Deficits in facial emotion processing in mild cognitive impairment.
BACKGROUND
Patients with Alzheimer disease consistently demonstrate impaired performance on tests of facial emotion processing. However, it remains unclear how early in the neurodegenerative process these deficits emerge.


METHODS
We approached this question by examining facial emotional processing in a 'pre-dementia' condition, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Nine single-domain amnestic MCI subjects, 14 multiple-domain amnestic MCI subjects (MCI-MD), and 68 normal control subjects were assessed with the Florida Affect Battery.


RESULTS
After adjustment for age and gender, analyses of performance across the facial affect processing subtests of the Florida Affect Battery demonstrated intact performance in the single-domain MCI group but significantly impaired performance in the MCI-MD group, particularly on a test of facial affect discrimination. Within the MCI-MD group, men performed disproportionately worse than women. Performance on facial affect discriminations in the MCI-MD group correlated most robustly with performance on tests of frontal/executive function.


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that facial emotion processing can be impaired in MCI prior to the more marked cognitive deficits seen with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer disease.
Teng
Edmond
E
Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7226, USA. eteng@ucla.edu
Lu
Po H
PH
Cummings
Jeffrey L
JL
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception