/or by a negative interpretation bias, indicated by systematic misclassifications, or a lower threshold for recognizing threatening emotions. METHOD Participants were 132 children aged 7-12 years (Mage = 9.15; 45.5% female). Children with SAD (n = 42) were compared to children with other, nonsocial, anxiety disorders (n = 40) and healthy control children (n = 50) on a novel facial emotion recognition task. Children judged ambiguous happy/neutral, angry/neutral and fear/neutral faces that were morphed at different intensities (10%, 30%, 50%, 70%). RESULTS Children with SAD did not differ from other groups in their accuracy of identifying emotions. They did not show systematic misclassifications or a heightened sensitivity to negative, threatening faces either. Rather, children with nonsocial anxiety disorders showed a generally heightened sensitivity to emotional faces. CONCLUSIONS The current study does not provide evidence for a general deficit in labeling of emotional faces in childhood SAD. Childhood SAD was not characterized by an interpretation bias in processing emotional faces. Children with nonsocial anxiety disorders may benefit from assistance in accurately interpreting the degree of emotionality in interpersonal situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Mobach
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Mike Rinck
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Eni S Becker
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
| | - Talia Carl
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Anke M Klein
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University
- Developmental and Educational Psychology of the Institute of Psychology, Leiden University
| | - Ronald M Rapee
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
| | - Jennifer L Hudson
- Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University
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8
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Dyer ML, Attwood AS, Penton-Voak IS, Munafò MR. The role of state and trait anxiety in the processing of facial expressions of emotion. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210056. [PMID: 35070339 PMCID: PMC8728173 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
State anxiety appears to influence facial emotion processing (Attwood et al. 2017 R. Soc. Open Sci. 4, 160855). We aimed to (i) replicate these findings and (ii) investigate the role of trait anxiety, in an experiment with healthy UK participants (N = 48, 50% male, 50% high trait anxiety). High and low state anxiety were induced via inhalations of 7.5% carbon dioxide enriched air and medical air, respectively. High state anxiety reduced global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.01, η p 2 = 0.14 ), but it did not affect interpretation bias towards perceiving anger in ambiguous angry-happy facial morphs (p = 0.18, η p 2 = 0.04 ). We found no clear evidence of a relationship between trait anxiety and global emotion recognition accuracy (p = 0.60, η p 2 = 0.01 ) or interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (p = 0.83, η p 2 = 0.01 ). However, there was greater interpretation bias towards perceiving anger (i.e. away from happiness) during heightened state anxiety, among individuals with high trait anxiety (p = 0.03, d z = 0.33). State anxiety appears to impair emotion recognition accuracy, and among individuals with high trait anxiety, it appears to increase biases towards perceiving anger (away from happiness). Trait anxiety alone does not appear to be associated with facial emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maddy L. Dyer
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Angela S. Attwood
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Ian S. Penton-Voak
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK
| | - Marcus R. Munafò
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK
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Goldstein BL, Grasso DJ, McCarthy KJ, Wakschlag LS, Pine DS, Briggs-Gowan MJ. Intimate Partner Violence Exposure and Childhood Psychopathology: Associations with Discriminating Fearful and Angry Faces in Young Children. JOURNAL OF FAMILY VIOLENCE 2021; 36:967-978. [PMID: 36337752 PMCID: PMC9634668 DOI: 10.1007/s10896-020-00242-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/20/2020] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Childhood exposure to traumatic violence may shape how children respond to threatening faces and increase risk for psychopathology. Maltreated children may exhibit altered processing of threatening faces; however, the effects of witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's discrimination of facial expressions is under-studied. Emotional face processing differentially relates to psychopathology, with some evidence suggesting improved detection of angry faces in children with fear-related anxiety symptoms, whereas externalizing symptoms are associated with poorer detection of fearful faces and perhaps emotional faces broadly. Method In this cross-sectional study, we examined discrimination of threatening emotional faces (angry, fearful) in relation to experiences of probable abuse and witnessing of physical IPV, as well as psychopathology. Children (N = 137, mean age = 5.01 years, SD = 0.81) completed a "face in the crowd task" designed to examine discrimination of angry and fearful faces. Children either searched for an angry face among fearful distractor faces or a fearful face among angry distractors. Probable child abuse, witnessed IPV, and symptoms were assessed in semi-structured maternal interviews. Results Children who witnessed violence showed poorer accuracy when fearful faces were the target; however, effects for probable abuse were non-significant. Greater fear-related anxiety symptoms were associated with poorer accuracy for fearful faces. Externalizing symptoms were associated with poorer overall accuracy. Conclusions Findings suggest that IPV and fear-related anxiety symptoms were associated with difficulty detecting fearful faces when angry distractors were present, consistent with prior research. Implications of violence- and symptom-associated deficits in emotional face processing are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon L Goldstein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT USA
