Facial Emotion Recognition and Executive Functions in Fibromyalgia

Author:

Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara Cristina1,Reyes del Paso Gustavo A1,Fernández-Serrano María José2,Duschek Stefan3ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Jaén, Spain

2. Department of Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

3. Institute of Psychology, UMIT Tirol—University for Health Sciences Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tirol, Austria

Abstract

Abstract Objective The ability to accurately identify facial expressions of emotions is crucial in human interaction. Although a previous study suggested deficient emotional face recognition in patients with fibromyalgia, not much is known about the origin of this impairment. Against this background, the present study investigated the role of executive functions. Executive functions refer to cognitive control mechanisms enabling implementation and coordination of basic mental operations. Deficits in this domain are prevalent in fibromyalgia. Methods Fifty-two fibromyalgia patients and thirty-two healthy individuals completed the Ekman-60 Faces Test, which requires classification of facial displays of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. They also completed eight tasks assessing the executive function components of shifting, updating, and inhibition. Effects of comorbid depression and anxiety disorders, as well as medication use, were tested in stratified analyses of patient subgroups. Results Patients made more errors overall than controls in classifying the emotional expressions. Moreover, their recognition accuracy correlated positively with performance on most of the executive function tasks. Emotion recognition did not vary as a function of comorbid psychiatric disorders or medication use. Conclusions The study supports impaired facial emotion recognition in fibromyalgia, which may contribute to the interaction problems and poor social functioning characterizing this condition. Facial emotion recognition is regarded as a complex process, which may be particularly reliant on efficient coordination of various basic operations by executive functions. As such, the correlations between cognitive task performance and recognition accuracy suggest that deficits in higher cognitive functions underlie impaired emotional communication in fibromyalgia.

Funder

Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities

European Regional Development Fund

Doctoral School of the University of Jaén

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine,Clinical Neurology,General Medicine

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