The effect of facial expression intensity on emotion recognition and psychosocial performance in patients with frontal or temporal lobe epilepsy

Yen-Hsi Lin; Yue-Loong Hsin; Ren-Hau Li; Chun-Kai Liu; Ren-You Wang; Wei-Han Wang

doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108462

The effect of facial expression intensity on emotion recognition and psychosocial performance in patients with frontal or temporal lobe epilepsy

Epilepsy Behav. 2022 Jan:126:108462. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108462. Epub 2021 Dec 9.

Authors

Yen-Hsi Lin¹, Yue-Loong Hsin², Ren-Hau Li¹, Chun-Kai Liu¹, Ren-You Wang¹, Wei-Han Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
² Department of Neurology, Chung Shan Medical University and Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
³ Department of Psychology, Kaohsiung Medical University and Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Taiwan. Electronic address: whwang@kmu.edu.tw.

PMID: 34896784
DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108462

Abstract

Purpose: No studies have examined the relationship between the intensity of facial emotion expression and theory of mind (ToM) ability in people with epilepsy. This study aimed to explore facial emotion recognition in a group of patients with frontal (FLE) or temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and its relationship with the intensities of perceived facial emotion expressions, ToM, and social functioning.

Methods: Twenty-six patients with FLE or TLE and 30 matched controls were included in the study. All participants completed the facial emotion recognition test, Faux Pas Recognition (FPR) test measuring advanced ToM, Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, Social and Occupational Functioning Scale for Epilepsy (SOFSE), and background neuropsychological tests.

Results: The patient group was significantly worse than the control group in recognizing facial expressions of negative emotions, particularly for medium-intensity facial expression of fear. There was no significant difference between the groups in recognizing high-intensity fear facial expressions. The scores of FPR (overall and affective ToMs) in the patient group were significantly lower than those in the control group. Additionally, the facial emotion recognition was significantly associated with the total score of FPR, and the FPR total score remarkably correlated with the Communication subscale score of the SOFSE.

Conclusions: Patients with FLE or TLE had impaired ability to recognize medium-intensity facial expressions of fear. Moreover, patients' ToM deficit significantly correlated not only with their emotion recognition problem but also with their social-communicative competence. Nevertheless, we also found that increasing the intensity of expression can improve the accuracy of emotion recognition in patients with epilepsy. These findings may provide considerations for further longitudinal studies and interventions on the social difficulties of people with epilepsy.

Keywords: Emotion recognition; Facial expression intensity; Frontal lobe epilepsy; Temporal lobe epilepsy; Theory of mind.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Emotions
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe* / psychology
Facial Expression
Humans
Neuropsychological Tests
Theory of Mind*