Background: Facial expression recognition is essential for social cognition. Objectives: To compare facial expression recognition in mild and moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and identify the cognitive and clinical factors associated with impairment according to disease severity. Methods: Participants with AD (n=52). FACES includes four subtasks: matching expressions with picture stimuli (tasks1and 2), labelling emotions (task 3) and recognizing emotional situations (task 4). Results: There were significant differences between groups in FACES global score, task 2 and task 4. In mild AD, FACES global score was related to educational level and cognition; comprehension and constructive praxis impacted task 1; cognitive flexibility impacted task 2, and task 3 was related to word finding. There were no significant associations in task 4 after adjusting for level of cognition. The moderate AD group showed that awareness of emotional state was related to FACES global score, constructive praxis impacted task 2, task 3 was related to neuropsychiatric symptoms, and the ability to recognize emotions through situations impacted task 4. There was no significant associations in task 2, after adjusting for level of cognition. Conclusions: There are emotional processing difficulties across AD stages. However, there was no influence of cognitive impairment in the recognition of emotional situations in both groups.
FACIAL EXPRESSION RECOGNITION IN MILD AND MODERATE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
