P Maurage1, S Campanella, P Philippot, S Martin, P de Timary. 1. Cognitive Neurosciences and Clinical Psychology Research units, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. pierre.maurage@uclouvain.be
Abstract
BACKGROUND: It is well established that chronic alcoholism is associated with a deficit in the decoding of emotional facial expression (EFE). Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether this deficit is specifically for emotions or due to a more general impairment in visual or facial processing. This study was designed to clarify this issue using multiple control tasks and the subtraction method. METHODS: Eighteen patients suffering from chronic alcoholism and 18 matched healthy control subjects were asked to perform several tasks evaluating (1) Basic visuo-spatial and facial identity processing; (2) Simple reaction times; (3) Complex facial features identification (namely age, emotion, gender, and race). Accuracy and reaction times were recorded. RESULTS: Alcoholic patients had a preserved performance for visuo-spatial and facial identity processing, but their performance was impaired for visuo-motor abilities and for the detection of complex facial aspects. More importantly, the subtraction method showed that alcoholism is associated with a specific EFE decoding deficit, still present when visuo-motor slowing down is controlled for. CONCLUSION: These results offer a post hoc confirmation of earlier data showing an EFE decoding deficit in alcoholism by strongly suggesting a specificity of this deficit for emotions. This may have implications for clinical situations, where emotional impairments are frequently observed among alcoholic subjects.
BACKGROUND: It is well established that chronic alcoholism is associated with a deficit in the decoding of emotional facial expression (EFE). Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether this deficit is specifically for emotions or due to a more general impairment in visual or facial processing. This study was designed to clarify this issue using multiple control tasks and the subtraction method. METHODS: Eighteen patients suffering from chronic alcoholism and 18 matched healthy control subjects were asked to perform several tasks evaluating (1) Basic visuo-spatial and facial identity processing; (2) Simple reaction times; (3) Complex facial features identification (namely age, emotion, gender, and race). Accuracy and reaction times were recorded. RESULTS: Alcoholic patients had a preserved performance for visuo-spatial and facial identity processing, but their performance was impaired for visuo-motor abilities and for the detection of complex facial aspects. More importantly, the subtraction method showed that alcoholism is associated with a specific EFE decoding deficit, still present when visuo-motor slowing down is controlled for. CONCLUSION: These results offer a post hoc confirmation of earlier data showing an EFE decoding deficit in alcoholism by strongly suggesting a specificity of this deficit for emotions. This may have implications for clinical situations, where emotional impairments are frequently observed among alcoholic subjects.
Authors: Edith V Sullivan; Ty Brumback; Susan F Tapert; Rosemary Fama; Devin Prouty; Sandra A Brown; Kevin Cummins; Wesley K Thompson; Ian M Colrain; Fiona C Baker; Michael D De Bellis; Stephen R Hooper; Duncan B Clark; Tammy Chung; Bonnie J Nagel; B Nolan Nichols; Torsten Rohlfing; Weiwei Chu; Kilian M Pohl; Adolf Pfefferbaum Journal: Neuropsychology Date: 2016-01-11 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Emily K Leiker; Harma Meffert; Laura C Thornton; Brittany K Taylor; Joseph Aloi; Heba Abdel-Rahim; Niraj Shah; Patrick M Tyler; Stuart F White; Karina S Blair; Francesca Filbey; Kayla Pope; Matthew Dobbertin; R James R Blair Journal: Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging Date: 2019-09-12 Impact factor: 2.376