Social cognition training improves recognition of distinct facial emotions and decreases misattribution errors in healthy individuals

Bibliographic Data

ID15517399
AuthorsSamantha Evy Schoeneman Patel (0000-0002-6673-7377, Northwestern University, corresponding author), Kristen M Haut (0000-0002-1747-4099, Rush University Medical Center), Erin Guty (0000-0002-6599-2173, Medical University of South Carolina), David Dodell‐Feder (0000-0003-0678-1728, University of Rochester Medicine), David Dodell-Feder, Abhishek Saxena (0000-0001-9825-6693, University of Rochester), Mor Nahum (0000-0002-2861-6486, Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Christine I Hooker (Rush University Medical Center)
Year2022
Volume13
Pages1026418-1026418
Publication date2022-11-07
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640
PublisherFrontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1026418
PMID36424990
OpenAlexW4308509730
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited61

Facial emotion recognition is a key component of social cognition. Impaired facial emotion recognition is tied to poor psychological wellbeing and deficient social functioning. While previous research has demonstrated the potential for social cognition training to improve overall facial emotion recognition, questions remain regarding what aspects of emotion recognition improve. We report results from a randomized controlled trial that evaluates whether computerized social cognition training can improve recognition of distinct facial emotions in healthy participants. This investigation was designed to better understand the therapeutic potential of social cognition training for individuals with neuropsychiatric disorders. Fifty-five healthy adult participants were randomly assigned to an internet-based intervention during which they either completed social cognition training (SCT) or played control computer games (CON) for 10.5 h over 2-3 weeks. Facial emotion recognition was measured with the Penn ER-40, which was conducted before and after training. The following variables were collected and analyzed: facial emotion recognition accuracy for each emotion (i.e., anger, fear, happy, neutral (no emotional expression), and sad), reaction times for each emotion, and response error types (i.e., frequency of an emotion being chosen incorrectly, frequency of an emotion being missed, and frequency of an emotion being confused for another particular emotion). ANOVAs and t -tests were used to elucidate intervention effects both within and between groups. Results showed that the SCT group improved their accuracy for angry and neutral faces. They also improved their reaction times for neutral, fearful, and sad faces. Compared to the CON group, the SCT group had significantly faster reaction times to neutral faces after training. Lastly, the SCT group decreased their tendency to confuse angry faces for no emotional expression and to confuse no emotional expression for sad faces. In contrast, the CON group did not significantly improve their accuracy or reaction times on any emotional expression, and they did not improve their response error types. We conclude that social cognition training can improve recognition of distinct emotions in healthy participants and decrease response error patterns, suggesting it has the potential to improve impaired emotion recognition and social functioning in individuals with facial emotion recognition deficits

Anger · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Emotion classification · Emotion Perception · Emotion recognition · Emotional expression · Facial expression · Misattribution of memory · Psychiatry · Social cognition · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Clinical Psychology · Communication · Mental Health Research Topics · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies · Psychology

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