| | - Damion J Grasso
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine Farmington, CT USA
| | - Kimberly J McCarthy
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine Farmington, CT USA
| | - Lauren S Wakschlag
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine & Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD USA
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Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara C, Reyes Del Paso GA, Fernández-Serrano MJ, Duschek S. Facial Emotion Recognition and Executive Functions in Fibromyalgia. PAIN MEDICINE 2021; 22:1619-1629. [PMID: 33538840 DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnab024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The ability to accurately identify facial expressions of emotions is crucial in human interaction. Although a previous study suggested deficient emotional face recognition in patients with fibromyalgia, not much is known about the origin of this impairment. Against this background, the present study investigated the role of executive functions. Executive functions refer to cognitive control mechanisms enabling implementation and coordination of basic mental operations. Deficits in this domain are prevalent in fibromyalgia. METHODS Fifty-two fibromyalgia patients and thirty-two healthy individuals completed the Ekman-60 Faces Test, which requires classification of facial displays of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. They also completed eight tasks assessing the executive function components of shifting, updating, and inhibition. Effects of comorbid depression and anxiety disorders, as well as medication use, were tested in stratified analyses of patient subgroups. RESULTS Patients made more errors overall than controls in classifying the emotional expressions. Moreover, their recognition accuracy correlated positively with performance on most of the executive function tasks. Emotion recognition did not vary as a function of comorbid psychiatric disorders or medication use. CONCLUSIONS The study supports impaired facial emotion recognition in fibromyalgia, which may contribute to the interaction problems and poor social functioning characterizing this condition. Facial emotion recognition is regarded as a complex process, which may be particularly reliant on efficient coordination of various basic operations by executive functions. As such, the correlations between cognitive task performance and recognition accuracy suggest that deficits in higher cognitive functions underlie impaired emotional communication in fibromyalgia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Stefan Duschek
- Institute of Psychology, UMIT Tirol-University for Health Sciences Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria
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Poncet F, Soussignan R, Jaffiol M, Gaudelus B, Leleu A, Demily C, Franck N, Baudouin JY. The spatial distribution of eye movements predicts the (false) recognition of emotional facial expressions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245777. [PMID: 33497409 PMCID: PMC7837501 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognizing facial expressions of emotions is a fundamental ability for adaptation to the social environment. To date, it remains unclear whether the spatial distribution of eye movements predicts accurate recognition or, on the contrary, confusion in the recognition of facial emotions. In the present study, we asked participants to recognize facial emotions while monitoring their gaze behavior using eye-tracking technology. In Experiment 1a, 40 participants (20 women) performed a classic facial emotion recognition task with a 5-choice procedure (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness). In Experiment 1b, a second group of 40 participants (20 women) was exposed to the same materials and procedure except that they were instructed to say whether (i.e., Yes/No response) the face expressed a specific emotion (e.g., anger), with the five emotion categories tested in distinct blocks. In Experiment 2, two groups of 32 participants performed the same task as in Experiment 1a while exposed to partial facial expressions composed of actions units (AUs) present or absent in some parts of the face (top, middle, or bottom). The coding of the AUs produced by the models showed complex facial configurations for most emotional expressions, with several AUs in common. Eye-tracking data indicated that relevant facial actions were actively gazed at by the decoders during both accurate recognition and errors. False recognition was mainly associated with the additional visual exploration of less relevant facial actions in regions containing ambiguous AUs or AUs relevant to other emotional expressions. Finally, the recognition of facial emotions from partial expressions showed that no single facial actions were necessary to effectively communicate an emotional state. In contrast, the recognition of facial emotions relied on the integration of a complex set of facial cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Poncet
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
