Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion ...

Indiana School of Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana

Persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have difficulty recognizing emotion in others. This is likely due to difficulties in interpreting non-verbal cues of affect. Although deficits in interpreting facial cues of affect are being widely explored, interpretation of vocal cues of affect has received much less attention. Accurate interpretation of vocal affect cues is important, particularly when facial cues are absent or ambiguous. These cues also contribute to more accurate identification of emotion. The neural substrates of facial and vocal affect recognition appear to be shared, further contributing to improved bimodal processing. This article discusses the importance of vocal affect cues in interpreting emotion. Expression of vocal affect in persons with TBI is also briefly discussed since difficulty in controlling and manipulating vocal cues of emotion when speaking may also contribute to poor social outcomes. A review of the literature in acoustic parameters that contribute to identification and expression of emotions is followed by a discussion on the integration of visual and auditory cues in bimodal processing and the relationship between facial and vocal affect in persons with TBI.

The importance of vocal affect to bimodal processing of emotion: implications for individuals with traumatic brain injury.

To determine the effectiveness of a modulated acoustic startle reflex paradigm with emotional imagery in studying physiological changes associated with emotional responses in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Using startle to objectively measure anger and other emotional responses after traumatic brain injury: a pilot study.

Difficulties in communication and social relationships present a formidable challenge for many people after traumatic brain injury (TBI). These difficulties are likely to be partially attributable to problems with emotion perception. Mounting evidence shows facial affect recognition to be particularly difficult after TBI. However, no attempt has been made to systematically estimate the magnitude of this problem or the frequency with which it occurs.

Meta-analysis of facial affect recognition difficulties after traumatic brain injury.

To investigate if olfaction is associated with affect recognition and empathy deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Prior research has shown that TBI often leads to loss of smell. We hypothesized a relationship with emotion perception, because the neural substrates of the olfactory system overlap with the ventral circuitry of the orbital frontal cortex, which play a critical role in affective responses, such as empathy.

Affect recognition, empathy, and dysosmia after traumatic brain injury.

To determine (1) alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy differences in participants with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI); (2) the amount of affect recognition variance explained by alexithymia; and (3) the amount of empathy variance explained by alexithymia and affect recognition.

Relationships between alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy after traumatic brain injury.

There is considerable evidence suggesting facial affect recognition and cognitive functions are impaired in many people with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, little is known about the relationship between these two domains in the TBI population.

The relationship between facial affect recognition and cognitive functioning after traumatic brain injury.

To compare affect recognition by people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) for (1) unimodal and context-enriched multimodal media; (2) positive (happy) and negative emotions; and (3) neutral multimodal stimuli.

Affect recognition in traumatic brain injury: responses to unimodal and multimodal media.

The ability to recognize others' emotions is critical to successful interpersonal interactions. Given its importance, there has been an extensive amount of research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms associated with facial affect recognition in healthy individuals, and some in patient populations with affective disorders. Findings from these studies reveal that the underlying mechanisms involve a distributed neural network, engaging structures within limbic and subcortical regions, prefrontal cortex, temporal and parietal lobes, and occipital cortex. In the last several decades, researchers have become increasingly interested in how emotion recognition is affected after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), which often involves damage to these structures, as well as the neural circuitry connecting them. Not surprisingly, research has reliably demonstrated that facial affect recognition deficits are common after TBI. To date, however, no neuroimaging studies have investigated facial affect recognition deficits in the TBI population. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to consider how functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) might inform our knowledge about affect recognition deficits after TBI, and potentially enhance treatment approaches.

Neuroimaging and facial affect processing: implications for traumatic brain injury.

Studies of facial affect recognition by people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown this to be a significant problem. Vocal affect recognition also appears to be challenging for this population, but little is known about the degree to which one modality is impaired compared to the other. This study compared facial and vocal affect recognition of high and low intensity emotion expressions in people with moderate-to-severe TBI.

Recognition of facial and vocal affect following traumatic brain injury.

To examine the effectiveness of 2 affect recognition interventions (Faces and Stories) in people with a traumatic brain injury.

A randomized controlled trial of emotion recognition training after traumatic brain injury.

The hypothesis of the present work derives from clinical experience that suggests that patients who are more ill have less facial expression variability in response to emotional cues.

Decreased facial expression variability in patients with serious cardiopulmonary disease in the emergency care setting.

Cognitive problems after traumatic brain injury.

To explore validity of an assessment tool under development-the Emotional Inferencing from Stories Test (EIST). This measure is being designed to assess the ability of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) to make inferences about the emotional state of others solely from contextual cues.

Exploration of a new tool for assessing emotional inferencing after traumatic brain injury.

The neurobiological mechanisms that underlie facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI) have not yet been identified. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), study aims were to 1) determine if there are differences in brain activation during facial affect processing in people with TBI who have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-I) relative to people with TBI and healthy controls who do not have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-N and HC, respectively); and 2) identify relationships between neural activity and facial affect recognition performance. A facial affect recognition screening task performed outside the scanner was used to determine group classification; TBI patients who performed greater than one standard deviation below normal performance scores were classified as TBI-I, while TBI patients with normal scores were classified as TBI-N. An fMRI facial recognition paradigm was then performed within the 3T environment. Results from 35 participants are reported (TBI-I = 11, TBI-N = 12, and HC = 12). For the fMRI task, TBI-I and TBI-N groups scored significantly lower than the HC group. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals for facial affect recognition compared to a baseline condition of viewing a scrambled face, revealed lower neural activation in the right fusiform gyrus (FG) in the TBI-I group than the HC group. Right fusiform gyrus activity correlated with accuracy on the facial affect recognition tasks (both within and outside the scanner). Decreased FG activity suggests facial affect recognition deficits after TBI may be the result of impaired holistic face processing. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.

Neurobiological mechanisms associated with facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury.

Study objectives were to examine associations of irritation and anger with negative attributions, and associations of negative attributions with trait aggression in participants with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Dawn Neumann

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Indiana School of Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Dawn Neumann

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Indiana School of Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation