scholarly journals Investigating the relationship between Psychopathy, Fear Conditioning, and Facial Affect Recognition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Allanah R. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Inhibition Mechanism ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Psychopathic offenders are often considered to be untreatable, especially dangerous, and at very high risk of reoffending. Psychopathy has generated considerable research interest. Despite this interest, our understanding of psychopathy is relatively poor, with ongoing debate regarding how best to define psychopathy, and a lack of clarity regarding how psychopathy develops. Etiological theories of psychopathy posit deficits in recognising and responding to others’ emotions, and an attenuated experience of fear as crucial mechanisms in the development of psychopathy. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the pattern of psychopathic traits present within an inmate sample, and to investigate the relationship between these psychopathic traits and performance on two tasks related to etiological theories of psychopathy: facial affect recognition and fear conditioning. Part One of this thesis addresses the first aim, investigating the presentation of psychopathy in the current sample. The relationship between psychopathic traits in the present sample was largely consistent with previous research. A Principal Components Analysis identified two factors of psychopathic traits: a Bold/ Fearlessness factor which measures an absence of fear and anxiety and the presence of self-assurance, and a Mean/ Disinhibited factor which measures the presence of externalising and disinhibited behaviour, alongside aggression and the use of other people for one’s own gain. These findings are discussed in relation to common conceptualisations and operationalisations of psychopathy.   Part Two of this thesis uses the measurement of psychopathy from Part One to investigate performance on a facial affect recognition task and a fear conditioning task. The Violence Inhibition Mechanism theory suggests that psychopaths should show impairments on facial affect recognition tasks, particularly in the recognition of fearful and sad facial expressions. However, in the current research psychopathy was unrelated to affect recognition, across all emotional expressions. When criminal offenders were compared to a student sample, the offenders showed poorer affect recognition than the students. These results suggest that there may be an effect of antisociality on affect recognition, but no effect of psychopathy. Low fear theories of psychopathy suggest that psychopaths should be impaired at learning conditioned fear associations. However, the present study found no evidence of psychopathy-related deficits in fear conditioning. Rather, higher psychopathy was related to better fear conditioning, with higher scores on the Mean/ Disinhibited factor predicting better discrimination between the conditioned and neutral stimuli.   Taken together, these findings suggest that psychopathy was not related to deficits in either affect recognition or fear conditioning. These findings are inconsistent with etiological theories of psychopathy, and question common assumptions about the deficits which characterise psychopathy.</p>

scholarly journals Investigating the relationship between Psychopathy, Fear Conditioning, and Facial Affect Recognition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Allanah R. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Inhibition Mechanism ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Present Sample ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Psychopathic offenders are often considered to be untreatable, especially dangerous, and at very high risk of reoffending. Psychopathy has generated considerable research interest. Despite this interest, our understanding of psychopathy is relatively poor, with ongoing debate regarding how best to define psychopathy, and a lack of clarity regarding how psychopathy develops. Etiological theories of psychopathy posit deficits in recognising and responding to others’ emotions, and an attenuated experience of fear as crucial mechanisms in the development of psychopathy. The aims of this thesis are to investigate the pattern of psychopathic traits present within an inmate sample, and to investigate the relationship between these psychopathic traits and performance on two tasks related to etiological theories of psychopathy: facial affect recognition and fear conditioning. Part One of this thesis addresses the first aim, investigating the presentation of psychopathy in the current sample. The relationship between psychopathic traits in the present sample was largely consistent with previous research. A Principal Components Analysis identified two factors of psychopathic traits: a Bold/ Fearlessness factor which measures an absence of fear and anxiety and the presence of self-assurance, and a Mean/ Disinhibited factor which measures the presence of externalising and disinhibited behaviour, alongside aggression and the use of other people for one’s own gain. These findings are discussed in relation to common conceptualisations and operationalisations of psychopathy.   Part Two of this thesis uses the measurement of psychopathy from Part One to investigate performance on a facial affect recognition task and a fear conditioning task. The Violence Inhibition Mechanism theory suggests that psychopaths should show impairments on facial affect recognition tasks, particularly in the recognition of fearful and sad facial expressions. However, in the current research psychopathy was unrelated to affect recognition, across all emotional expressions. When criminal offenders were compared to a student sample, the offenders showed poorer affect recognition than the students. These results suggest that there may be an effect of antisociality on affect recognition, but no effect of psychopathy. Low fear theories of psychopathy suggest that psychopaths should be impaired at learning conditioned fear associations. However, the present study found no evidence of psychopathy-related deficits in fear conditioning. Rather, higher psychopathy was related to better fear conditioning, with higher scores on the Mean/ Disinhibited factor predicting better discrimination between the conditioned and neutral stimuli.   Taken together, these findings suggest that psychopathy was not related to deficits in either affect recognition or fear conditioning. These findings are inconsistent with etiological theories of psychopathy, and question common assumptions about the deficits which characterise psychopathy.</p>

