Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:27:35.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Impaired recognition of happy facial expressions in bipolar disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2014

Linette Lawlor-Savage
Affiliation:
Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia Laboratory, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Scott R. Sponheim
Affiliation:
Minneapolis Veteran's Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN, USA Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Vina M. Goghari*
Affiliation:
Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia Laboratory, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
*
Vina Goghari, PhD, Rpsych, Clinical Neuroscience of Schizophrenia Laboratory, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, Canada T2N 1N4. Tel: +403 210 7344; Fax: +403 282 8249; E-mail: vina.m.goghari@ucalgary.ca

Abstract

Background

The ability to accurately judge facial expressions is important in social interactions. Individuals with bipolar disorder have been found to be impaired in emotion recognition; however, the specifics of the impairment are unclear. This study investigated whether facial emotion recognition difficulties in bipolar disorder reflect general cognitive, or emotion-specific, impairments. Impairment in the recognition of particular emotions and the role of processing speed in facial emotion recognition were also investigated.

Methods

Clinically stable bipolar patients (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 50) judged five facial expressions in two presentation types, time-limited and self-paced. An age recognition condition was used as an experimental control.

Results

Bipolar patients’ overall facial recognition ability was unimpaired. However, patients’ specific ability to judge happy expressions under time constraints was impaired.

Conclusions

Findings suggest a deficit in happy emotion recognition impacted by processing speed. Given the limited sample size, further investigation with a larger patient sample is warranted.

Type
Rapid Communication
Copyright
Copyright © Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Hoertnagl, CM, Muehlbacher, M, Biedermann, F et al. Facial emotion recognition and its relationship to subjective and functional outcomes in remitted patients with bipolar I disorder. Bipolar Disord 2011;13:537544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Addington, J, Addington, D. Facial affect recognition and information processing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophr Res 1998;32:171181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Bora, E, Vahip, S, Gonul, A et al. Evidence for theory of mind deficits in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2005;112:110116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Getz, GE, Shear, PK, Strakowski, SM. Facial affect recognition deficits in bipolar disorder. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2003;9:623632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5. Martino, DJ, Strejilevich, SA, Fassi, G, Marengo, E, Igoa, A. Theory of mind and facial emotion recognition in euthymic bipolar I and bipolar II disorders. Psychiatry Res 2011;189:379384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Lembke, A, Keter, TA. Impaired recognition of facial emotion in mania. Am J Psychiatry 2002;159:302304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7. Kohler, CG, Hoffman, LJ, Eastman, LB, Healey, K, Moberg, PJ. Facial emotion perception in depression and bipolar disorder: A quantitative review. Psychiatry Res 2011;188:303309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. Samame, C, Martino, D, Strejilevich, S. Social cognition in euthymic bipolar disorder: systematic review and meta-analytic approach. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2012;125:266280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9. Kieseppa, T, Tuulio-Henriksson, A, Haukka, J et al. Memory and verbal learning functions in twins with bipolar-I disorder, and the role of information-processing speed. Psychol Med 2005;35:205215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10. First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBW. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Clinician Version (SCID-CV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1996.Google Scholar
11. Nurnberger, J Jr, Blehar, M, Kaufmann, C et al. Collaborators from the NIMH genetics initiative: diagnostic interview for genetic studies: rationale, unique features, and training. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1994;51:849859.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12. Ventura, J, Lukoff, D, Nuechterlein, KH, Liberman, RP, Green, MF, Shaner, A. Manual for the expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 1993;3:221224.Google Scholar
13. Burger, GK, Calsyn, RJ, Morse, GA, Klinkenberg, WK, Trusty, ML. Factor structure of the expanded brief psychiatric rating scale. J Clin Psychol 1997;53:451454.3.0.CO;2-Q>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14. Wechsler, D. Wais-III: Wechsler adult intelligence scale. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation, 1997.Google Scholar
15. Schneider, F, Gur, RC, Koch, K et al. Impairment in the specificity of emotion processing in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 2006;163:442447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Goghari, VM, Macdonald, AW, Sponheim, SR. Temporal lobe structures and facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia patients and nonpsychotic relatives. Schizophr Bull 2011;37:12811294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Pomarol-Clotet, E, Hynes, F, Ashwin, C, Bullmore, E, Mckenna, P, Laws, K. Facial emotion processing in schizophrenia: a non-specific neuropsychological deficit? Psychol Med 2010;40:911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Gray, J, Venn, H, Montagne, B et al. Bipolar patients show mood-congruent biases in sensitivity to facial expressions of emotion when exhibiting depressed symptoms, but not when exhibiting manic symptoms. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2006;11:505520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19. Kee, KS, Green, MF, Mintz, J, Brekke, JS. Is emotion processing a predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenia? Schizophr Bull 2003;29:487497.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Lawlor-Savage Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Lawlor-Savage Supplementary Material(File)
File 45.6 KB