- * E-mail: (FP); (JYB)
| | - Robert Soussignan
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Margaux Jaffiol
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Baptiste Gaudelus
- Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale et de Remédiation Cognitive, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier & Université Lyon 1 (CNRS UMR 5229), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Arnaud Leleu
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Lab, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, Inrae, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Caroline Demily
- Reference Center for Rare Diseases with Psychiatric Phenotype GénoPsy, Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier, Marc Jeannerod Institute (CNRS & Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University), Bron, France
| | - Nicolas Franck
- Centre Ressource de Réhabilitation Psychosociale et de Remédiation Cognitive, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier & Université Lyon 1 (CNRS UMR 5229), Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | - Jean-Yves Baudouin
- Laboratoire Développement, Individu, Processus, Handicap, Éducation (DIPHE), Département Psychologie du Développement, de l'Éducation et des Vulnérabilités (PsyDEV), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Lyon (Lumière Lyon 2), Lyon, France
- * E-mail: (FP); (JYB)
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Garibbo M, Aylward J, Robinson OJ. The impact of threat of shock-induced anxiety on the neural substrates of memory encoding and retrieval. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:1087-1096. [PMID: 31680142 PMCID: PMC6970151 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Revised: 07/23/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Dysfunctional memory processes are widely reported in anxiety disorders, but the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are unclear. Recent work shows that the impact of anxiety on memory depends on the context and memory modality. For instance, threat of shock, a translational within-subject anxiety induction, has been shown to impair the encoding of facial stimuli, while improving spatial working memory (WM) accuracy. The present study aimed to delineate the neural circuitry regulating these opposing behavioural effects. Thirty-three healthy volunteers performed the previously assessed facial recognition and a spatial WM tasks inside an fMRI scanner, under alternating within-subject conditions of threat or safe from shock across encoding and retrieval. Facial recognition impairments were replicated when threat was selectively induced at encoding. Neuroimaging results suggest that this effect was driven by increased competition for attentional resources within the anterior cingulate cortex, in which activation correlated positively with stress levels. The impact of threat on spatial WM performance did not, however, replicate in the fMRI environment. Nevertheless, state-dependent hippocampal activation was observed in both tasks. These findings suggest a neurocognitive mechanism by which anxiety impairs facial recognition as well as a state-dependent hippocampal activation pattern, which may putatively underline retrieval of negative experiences in anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Garibbo
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jessica Aylward
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
| | - Oliver J Robinson
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, WC1N 3AZ, London, United Kingdom
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13
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Associations between Facial Emotion Recognition and Mental Health in Early Adolescence. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:ijerph17010330. [PMID: 31947739 PMCID: PMC6981578 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17010330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 12/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Research shows that adolescents with mental illnesses have a bias for processing negative facial emotions, and this may play a role in impaired social functioning that often co-exists with a mental health diagnosis. This study examined associations between psychological and somatic problems and facial emotion recognition in early adolescence; as any processing biases in this age-group may be an early indicator of later mental illnesses. A community sample of 40 12-year-olds self-rated their symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization via two mental health screeners. They also completed a computerized emotion recognition task in which they identified photographs of 40 faces showing expressions of anger, fear, sadness, happiness, or neutral expression. Results showed that increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization were significantly associated with fewer correct responses to angry expressions. These symptoms were also associated with faster and more accurate recognition of fearful expressions. However, there was no association between mental health and recognition of sad affect. Finally, increased psychological and/or somatic symptomology was also associated with better identification of neutral expressions. In conclusion, youth with increased psychological and/or somatic problems exhibited a processing bias for negative anger and fear expressions, but not sadness. They showed better processing of neutral faces than youth with fewer psychological and/or somatic problems. Findings are discussed in relation to indicators of mental illnesses in early adolescence and the potential underpinning neural mechanisms associated with mental health and emotional facial recognition.
