Emotional Recognition from Dynamic Facial, Vocal and Musical Expressions Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Journal

Brain Injury

Year

2017

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To assess emotion recognition from dynamic facial, vocal and musical expressions in sub-groups of adults with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) of different severities and identify possible common underlying mechanisms across domains. METHODS: Forty-one adults participated in this study: 10 with moderate-severe TBI, nine with complicated mild TBI, 11 with uncomplicated mild TBI and 11 healthy controls, who were administered experimental (emotional recognition, valence-arousal) and control tasks (emotional and structural discrimination) for each domain. RESULTS: Recognition of fearful faces was significantly impaired in moderate-severe and in complicated mild TBI sub-groups, as compared to those with uncomplicated mild TBI and controls. Effect sizes were medium-large. Participants with lower GCS scores performed more poorly when recognizing fearful dynamic facial expressions. Emotion recognition from auditory domains was preserved following TBI, irrespective of severity. All groups performed equally on control tasks, indicating no perceptual disorders. Although emotional recognition from vocal and musical expressions was preserved, no correlation was found across auditory domains. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study may contribute to improving comprehension of emotional recognition following TBI. Future studies of larger samples could usefully include measures of functional impacts of recognition deficits for fearful facial expressions. These could help refine interventions for emotional recognition following a brain injury.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Cognitive Abilities; Emotional Functioning; Music Listening; Observational Measures; Receptive Music Methods; Traumatic Brain Injury

Indexed Terms

Neuropsychological Tests; Emotions; Recognition, Psychology; Traumatic brain injury; emotions; Facial Recognition; Facial Expression; Brain Concussion; Brain Injuries, Traumatic; complicated mild; faces; mild; moderate; non-linguistic vocalizations; severe

Study Type

Quasi-Experimental Study; Quantitative Methods

Document Type

Article

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