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

Abstract Introduction 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. Objective To compare basic facial expression recognition skills during tasks with static and dynamic stimuli in older adults with and without major depression. Methods 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. Results 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. Conclusions 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.

摘要 引言：面部情绪表情识别是社会生活不可或缺的技能。然而，重度抑郁症患者倾向于以消极视角解读被认为不够精准的信息，这会直接损害其解码社会刺激的能力。
研究目的：对比有无重度抑郁症的老年人在静态刺激与动态刺激任务中的基本面部表情识别能力。
研究方法：研究对象通过初级保健机构的精神疾病筛查流程招募，采用《精神障碍诊断与统计手册（第五版）（DSM-5）》的诊断标准进行精神评估。本次研究共纳入23名确诊抑郁症的老年人与23名无精神疾病诊断的老年人，要求受试者完成两项分别采用静态、动态刺激的面部情绪识别任务。
研究结果：重度抑郁症患者在静态刺激任务中识别悲伤（p=0.023）与愤怒（p=0.024）的准确率更高，而在动态刺激任务中识别快乐表情的准确率更低（p=0.020）。该识别缺陷主要与低强度情绪的识别有关。
研究结论：抑郁症老年人在静态与动态刺激下的面部表情识别任务表现与非抑郁症老年人存在显著差异：对负性情绪（悲伤与愤怒）的识别准确率更高，而对快乐表情的识别准确率更低。