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14
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Eddy CM. What Do You Have in Mind? Measures to Assess Mental State Reasoning in Neuropsychiatric Populations. Front Psychiatry 2019; 10:425. [PMID: 31354534 PMCID: PMC6636467 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interaction is closely associated with both functional capacity and well-being. Previous research has not only revealed evidence of social dysfunction in individuals with a wide range of psychiatric and neurological disorders but also generated an abundance of potential measures for assessing social cognition. This review explores the most popular measures used within neuropsychiatric populations to investigate the ability to recognize or reason about the mental states of others. Measures are also critically analyzed in terms of strengths and limitations to aid task selection in future clinical studies. The most frequently applied assessment tools use verbal, visual or audiovisual forms of presentation and assess recognition of mental states from facial features, self-rated empathy, the understanding of other's cognitive mental states such as beliefs and intentions, or the ability to combine knowledge of other's thoughts and emotions in order to understand subtle communications or socially inappropriate behavior. Key weaknesses of previous research include limited investigation of relationships with clinical symptoms, and underutilization of measures of everyday social functioning that offer a useful counterpart to traditional "lab" tasks. Future studies should aim to carefully select measures not only based on the range of skills to be assessed but also taking into account potential difficulties with interpretation and the need to gain insight into the application of social cognitive skills as well as ability per se. Some of the best measures include those with well-matched control trials (e.g., Yoni Task) or those that restrict the influence of verbal deficits (e.g., intentions comic strip task), elicit spontaneous mentalizing (e.g., Animations Task), and possess greater ecological validity (e.g., Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition). Social cognitive research within psychiatric populations will be further enhanced through the development of more closely matched control tasks, and the exploration of relationships between task performance, medication, strategy use, and broader emotional and motor functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare M. Eddy
- Research and Innovation, BSMHFT National Centre for Mental Health, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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15
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Kang W, Kim G, Kim H, Lee SH. The Influence of Anxiety on the Recognition of Facial Emotion Depends on the Emotion Category and Race of the Target Faces. Exp Neurobiol 2019; 28:261-269. [PMID: 31138993 PMCID: PMC6526109 DOI: 10.5607/en.2019.28.2.261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2019] [Revised: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The recognition of emotional facial expressions is critical for our social interactions. While some prior studies have shown that a high anxiety level is associated with more sensitive recognition of emotion, there are also reports supporting that anxiety did not affect or reduce the sensitivity to the recognition of facial emotions. To reconcile these results, here we investigated whether the effect of individual anxiety on the recognition of facial emotions is dependent on the emotion category and the race of the target faces. We found that, first, there was a significant positive correlation between the individual anxiety level and the recognition sensitivity for angry faces but not for sad or happy faces. Second, while the correlation was significant for both low- and high-intensity angry faces during the recognition of the observer's own-race faces, there was significant correlation only for low-intensity angry faces during the recognition of other-race faces. Collectively, our results suggest that the influence of anxiety on the recognition of facial emotions is flexible depending on the characteristics of the target face stimuli including emotion category and race.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wonjun Kang
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea
| | - Gayoung Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea
| | - Hyehyeon Kim
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea
| | - Sue-Hyun Lee
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea.,Program of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon 34141, Korea
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16
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Facial gender but not emotion distinguishes neural responses of 10- to 13-year-old children with social anxiety disorder from healthy and clinical controls. Biol Psychol 2018; 135:36-46. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2017] [Revised: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 02/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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17
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Bolton S, Robinson OJ. The impact of threat of shock-induced anxiety on memory encoding and retrieval. Learn Mem 2017; 24:532-542. [PMID: 28916628 PMCID: PMC5602344 DOI: 10.1101/lm.045187.117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2017] [Accepted: 06/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders, and daily transient feelings of anxiety (or "stress") are ubiquitous. However, the precise impact of both transient and pathological anxiety on higher-order cognitive functions, including short- and long-term memory, is poorly understood. A clearer understanding of the anxiety-memory relationship is important as one of the core symptoms of anxiety, most prominently in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), is intrusive reexperiencing of traumatic events in the form of vivid memories. This study therefore aimed to examine the impact of induced anxiety (threat of shock) on memory encoding and retrieval. Eighty-six healthy participants completed tasks assessing: visuospatial working memory, verbal recognition, face recognition, and associative memory. Critically, anxiety was manipulated within-subjects: information was both encoded and retrieved under threat of shock and safe (no shock) conditions. Results revealed that visuospatial working memory was enhanced when information was encoded and subsequently retrieved under threat, and that threat impaired the encoding of faces regardless of the condition in which it was retrieved. Episodic memory and verbal short-term recognition were, however, unimpaired. These findings indicate that transient anxiety in healthy individuals has domain-specific, rather than domain-general, impacts on memory. Future studies would benefit from expanding these findings into anxiety disorder patients to delineate the differences between adaptive and maladaptive responding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sorcha Bolton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Oliver J Robinson