The relationship between facial affect recognition and cognitive functioning after traumatic brain injury

Brain Injury ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 1155-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackki Yim ◽  
Duncan R. Babbage ◽  
Barbra Zupan ◽  
Dawn Neumann ◽  
Barry Willer
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Cognitive Functioning ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
The Relationship

Facial affect recognition deficits in bipolar disorder

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLEN E. GETZ ◽  
PAULA K. SHEAR ◽  
STEPHEN M. STRAKOWSKI
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Facial Recognition ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Benton Facial Recognition Test ◽  
Bipolar Patients

Patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BPD), by definition, have problems with emotional regulation. However, it remains uncertain whether these patients are also deficient at processing other people's emotions, particularly while manic. The present study examined the ability of 25 manic bipolar patients and 25 healthy participants on tasks of facial recognition and facial affect recognition at three different presentation durations: 500 ms, 750 ms, and 1000 ms. The groups did not differ in terms of age, education, sex, ethnicity, or estimated IQ. The groups did not differ significantly on either a novel computerized facial recognition task or the Benton Facial Recognition Test. In contrast, the bipolar group performed significantly more poorly than did the comparison group on a novel facial affect labeling task. Although the patient group had slower reaction times on all 3 computerized tasks, the presentation duration did not have an effect on performance in the patients. This study suggests that patients with bipolar disorder are able to recognize faces, but have difficulty processing facial affective cues. (JINS, 2003, 9, 623–632.)

Psychopathic traits and their relation to facial affect recognition

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 210-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Hélène Cigna ◽  
Jean-Pierre Guay ◽  
Patrice Renaud
Keyword(s):  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition

Facial affect recognition in college students with psychopathic traits: A comparison using tests matched in discriminating power

2019 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 52-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Kosson ◽  
Terry Chi ◽  
Nastassia R.E. Riser ◽  
Zach Walsh ◽  
Courtney N. Beussink ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Discriminating Power

scholarly journals Emotion Recognition and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Individuals at Clinical High Risk of Psychosis

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 823-833
Author(s):  
Stefania Tognin ◽  
Ana Catalan ◽  
Gemma Modinos ◽  
Matthew J Kempton ◽  
Amaia Bilbao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Clinical High Risk ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Adverse Experiences ◽  
Adverse Childhood ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Objective To investigate the association between facial affect recognition (FAR) and type of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in a sample of clinical high risk (CHR) individuals and a matched sample of healthy controls (HCs). Methods In total, 309 CHR individuals and 51 HC were recruited as part of an European Union-funded multicenter study (EU-GEI) and included in this work. During a 2-year follow-up period, 65 CHR participants made a transition to psychosis (CHR-T) and 279 did not (CHR-NT). FAR ability was measured using a computerized version of the Degraded Facial Affect Recognition (DFAR) task. ACEs were measured using the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and the Bullying Questionnaire. Generalized regression models were used to investigate the relationship between ACE and FAR. Logistic regressions were used to investigate the relationship between FAR and psychotic transition. Results In CHR individuals, having experienced emotional abuse was associated with decreased total and neutral DFAR scores. CHR individuals who had experienced bullying performed better in the total DFAR and in the frightened condition. In HC and CHR, having experienced the death of a parent during childhood was associated with lower DFAR total score and lower neutral DFAR score, respectively. Analyses revealed a modest increase of transition risk with increasing mistakes from happy to angry faces. Conclusions Adverse experiences in childhood seem to have a significant impact on emotional processing in adult life. This information could be helpful in a therapeutic setting where both difficulties in social interactions and adverse experiences are often addressed.

scholarly journals How Interpersonal Distance Between Avatar and Human Influences Facial Affect Recognition in Immersive Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan del Aguila ◽  
Luz M. González-Gualda ◽  
María Angeles Játiva ◽  
Patricia Fernández-Sotos ◽  
Antonio Fernández-Caballero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Facial Emotion Recognition ◽  
Facial Emotion ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Interpersonal Distance

