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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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Tumino M, Carraro L, Castelli L. The social factors behind the mask: contextual effects on trait impressions from faces wearing a face mask. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2024; 9:43. [PMID: 38935222 PMCID: PMC11211305 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00570-w] [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: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The presence of face masks can significantly impact processes related to trait impressions from faces. In the present research, we focused on trait impressions from faces either wearing a mask or not by addressing how contextual factors may shape such inferences. In Study 1, we compared trait impressions from faces in a phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in which wearing masks was a normative behavior (T1) with those assessed one year later when wearing masks was far less common (T2). Results at T2 showed a reduced positivity in the trait impressions elicited by faces covered by a mask. In Study 2, it was found that trait impressions from faces were modulated by the background visual context in which the target face was embedded so that faces wearing a mask elicited more positive traits when superimposed on an indoor rather than outdoor visual context. Overall, the present studies indicate that wearing face masks may affect trait impressions from faces, but also that such impressions are highly flexible and can significantly fluctuate across time and space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matilde Tumino
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, Italy.
| | - Luciana Carraro
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, Italy
| | - Luigi Castelli
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131, Padua, Italy
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Ma Y, Zou Y, Liu X, Chen T, Kemp GJ, Gong Q, Wang S. Social intelligence mediates the protective role of resting-state brain activity in the social cognition network against social anxiety. PSYCHORADIOLOGY 2024; 4:kkae009. [PMID: 38799033 PMCID: PMC11119848 DOI: 10.1093/psyrad/kkae009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Background Social intelligence refers to an important psychosocial skill set encompassing an array of abilities, including effective self-expression, understanding of social contexts, and acting wisely in social interactions. While there is ample evidence of its importance in various mental health outcomes, particularly social anxiety, little is known on the brain correlates underlying social intelligence and how it can mitigate social anxiety. Objective This research aims to investigate the functional neural markers of social intelligence and their relations to social anxiety. Methods Data of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral measures were collected from 231 normal students aged 16 to 20 years (48% male). Whole-brain voxel-wise correlation analysis was conducted to detect the functional brain clusters related to social intelligence. Correlation and mediation analyses explored the potential role of social intelligence in the linkage of resting-state brain activities to social anxiety. Results Social intelligence was correlated with neural activities (assessed as the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, fALFF) among two key brain clusters in the social cognition networks: negatively correlated in left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and positively correlated in right middle temporal gyrus. Further, the left SFG fALFF was positively correlated with social anxiety; brain-personality-symptom analysis revealed that this relationship was mediated by social intelligence. Conclusion These results indicate that resting-state activities in the social cognition networks might influence a person's social anxiety via social intelligence: lower left SFG activity → higher social intelligence → lower social anxiety. These may have implication for developing neurobehavioral interventions to mitigate social anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingqiao Ma
- Department of Radiology and Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular lmaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuhan Zou
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
| | - Xiqin Liu
- Department of Radiology and Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular lmaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Taolin Chen
- Department of Radiology and Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular lmaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
| | - Graham J Kemp
- Liverpool Magnetic Resonance Imaging Centre (LiMRIC) and Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom
| | - Qiyong Gong
- Department of Radiology, West China Xiamen Hospital of Sichuan University, Xiamen, China
| | - Song Wang
- Department of Radiology and Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and Molecular lmaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
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Pavlova MA, Moosavi J, Carbon CC, Fallgatter AJ, Sokolov AN. Emotions behind a mask: the value of disgust. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 9:58. [PMID: 37709796 PMCID: PMC10502067 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00388-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
The impact of face masks on social cognition and interaction became a popular topic due to the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic. This theme persists in the focus of attention beyond the pandemic, since face covering not only reduces the overall amount of face information available but also introduces biases and prejudices affecting social perception at large. Many questions are still open. One of them is whether gender of beholders affects inferring of emotions covered by face masks. Reading covered faces may be particularly challenging for individuals with mental disorders, most of which are gender-specific. Previous findings are not only sparse, but inconclusive because most research had been conducted online with resulting samples heavily dominated by females. Here in a face-to-face study, females and males were presented with a randomized set of faces covered by masks. In a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm, participants had to indicate facial emotions displayed by posers. In general, the outcome dovetails with earlier findings that face masks affect emotion recognition in a dissimilar way: Inferring some emotions suffers more severely than others, with the most pronounced influence of mask wearing on disgust and close to ceiling recognition of fear and neutral expressions. Contrary to our expectations, however, males were on overall more proficient in emotion recognition. In particular, males substantially excelled in inferring disgust. The findings help to understand gender differences in recognition of disgust, the forgotten emotion of psychiatry, that is of substantial value for a wide range of mental disorders including schizophrenia. Watch Prof. Marina Pavlova discussing this her work and this article: https://vimeo.com/860126397/5966610f49?share=copy .
