The objective was to determine whether diffuse damage to orbital and ventromedial regions of the prefrontal cortex usually associated with moderate-to-severe closed head injury (CHI) would affect the ability to perceive and respond to socially relevant information.
Methods: Participants with CHI and age-matched non-injured controls were presented with faces that varied with respect to emotional expression while electrodermal activity (EDA) was monitored. Cognitive and general adaptive functioning was also assessed.
Results: CHI was associated with a failure to increase EDA in response to negative facial expressions and with reduced ability to identify negative expressions, especially fear. The groups differed on other signs of orbital/medial prefrontal damage such as anosmia and in general social adaptability and awareness-of-deficit as measured by the Brock Adaptive Functioning Questionnaire.
Conclusions: CHI affected the ability to identify and respond to negative facial expression. Addressing these deficits may enhance rehabilitative efforts within the social domain.