An exploratory study on emotion recognition in patients with a clinically isolated syndrome and multiple sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic multifocal CNS disorder which can affect higher order cognitive processes. Whereas cognitive disturbances in MS are increasingly better characterised, emotional facial expression (EFE) has rarely been tested, despite its importance for adequate social behaviour.


METHODS
We tested 20 patients with a clinically isolated syndrome suggestive of MS (CIS) or MS and 23 healthy controls (HC) for the ability to differ between emotional facial stimuli, controlling for the influence of depressive mood (ADS-L). We screened for cognitive dysfunction using The Faces Symbol Test (FST).


RESULTS
The patients demonstrated significant decreased reaction-times regarding emotion recognition tests compared to HC. However, the results also suggested worse cognitive abilities in the patients. Emotional and cognitive test results were correlated.


CONCLUSIONS
This exploratory pilot study suggests that emotion recognition deficits might be prevalent in MS. However, future studies will be needed to overcome the limitations of this study.
Jehna
Margit
M
Institute for Psychology, Karl Franzens University Graz, Austria.
Neuper
Christa
C
Petrovic
Katja
K
Wallner-Blazek
Mirja
M
Schmidt
Reinhold
R
Fuchs
Siegrid
S
Fazekas
Franz
F
Enzinger
Christian
C
D000328:Adult; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010641:Phenotype; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012938:Social Perception