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina A Pavlova
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Jonas Moosavi
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Claus-Christian Carbon
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
| | - Andreas J Fallgatter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander N Sokolov
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Lander K, Saunders G. Face coverings: Considering the implications for face perception and speech communication. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:24. [PMID: 37084036 PMCID: PMC10120481 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00479-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Karen Lander
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
| | - Gabrielle Saunders
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
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Ramdani C, Ogier M, Coutrot A. Communicating and reading emotion with masked faces in the Covid era: A short review of the literature. Psychiatry Res 2022; 316:114755. [PMID: 35963061 PMCID: PMC9338224 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Face masks have proven to be key to slowing down the SARS-Cov2 virus spread in the COVID-19 pandemic context. However, wearing face masks is not devoid of "side-effects", at both the physical and psychosocial levels. In particular, masks hinder emotion reading from facial expressions as they hide a significant part of the face. This disturbs both holistic and featural processing of facial expressions and, therefore, impairs emotion recognition, and influences many aspects of human social behavior. Communication in general is disrupted by face masks, as they modify the wearer's voice and prevent the audience from using lip reading or other non-verbal cues for speech comprehension. Individuals suffering from psychiatric conditions with impairment of communication, are at higher risk of distress because masks increase their difficulties to read emotions from faces. The identification and acknowledgement of these "side-effects" on communication are necessary because they warrant further work on adaptive solutions that will help foster the use of face masks by the greatest number.
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Affiliation(s)
- Celine Ramdani
- French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute, Bretigny sur Orge, France.
| | - Michael Ogier
- French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute, Bretigny sur Orge, France
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Pavlova MA, Romagnano V, Kubon J, Isernia S, Fallgatter AJ, Sokolov AN. Ties between reading faces, bodies, eyes, and autistic traits. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:997263. [PMID: 36248653 PMCID: PMC9554539 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.997263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
While reading covered with masks faces during the COVID-19 pandemic, for efficient social interaction, we need to combine information from different sources such as the eyes (without faces hidden by masks) and bodies. This may be challenging for individuals with neuropsychiatric conditions, in particular, autism spectrum disorders. Here we examined whether reading of dynamic faces, bodies, and eyes are tied in a gender-specific way, and how these capabilities are related to autistic traits expression. Females and males accomplished a task with point-light faces along with a task with point-light body locomotion portraying different emotional expressions. They had to infer emotional content of displays. In addition, participants were administered the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, modified and Autism Spectrum Quotient questionnaire. The findings show that only in females, inferring emotions from dynamic bodies and faces are firmly linked, whereas in males, reading in the eyes is knotted with face reading. Strikingly, in neurotypical males only, accuracy of face, body, and eyes reading was negatively tied with autistic traits. The outcome points to gender-specific modes in social cognition: females rely upon merely dynamic cues while reading faces and bodies, whereas males most likely trust configural information. The findings are of value for examination of face and body language reading in neuropsychiatric conditions, in particular, autism, most of which are gender/sex-specific. This work suggests that if male individuals with autistic traits experience difficulties in reading covered with masks faces, these deficits may be unlikely compensated by reading (even dynamic) bodies and faces. By contrast, in females, reading covered faces as well as reading language of dynamic bodies and faces are not compulsorily connected to autistic traits preventing them from paying high costs for maladaptive social interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina A. Pavlova
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Marina A. Pavlova,
| | - Valentina Romagnano
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Julian Kubon
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Sara Isernia
- IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, Milan, Italy
| | - Andreas J. Fallgatter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Alexander N. Sokolov
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Pavlova MA, Sokolov AA. Reading language of the eyes. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 140:104755. [PMID: 35760388 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 05/20/2022] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
The need for assessment of social skills in clinical and neurotypical populations has led to the widespread, and still increasing use of the 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test' (RMET) developed more than two decades ago by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues for evaluation of social cognition in autism. By analyzing most recent clinical and brain imaging data, we illuminate a set of factors decisive for using the RMET. Converging evidence indicates: (i) In neurotypical individuals, RMET scores are tightly correlated with other social skills (empathy, emotional intelligence, and body language reading); (ii) The RMET assesses recognition of facial affect, but also heavily relies on receptive language skills, semantic knowledge, and memory; (iii) RMET performance is underwritten by the large-scale ensembles of neural networks well-outside the social brain; (iv) The RMET is limited in its capacity to differentiate between neuropsychiatric conditions as well as between stages and severity of a single disorder, though it reliably distinguishes individuals with altered social cognition or elevated pathological traits from neurotypical persons; (v) Merely gender (as a social construct) rather than neurobiological sex influences performance on the RMET; (vi) RMET scores do not substantially decline in healthy aging, and they are higher with higher education level, cognitive abilities, literacy, and mental well-being; (vii) Accuracy on the RMET, and engagement of the social brain, are greater when emotions are expressed and recognized by individuals with similar cultural/ethnic background. Further research is required to better inform usage of the RMET as a tool for swift and reliable examination of social cognition. In light of comparable visual input from the RMET images and faces covered by masks due to COVID-19 regulations, the analysis is of value for keeping efficient social interaction during the current pandemic, in particular, in professional settings related to social communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina A Pavlova
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Menthal Health (TüCMH), Medical School and University Hospital, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Arseny A Sokolov
- Service de neuropsychologie et de neuroréhabilitation, Département des neurosciences cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
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