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
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18
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Mathews BL, Koehn AJ, Abtahi MM, Kerns KA. Emotional Competence and Anxiety in Childhood and Adolescence: A Meta-Analytic Review. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 2017; 19:162-84. [PMID: 27072682 DOI: 10.1007/s10567-016-0204-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety is conceptualized as a state of negative emotional arousal that is accompanied by concern about future threat. The purpose of this meta-analytic review was to evaluate the evidence of associations between emotional competence and anxiety by examining how specific emotional competence domains (emotion recognition, emotion expression, emotion awareness, emotion understanding, acceptance of emotion, emotional self-efficacy, sympathetic/empathic responses to others' emotions, recognition of how emotion communication and self-presentation affect relationships, and emotion regulatory processes) relate to anxiety in childhood and adolescence. A total of 185 studies were included in a series of meta-analyses (N's ranged from 573 to 25,711). Results showed that anxious youth are less effective at expressing (r = -0.15) and understanding emotions (r = -0.20), less aware of (r = -0.28) and less accepting of their own emotions (r = -0.49), and report less emotional self-efficacy (r = -0.36). More anxious children use more support-seeking coping strategies (r = 0.07) and are more likely to use less adaptive coping strategies including avoidant coping (r = 0.18), externalizing (r = 0.18), and maladaptive cognitive coping (r = 0.34). Emotion acceptance and awareness, emotional self-efficacy, and maladaptive cognitive coping yielded the largest effect sizes. Some effects varied with children's age. The findings inform intervention and treatment programs of anxiety in youth and identify several areas for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amanda J Koehn
- Kent State University, 600 Hilltop Dr., Kent Hall, Kent, OH, 4424, USA
| | | | - Kathryn A Kerns
- Kent State University, 600 Hilltop Dr., Kent Hall, Kent, OH, 4424, USA
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19
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Schwab D, Schienle A. Facial affect processing in social anxiety disorder with early onset: evidence of an intensity amplification bias. Soc Neurosci 2017; 13:318-327. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1304990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Schwab
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Anne Schienle
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
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20
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Abstract
Individuals vary in perceptual accuracy when categorising facial expressions, yet it is unclear how these individual differences in non-clinical population are related to cognitive processing stages at facial information acquisition and interpretation. We tested 104 healthy adults in a facial expression categorisation task, and correlated their categorisation accuracy with face-viewing gaze allocation and personal traits assessed with Autism Quotient, anxiety inventory and Self-Monitoring Scale. The gaze allocation had limited but emotion-specific impact on categorising expressions. Specifically, longer gaze at the eyes and nose regions were coupled with more accurate categorisation of disgust and sad expressions, respectively. Regarding trait measurements, higher autistic score was coupled with better recognition of sad but worse recognition of anger expressions, and contributed to categorisation bias towards sad expressions; whereas higher anxiety level was associated with greater categorisation accuracy across all expressions and with increased tendency of gazing at the nose region. It seems that both anxiety and autistic-like traits were associated with individual variation in expression categorisation, but this association is not necessarily mediated by variation in gaze allocation at expression-specific local facial regions. The results suggest that both facial information acquisition and interpretation capabilities contribute to individual differences in expression categorisation within non-clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corinne Green
- a School of Psychology , University of Lincoln , Lincoln , UK
| | - Kun Guo
- a School of Psychology , University of Lincoln , Lincoln , UK
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21
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Papini C, White TP, Montagna A, Brittain PJ, Froudist-Walsh S, Kroll J, Karolis V, Simonelli A, Williams SC, Murray RM, Nosarti C. Altered resting-state functional connectivity in emotion-processing brain regions in adults who were born very preterm. Psychol Med 2016; 46:3025-3039. [PMID: 27523311 PMCID: PMC5080670 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291716001604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2015] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Very preterm birth (VPT; <32 weeks of gestation) has been associated with impairments in emotion regulation, social competence and communicative skills. However, the neuroanatomical mechanisms underlying such impairments have not been systematically studied. Here we investigated the functional integrity of the amygdala connectivity network in relation to the ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions in VPT adults. METHOD Thirty-six VPT-born adults and 38 age-matched controls were scanned at rest in a 3-T MRI scanner. Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fc) was assessed with SPM8. A seed-based analysis focusing on three amygdalar subregions (centro-medial/latero-basal/superficial) was performed. Participants' ability to recognize emotions was assessed using dynamic stimuli of human faces expressing six emotions at different intensities with the Emotion Recognition Task (ERT). RESULTS VPT individuals compared to controls showed reduced rs-fc between the superficial subregion of the left amygdala, and the right posterior cingulate cortex (p = 0.017) and the left precuneus (p = 0.002). The VPT group further showed elevated rs-fc between the left superficial amygdala and the superior temporal sulcus (p = 0.008). Performance on the ERT showed that the VPT group was less able than controls to recognize anger at low levels of intensity. Anger scores were significantly associated with rs-fc between the superficial amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex in controls but not in VPT individuals. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that alterations in rs-fc between the amygdala, parietal and temporal cortices could represent the mechanism linking VPT birth and deficits in emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. Papini
