Social behavior following traumatic brain injury and its association with emotion recognition, understanding of intentions, and cognitive flexibility

AbstractObjectives:The negative effect of changes in social behavior following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are known, but much less is known about the neuropsychological impairments that may underlie and predict these changes. The current study investigated possible associations between post-injury behavior and neuropsychological competencies of emotion recognition, understanding intentions, and response selection, that have been proposed as important for social functioning.Methods:Forty participants with TBI and 32 matched healthy participants completed a battery of tests assessing the three functions of interest. In addition, self- and proxy reports of pre- and post-injury behavior, mood, and community integration were collected.Results:The TBI group performed significantly poorer than the comparison group on all tasks of emotion recognition, understanding intention, and on one task of response selection. Ratings of current behavior suggested significant changes in the TBI group relative to before the injury and showed significantly poorer community integration and interpersonal behavior than the comparison group. Of the three functions considered, emotion recognition was associated with both post-injury behavior and community integration and this association could not be fully explained by injury severity, time since injury, or education.Conclusions:The current study confirmed earlier findings of associations between emotion recognition and post-TBI behavior, providing partial evidence for models proposing emotion recognition as one of the pre-requisites for adequate social functioning. (JINS, 2017,23, 400–411)

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Social cognition and emotion regulation: a multifaceted treatment (T-ScEmo) for patients with traumatic brain injury

Clinical Rehabilitation ◽

10.1177/0269215519829803 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 820-833 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Herma J Westerhof-Evers ◽

Annemarie C Visser-Keizer ◽

Luciano Fasotti ◽

Jacoba M Spikman

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Treatment Protocol ◽

Strategy Training ◽

Self Monitoring ◽

Cognition And Emotion ◽

E Learning

Background: Many patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury have deficits in social cognition. Social cognition refers to the ability to perceive, interpret, and act upon social information. Few studies have investigated the effectiveness of treatment for impairments of social cognition in patients with traumatic brain injury. Moreover, these studies have targeted only a single aspect of the problem. They all reported improvements, but evidence for transfer of learned skills to daily life was scarce. We evaluated a multifaceted treatment protocol for poor social cognition and emotion regulation impairments (called T-ScEmo) in patients with traumatic brain injury and found evidence for transfer to participation and quality of life. Purpose: In the current paper, we describe the theoretical underpinning, the design, and the content of our treatment of social cognition and emotion regulation (T-ScEmo). Theory into practice: The multifaceted treatment that we describe is aimed at improving social cognition, regulation of social behavior and participation in everyday life. Some of the methods taught were already evidence-based and derived from existing studies. They were combined, modified, or extended with newly developed material. Protocol design: T-ScEmo consists of 20 one-hour individual sessions and incorporates three modules: (1) emotion perception, (2) perspective taking and theory of mind, and (3) regulation of social behavior. It includes goal-setting, psycho-education, function training, compensatory strategy training, self-monitoring, role-play with participation of a significant other, and homework assignments. Recommendations: It is strongly recommended to offer all three modules, as they build upon each other. However, therapists can vary the time spent per module, in line with the patients’ individual needs and goals. In future, development of e-learning modules and virtual reality sessions might shorten the treatment.

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Relationship between individual differences in functional connectivity and facial-emotion recognition abilities in adults with traumatic brain injury

NeuroImage Clinical ◽

10.1016/j.nicl.2016.12.010 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 370-377 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

A. Rigon ◽

M.W. Voss ◽

L.S. Turkstra ◽

B. Mutlu ◽

M.C. Duff

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion Recognition ◽

Facial Emotion

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Cognitive Flexibility and Task Switching in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.14.00139 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Author(s):

Robertson I.

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Cognitive Flexibility ◽

Task Switching ◽

And Task

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Emotion Recognition in Low-Spatial Frequencies Is Partly Preserved following Traumatic Brain Injury

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2019/9562935 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alessia Celeghin ◽

Valentina Galetto ◽

Marco Tamietto ◽

Marina Zettin

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Spatial Frequency ◽

Emotion Recognition ◽

Diffuse Axonal Injury ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Emotion Perception ◽

High Spatial Frequency ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Spatial Frequencies

After a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), emotion recognition is typically impaired. This is commonly attributed to widespread multifocal damage in cortical areas involved in emotion processing as well as to Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI). However, current models suggest that emotional recognition is subserved by a distributed network cantered on the amygdala, which involves both cortical and subcortical structures. While the cortical system is preferentially tuned to process high spatial frequencies, the subcortical networks are more sensitive to low-spatial frequencies. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether emotion perception from low-spatial frequencies underpinning the subcortical system is relatively preserved in TBI patients. We tested a group of 14 subjects with severe TBI and 20 matched healthy controls. Each participant was asked to recognize the emotion expressed by each stimulus that consisted of happy and fearful faces, filtered for their low and high spatial frequencies components. Results in TBI patients’ performances showed that low-spatial frequency expressions were recognized with higher accuracy and faster reaction times when compared to high spatial frequency stimuli. On the contrary, healthy controls did not show any effect in the two conditions, neither for response accuracy nor for reaction times. The outcomes of this study indicate that emotion perception from low-spatial frequencies is relatively preserved in TBI, thereby suggesting spare of functioning in the subcortical system in mediating emotion recognition.

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