Impaired processing of emotion in music, faces and voices supports a generalized emotional decoding deficit in alcoholism. (20th August 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kornreich, Charles; Brevers, Damien; Canivet, Delphine; Ermer, Elsa; Naranjo, Cecilia; Constant, Eric; Verbanck, Paul; Campanella, Salvatore; Noël, Xavier
• Is Part Of: Addiction. Volume 108:Number 1(2013:Jan.)
• Page Start: 80
• Page End: 88
• Publication Date: 2012-08-20
• Subjects: Alcoholism -- Periodicals; Drug addiction -- Periodicals; 616.86
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03995.x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0965-2140

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="add3995-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Aim</title> <p>To test the generalized emotional decoding impairment hypothesis in alcoholism.</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Design</title> <p>Cross‐sectional behavioural study comparing emotion recognition conveyed by faces, voices and musical excerpts.</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Setting</title> <p>Alcohol detoxification unit of Brugmann University Hospital.</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Participants</title> <p>Twenty‐five recently detoxified alcohol‐dependent patients were compared to 25 normal controls matched for sex, age and educational level.</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0005" sec-type="section"> <title>Measurements</title> <p>From faces, voices and musical excerpts, participants were instructed to rate the intensity of several emotions on a scale from 0 for 'absent' to 9 for 'highly present'. Depression, anxiety and sustained/selective attention capacities were controlled for.</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0006" sec-type="section"> <title>Findings</title> <p>Alcohol‐dependent patients were less accurate than controls in identifying the target emotion in faces (<italic>P</italic> < 0.001), voices (<italic>P</italic> < 0.001) and musical excerpts (<italic>P</italic> < 0.001).</p> </sec> <sec id="add3995-sec-0007" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Alcohol‐dependent patients who are completing detoxification are impaired in recognizing emotions conveyed by faces, voices and music; these results suggest a generalized emotional decoding impairment. Hypothetically, deficits in the fronto‐parietal mirror neurone system could link all these disturbances together.</p> </sec> </abstract>