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
- Department of Developmental Psychology and
Socialisation, University of Padua,
Padua, Italy
| | - T. P. White
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
- School of Psychology,
University of Birmingham, Edgbaston,
Birmingham, UK
| | - A. Montagna
- Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical
Engineering, Centre for the Developing Brain,
King's College London, St. Thomas’
Hospital, London, UK
| | - P. J. Brittain
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - S. Froudist-Walsh
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - J. Kroll
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - V. Karolis
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - A. Simonelli
- Department of Developmental Psychology and
Socialisation, University of Padua,
Padua, Italy
| | - S. C. Williams
- Department of Neuroimaging,
Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of
Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience,
King's College London, De Crespigny Park,
London, UK
| | - R. M. Murray
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - C. Nosarti
- Department of Psychosis Studies,
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and
Neuroscience, King's College London, De
Crespigny Park, London, UK
- Department of Developmental Psychology and
Socialisation, University of Padua,
Padua, Italy
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22
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Short RML, Sonuga-Barke EJS, Adams WJ, Fairchild G. Does comorbid anxiety counteract emotion recognition deficits in conduct disorder? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2016; 57:917-26. [PMID: 26934047 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous research has reported altered emotion recognition in both conduct disorder (CD) and anxiety disorders (ADs) - but these effects appear to be of different kinds. Adolescents with CD often show a generalised pattern of deficits, while those with ADs show hypersensitivity to specific negative emotions. Although these conditions often cooccur, little is known regarding emotion recognition performance in comorbid CD+ADs. Here, we test the hypothesis that in the comorbid case, anxiety-related emotion hypersensitivity counteracts the emotion recognition deficits typically observed in CD. METHOD We compared facial emotion recognition across four groups of adolescents aged 12-18 years: those with CD alone (n = 28), ADs alone (n = 23), cooccurring CD+ADs (n = 20) and typically developing controls (n = 28). The emotion recognition task we used systematically manipulated the emotional intensity of facial expressions as well as fixation location (eye, nose or mouth region). RESULTS Conduct disorder was associated with a generalised impairment in emotion recognition; however, this may have been modulated by group differences in IQ. AD was associated with increased sensitivity to low-intensity happiness, disgust and sadness. In general, the comorbid CD+ADs group performed similarly to typically developing controls. CONCLUSIONS Although CD alone was associated with emotion recognition impairments, ADs and comorbid CD+ADs were associated with normal or enhanced emotion recognition performance. The presence of comorbid ADs appeared to counteract the effects of CD, suggesting a potentially protective role, although future research should examine the contribution of IQ and gender to these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxanna M L Short
- Academic Unit of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Edmund J S Sonuga-Barke
- Academic Unit of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.,Department of Experimental, Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wendy J Adams
- Academic Unit of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Graeme Fairchild
- Academic Unit of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
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23
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Emotional conflict in facial expression processing during scene viewing: An ERP study. Brain Res 2015; 1608:138-46. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.02.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2014] [Revised: 02/15/2015] [Accepted: 02/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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24
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Abstract
Recent studies suggest that impaired processing of facial affect has a familial component and may reflect a marker of liability to psychopathology. This study investigated whether facial affect processing is impaired in offspring with parental panic disorder (PD). Psychiatrically healthy children with parental PD (n = 51) and age and sex matched control children with no parental psychopathology (n = 51) completed a standard facial recognition task. High-risk children made more errors recognizing fearful faces than controls and misattributed fear and angry facial affect as surprised. High-risk females also made more errors recognizing sad faces compared to low risk females and misattributed sadness as fear. No difference emerged for self-rated anxiety while viewing facial expressions. However, self-rated anxiety correlated moderately with misrecognition of fearful facial affect in high-risk children. Overall, our data suggest that the ability to correctly recognize negative facial emotions is impaired in children with parental PD. Further research is needed to confirm if these deficits represent a trait marker of liability for PD and elucidate the contribution of genetic and family environmental influences.
