Facial emotion recognition in individuals with mild cognitive impairment: An exploratory study

Francesca Burgio, Arianna Menardi, Silvia Benavides-Varela, Laura Danesin*, Andreina Giustiniani, Jan van den Stock, Roberta De Mitri, Roberta Biundo, Francesca Meneghello, Angelo Antonini, Antonino Vallesi, Beatrice de Gelder, Carlo Semenza

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Understanding facial emotions is fundamental to interact in social environments and modify behavior accordingly. Neurodegenerative processes can progressively transform affective responses and affect social competence. This exploratory study examined the neurocognitive correlates of face recognition, in individuals with two mild cognitive impairment (MCI) etiologies (prodromal to dementia - MCI, or consequent to Parkinson's disease - PD-MCI). Performance on the identification and memorization of neutral and emotional facial expressions was assessed in 31 individuals with MCI, 26 with PD-MCI, and 30 healthy controls (HC). Individuals with MCI exhibited selective impairment in recognizing faces expressing fear, along with difficulties in remembering both neutral and emotional faces. Conversely, individuals with PD-MCI showed no differences compared with the HC in either emotion recognition or memory. In MCI, no significant association emerged between the memory for facial expressions and cognitive difficulties. In PD-MCI, regression analyses showed significant associations with higher-level cognitive functions in the emotional memory task, suggesting the presence of compensatory mechanisms. In a subset of participants, voxel-based morphometry revealed that the performance on emotional tasks correlated with regional changes in gray matter volume. The performance in the matching of negative expressions was predicted by volumetric changes in brain areas engaged in face and emotional processing, in particular increased volume in thalamic nuclei and atrophy in the right parietal cortex. Future studies should leverage on neuroimaging data to determine whether differences in emotional recognition are mediated by pathology-specific atrophic patterns.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)599-614
Number of pages16
JournalCognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
Volume24
Issue number3
Early online date5 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Emotion recognition
  • Mild cognitive impairment
  • Parkinson's disease
  • Neuroimaging
  • Cognitive predictors
  • PARKINSONS-DISEASE
  • DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA
  • EXPRESSIONS
  • PERCEPTION
  • DISGUST
  • IDENTIFICATION
  • DEFICITS
  • AMYGDALA
  • STIMULI
  • CORTEX

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