Emotion Recognition and Self-Reported Emotion Processing in Alcohol and Cannabis Co-Using Young Adults

Abstract

Alcohol and cannabis use are each associated with impairments in emotion recognition accuracy, which may promote interpersonal problems. It is unclear if emotion recognition or self-reported emotion processing differs between young adult alcohol and cannabis co-users (ACCs) and healthy controls (HCs). This study examined whether ACCs and HCs differed in their emotion recognition across two different behavioral tasks with static or dynamic faces and determined if there were differences in self-reported socio-emotional processing and alexithymia. 22 ACCs (mean age = 21.27 ± 1.75) and 25 HCs (mean age = 21.48 ± 2.68), matched on age, sex, and IQ, completed the Metrisquare Emotion Recognition Task and CANTAB Emotion Recognition Task. The ACCs and HCs were compared on task accuracy and self-reported measures, including the Social Emotional Questionnaire (SEQ) and the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ). No significant main effects of the Group variable or the Emotion–Group interaction variable were present for either task. The ACCs had lower SEQ (p = 0.014) and higher PAQ (p = 0.024) scores relative to the HCs, indicating greater difficulties in socio-emotional processing and identifying one’s own emotions, respectively. Understanding the behavioral correlates of the self-reported difficulties in emotion processing reported by ACCs is needed to develop interventions to reduce these symptoms and promote healthy socio-emotional functioning in this population.