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal interpersonal distance (IPD) between humans and affective avatars in facial affect recognition in immersive virtual reality (IVR). The ideal IPD is the one in which the humans show the highest number of hits and the shortest reaction times in recognizing the emotions displayed by avatars. The results should help design future therapies to remedy facial affect recognition deficits.Methods: A group of 39 healthy volunteers participated in an experiment in which participants were shown 65 dynamic faces in IVR and had to identify six basic emotions plus neutral expression presented by the avatars. We decided to limit the experiment to five different distances: D1 (35 cm), D2 (55 cm), D3 (75 cm), D4 (95 cm), and D5 (115 cm), all belonging to the intimate and personal interpersonal spaces. Of the total of 65 faces, 13 faces were presented for each of the included distances. The views were shown at different angles: 50% in frontal view, 25% from the right profile, and 25% from the left profile. The order of appearance of the faces presented to each participant was randomized.Results: The overall success rate in facial emotion identification was 90.33%, being D3 the IPD with the best overall emotional recognition hits, although statistically significant differences could not be found between the IPDs. Consistent with results obtained in previous studies, identification rates for negative emotions were higher with increasing IPD, whereas the recognition task improved for positive emotions when IPD was closer. In addition, the study revealed irregular behavior in the facial detection of the emotion surprise.Conclusions: IVR allows us to reliably assess facial emotion recognition using dynamic avatars as all the IPDs tested showed to be effective. However, no statistically significant differences in facial emotion recognition were found among the different IPDs.

scholarly journals QOL-15. NEURAL NETWORK INTEGRITY FOR FACIAL AFFECT RECOGNITION IN SURVIVORS OF MEDULLOBLASTOMA

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii433-iii434
Author(s):  
Tara Brinkman ◽  
Kevin Krull ◽  
Matthew Scoggins ◽  
Zhenghong Li ◽  
John Glass ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Behavioral Measure ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
The Face ◽  
Left And Right

Abstract BACKGROUND Medulloblastoma survivors are at risk for social deficits, yet underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. METHODS Facial affect recognition was assessed in 50 medulloblastoma survivors treated with craniospinal radiation (median[range] 21.4[12.5–30.9] years old, 11.0[5.7–22.6] years since diagnosis) and 56 non-cancer age-, sex-, and race-matched controls. Brain activation and connectivity in core regions/nodes of the face perception network (fusiform gyri, occipital gyri, superior temporal sulcus) were examined using structural and functional neuroimaging. Structural networks were constructed from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data and individual node strength and efficiency were assessed. Functional MRI (fMRI) was conducted using a 1-back facial affect recognition task with assessment of regional differences in task-related cerebral blood flow (BOLD). Standardized neurocognitive testing was completed with 24 hours of brain imaging. RESULTS Medulloblastoma survivors performed worse on a behavioral measure of facial affect recognition (P=0.003) compared to matched controls. During the facial affect recognition task, controls demonstrated greater BOLD activation of the left and right fusiform gyri and the left and right middle occipital gyri compared to survivors (P’s&lt;0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons). DTI indicated weaker core node strength in survivors in the right lateral occipital gyri (P=0.02) and efficiency was lower in the left (P=0.01) and right (P=0.03) occipital gyri compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS Medulloblastoma survivors have deficits in facial affect recognition and reduced activation and efficiency in brain regions comprising the face perception network compared to matched controls. Interventions targeting this specific skill and neural network may improve social functioning in survivors.

Pilot investigation of the changes in cortical activation during facial affect recognition with lamotrigine monotherapy in bipolar disorder

2008 ◽  
Vol 192 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jigar Jogia ◽  
Morgan Haldane ◽  
Annabel Cobb ◽  
Veena Kumari ◽  
Sophia Frangou
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Cortical Activation ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Facial Affect Recognition ◽  
Pilot Investigation ◽  
Lamotrigine Monotherapy

BackgroundBipolar disorder is associated with dysfunction in prefrontal and limbic areas implicated in emotional processing.AimsTo explore whether lamotrigine monotherapy may exert its action by improving the function of the neural network involved in emotional processing.MethodWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine changes in brain activation during a sad facial affect recognition task in 12 stable patients with bipolar disorder when medication-free compared with healthy controls and after 12 weeks of lamotrigine monotherapy.ResultsAt baseline, compared with controls, patients with bipolar disorder showed overactivity in temporal regions and underactivity in the dorsal medial and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and the dorsal cingulate gyrus. Following lamotrigine monotherapy, patients demonstrated reduced temporal and increased prefrontal activation.ConclusionsThis preliminary evidence suggests that lamotrigine may enhance the function of the neural circuitry involved in affect recognition.

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