Development of facial emotion recognition and empathy test (FERET) for primary school children

AbstractThis article reports on the development of the Facial Emotion Recognition and Empathy Test (FERET) as a reliable and valid tool for assessing facial emotion recognition and empathy skills in primary school-aged children. Pictures of human faces developed by the researcher were used as response options for the children. The range of response options and their associated scores were constructed based on the Two Factorial Consensual Mood Structure, which indicates dimensions of emotions. Four hundred and twenty-two primary school children participated in the research. The children were asked to recognise emotions and display the appropriate empathetic response. Data were analysed through item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Item Response Theory (IRT). As a result of item analysis, FERET has been designed to include 6 items related to facial expressions of key emotions and has been found to have an internal consistency coefficient of .82 and be unidimensional. Results from the IRT indicated that all the items in FERET discriminate better responders from poor responders. It was concluded that FERET can produce reliable and valid results in measuring facial emotion recognition and empathy skills among primary school children.

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“What Is Hidden behind the Mask?” Facial Emotion Recognition at the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic in Cognitively Normal Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics12010047 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 47

Author(s):

Stefano Ziccardi ◽

Francesco Crescenzo ◽

Massimiliano Calabrese

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Response Times ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Response Speed ◽

Facial Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Cognitively Normal ◽

Multiple Sclerosis Patients ◽

Human Faces

Social cognition deficits have been described in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), even in absence of a global cognitive impairment, affecting predominantly the ability to adequately process emotions from human faces. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to wear face masks that might interfere with facial emotion recognition. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed at investigating the ability of emotion recognition in PwMS from faces wearing masks. We enrolled a total of 42 cognitively normal relapsing–remitting PwMS and a matched group of 20 healthy controls (HCs). Participants underwent a facial emotion recognition task in which they had to recognize from faces wearing or not surgical masks which of the six basic emotions (happiness, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, disgust) was presented. Results showed that face masks negatively affected emotion recognition in all participants (p < 0.001); in particular, PwMS showed a global worse accuracy than HCs (p = 0.005), mainly driven by the “no masked” (p = 0.021) than the “masked” (p = 0.064) condition. Considering individual emotions, PwMS showed a selective impairment in the recognition of fear, compared with HCs, in both the conditions investigated (“masked”: p = 0.023; “no masked”: p = 0.016). Face masks affected negatively also response times (p < 0.001); in particular, PwMS were globally hastier than HCs (p = 0.024), especially in the “masked” condition (p = 0.013). Furthermore, a detailed characterization of the performance of PwMS and HCs in terms of accuracy and response speed was proposed. Results from the present study showed the effect of face masks on the ability to process facial emotions in PwMS, compared with HCs. Healthcare professionals working with PwMS at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak should take into consideration this effect in their clinical practice. Implications in the everyday life of PwMS are also discussed.

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Characteristics of Emotion Recognition Ability among Primary School Children: Relationships with Peer Status and Friendship Quality

Child Indicators Research ◽

10.1007/s12187-018-9590-z ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 1369-1388 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yingqian Wang ◽

Skyler T. Hawk ◽

Yulong Tang ◽

Katja Schlegel ◽

Hong Zou

Keyword(s):

Primary School ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

School Children ◽

Friendship Quality ◽

Peer Status ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Recognition Ability ◽

Emotion Recognition Ability

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The prevalence of allergic diseases in primary school children in Edirne, Turkey

Clinical & Experimental Allergy ◽

10.1046/j.1365-2222.1997.1130791.x ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 27 (3) ◽

pp. 262-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Z. TOROS SELCUK ◽

T. CAG-LAR ◽

T. ENUNLU ◽

T. TOPAL

Keyword(s):

Primary School ◽

School Children ◽

Allergic Diseases ◽

Primary School Children

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Beeinträchtigtes Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsausdrücke durch psychiatrische Patientinnen bei Alexithymie

Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie Psychologie und Psychotherapie ◽

10.1024/1661-4747/a000135 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 7-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel Dittrich ◽

Gregor Domes ◽

Susi Loebel ◽

Christoph Berger ◽

Carsten Spitzer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotion Recognition ◽

Emotional Expression ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Facial Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion ◽

Check List ◽

Psychosomatische Erkrankungen ◽

Psychiatrische Patienten ◽

Symptom Check List ◽

Tas 20

Die vorliegende Studie untersucht die Hypothese eines mit Alexithymie assoziierten Defizits beim Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsaudrücke an einer klinischen Population. Darüber hinaus werden Hypothesen zur Bedeutung spezifischer Emotionsqualitäten sowie zu Gender-Unterschieden getestet. 68 ambulante und stationäre psychiatrische Patienten (44 Frauen und 24 Männer) wurden mit der Toronto-Alexithymie-Skala (TAS-20), der Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Scale (MADRS), der Symptom-Check-List (SCL-90-R) und der Emotional Expression Multimorph Task (EEMT) untersucht. Als Stimuli des Gesichtererkennungsparadigmas dienten Gesichtsausdrücke von Basisemotionen nach Ekman und Friesen, die zu Sequenzen mit sich graduell steigernder Ausdrucksstärke angeordnet waren. Mittels multipler Regressionsanalyse untersuchten wir die Assoziation von TAS-20 Punktzahl und facial emotion recognition (FER). Während sich für die Gesamtstichprobe und den männlichen Stichprobenteil kein signifikanter Zusammenhang zwischen TAS-20-Punktzahl und FER zeigte, sahen wir im weiblichen Stichprobenteil durch die TAS-20 Punktzahl eine signifikante Prädiktion der Gesamtfehlerzahl (β = .38, t = 2.055, p < 0.05) und den Fehlern im Erkennen der Emotionen Wut und Ekel (Wut: β = .40, t = 2.240, p < 0.05, Ekel: β = .41, t = 2.214, p < 0.05). Für wütende Gesichter betrug die Varianzaufklärung durch die TAS-20-Punktzahl 13.3 %, für angeekelte Gesichter 19.7 %. Kein Zusammenhang bestand zwischen der Zeit, nach der die Probanden die emotionalen Sequenzen stoppten, um ihre Bewertung abzugeben (Antwortlatenz) und Alexithymie. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit unterstützen das Vorliegen eines mit Alexithymie assoziierten Defizits im Erkennen emotionaler Gesichtsausdrücke bei weiblchen Probanden in einer heterogenen, klinischen Stichprobe. Dieses Defizit könnte die Schwierigkeiten Hochalexithymer im Bereich sozialer Interaktionen zumindest teilweise begründen und so eine Prädisposition für psychische sowie psychosomatische Erkrankungen erklären.

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