Recognition of dynamic and static facial expressions of emotion among older adults with major depression

• Published in: Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 159 - 166
• Main Authors: Bomfim, Ana Julia de Lima, Ribeiro, Rafaela Andreas Dos Santos, Chagas, Marcos Hortes Nisihara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Brazil Associação de Psiquiatria do Rio Grande do Sul - Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy 01.04.2019; Associação de Psiquiatria do Rio Grande do Sul
• Subjects: Accuracy; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; cognição social; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Diagnosis; Emotions; Emotions - physiology; emoção; Envelhecimento; Facial Expression; Facial Recognition - physiology; Female; Humans; Male; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Older people; Pattern recognition; PSYCHIATRY; transtornos de humor; emotion; emoção; cognição social; social cognition; mood disorders; Aging; transtornos de humor; Envelhecimento
• ISSN: 2237-6089; 2238-0019; 2238-0019
• DOI: 10.1590/2237-6089-2018-0054

The recognition of facial expressions of emotion is essential to living in society. However, individuals with major depression tend to interpret information considered imprecise in a negative light, which can exert a direct effect on their capacity to decode social stimuli. To compare basic facial expression recognition skills during tasks with static and dynamic stimuli in older adults with and without major depression. Older adults were selected through a screening process for psychiatric disorders at a primary care service. Psychiatric evaluations were performed using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). Twenty-three adults with a diagnosis of depression and 23 older adults without a psychiatric diagnosis were asked to perform two facial emotion recognition tasks using static and dynamic stimuli. Individuals with major depression demonstrated greater accuracy in recognizing sadness (p=0.023) and anger (p=0.024) during the task with static stimuli and less accuracy in recognizing happiness during the task with dynamic stimuli (p=0.020). The impairment was mainly related to the recognition of emotions of lower intensity. The performance of older adults with depression in facial expression recognition tasks with static and dynamic stimuli differs from that of older adults without depression, with greater accuracy regarding negative emotions (sadness and anger) and lower accuracy regarding the recognition of happiness.