Facial Emotion Perception in Families Affected With Borderline Personality Disorder

• Published in: Journal of personality disorders Vol. 35; no. Supplement A; p. 132
• Main Authors: Gulamani, Tahira, Rodrigo, Achala H, Uliaszek, Amanda A, Ruocco, Anthony C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2021
• Subjects: family study; endophenotype; social cognition; emotion recognition; borderline personality disorder
• ISSN: 1943-2763
• DOI: 10.1521/pedi_2021_35_514

Emotion perception biases may precipitate problematic interpersonal interactions in families affected with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and lead to conflictual relationships. In the present study, the authors investigated the familial aggregation of facial emotion recognition biases for neutral, happy, sad, fearful, and angry expressions in probands with BPD ( = 89), first-degree biological relatives ( = 67), and healthy controls ( = 87). Relatives showed comparable accuracy and response times to controls in recognizing negative emotions in aggregate and most discrete emotions. For sad expressions, both probands and relatives displayed slower response latencies, and they were more likely than controls to perceive sad expressions as fearful. Nonpsychiatrically affected relatives were slower than controls in responding to negative emotional expressions in aggregate, and fearful and sad facial expressions more specifically. These findings uncover potential biases in perceiving sad and fearful facial expressions that may be transmitted in families affected with BPD.