Emotion Recognition in Blended Facial Expressions in Women with Anorexia Nervosa. (14th September 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dapelo, Marcela Marin; Surguladze, Simon; Morris, Robin; Tchanturia, Kate
• Is Part Of: European eating disorders review. Volume 24:Number 1(2016:Jan.)
• Page Start: 34
• Page End: 42
• Publication Date: 2015-09-14
• Subjects: Emotion recognition -- disgust -- anorexia nervosa -- eating disorders -- face; Eating disorders -- Periodicals; 616.8526
• DOI: 10.1002/erv.2403
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1072-4133

Abstract

Abstract: People with anorexia nervosa (AN) have difficulties in the social domain, and problems in the ability to recognise emotions in people's faces may contribute to these difficulties. This study aimed to investigate emotion recognition in women with AN and healthy controls (HC), using pictures of faces portraying blended emotions at different levels of ambiguity, which resemble real‐life expressions more closely than prototypical expressions used in past studies. Seventy‐seven participants (35 AN; 42 HC) completed the emotion recognition task. Results indicated that participants with AN were less accurate than HC recognising expressions of disgust, when shown less ambiguously. There were no differences in the recognition of other emotions. Participants with AN also showed response bias towards anger. These findings suggest a generally preserved ability to recognise emotions in women with AN, with the exception of disgust recognition. They also support previous findings of bias towards anger in AN patients. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.