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25
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Weiß S, Winkelmann A, Duschek S. Recognition of facially expressed emotions in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome. Behav Med 2014; 39:146-54. [PMID: 24236812 DOI: 10.1080/08964289.2013.818932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The study investigated the ability to identify facially expressed emotions in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and its association with clinical parameters. Thirty-five FMS patients and 35 healthy controls accomplished a face recognition task. Additionally, pain severity, alexithymia, depression, anxiety, psychiatric co-morbidity and medication use were assessed. The patients displayed reduced task performance in terms of more misclassifications of emotional expressions than controls. Pain severity, alexithymia, depression and anxiety were inversely related to recognition performance, with pain severity accounting for the largest portion of test score variance. Psychiatric co-morbidity and medication had no impact on performance. The study documented impaired emotion recognition in FMS, which may contribute to the interpersonal difficulties and reduced social functioning related to this condition. As potential mechanisms mediating the occurrence of the deficits, altered affective processing due to interoceptive impairment as well as interference of central nervous nociceptive activity with cognitive and emotional processing are discussed.
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26
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Reeb-Sutherland BC, Rankin Williams L, Degnan KA, Pérez-Edgar K, Chronis-Tuscano A, Leibenluft E, Pine DS, Pollak SD, Fox NA. Identification of emotional facial expressions among behaviorally inhibited adolescents with lifetime anxiety disorders. Cogn Emot 2014; 29:372-82. [PMID: 24800906 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2014.913552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined differences in emotion expression identification between adolescents characterised with behavioural inhibition (BI) in childhood with and without a lifetime history of anxiety disorder. Participants were originally assessed for BI during toddlerhood and for social reticence during childhood. During adolescence, participants returned to the laboratory and completed a facial emotion identification task and a clinical psychiatric interview. Results revealed that behaviorally inhibited adolescents with a lifetime history of anxiety disorder displayed a lower threshold for identifying fear relative to anger emotion expressions compared to non-anxious behaviorally inhibited adolescents and non-inhibited adolescents with or without anxiety. These findings were specific to behaviorally inhibited adolescents with a lifetime history of social anxiety disorder. Thus, adolescents with a history of both BI and anxiety, specifically social anxiety, are more likely to differ from other adolescents in their identification of fearful facial expressions. This offers further evidence that perturbations in the processing of emotional stimuli may underlie the aetiology of anxiety disorders.
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27
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Xu Q, Yang Y, Wang P, Sun G, Zhao L. Gender differences in preattentive processing of facial expressions: an ERP study. Brain Topogr 2013; 26:488-500. [PMID: 23371479 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-013-0275-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2012] [Accepted: 01/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
To investigate gender differences in pre-attentive processing of facial expressions we recorded the expression mismatch negativity (EMMN) in the deviant-standard-reverse oddball paradigm. For female participants, sad faces elicited larger EMMN than happy faces, but this difference disappeared in the left hemisphere. For male participants, EMMN was not modulated by facial expressions, regardless of in the left or right hemispheres. While the source analysis indicated that for both genders prefrontal activations were observed for sad EMMN, more sources were involved for male than female participants. For happy EMMN, the current sources were located in the occipital lobe and parietal lobe for females and the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe for males. The present findings emphasized the importance of considering gender as a factor in the study of the pre-attentive processing of facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Xu
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
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