title: Impaired attribution of emotion to facial expressions in anxiety and major depression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recognition of others' emotions is an important aspect of interpersonal communication. In major depression, a significant emotion recognition impairment has been reported. It remains unclear whether the ability to recognize emotion from facial expressions is also impaired in anxiety disorders. There is a need to review and integrate the published literature on emotional expression recognition in anxiety disorders and major depression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A detailed literature search was used to identify studies on explicit emotion recognition in patients with anxiety disorders and major depression compared to healthy participants. Eighteen studies provided sufficient information to be included. The differences on emotion recognition impairment between patients and controls (Cohen's d) with corresponding confidence intervals were computed for each study. Over all studies, adults with anxiety disorders had a significant impairment in emotion recognition (d = -0.35). In children with anxiety disorders no significant impairment of emotion recognition was found (d = -0.03). Major depression was associated with an even larger impairment in recognition of facial expressions of emotion (d = -0.58).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results from the current analysis support the hypothesis that adults with anxiety disorders or major depression both have a deficit in recognizing facial expression of emotions, and that this deficit is more pronounced in major depression than in anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, BCN Neuroimaging Center, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. ldemenescu@ukaachen.de
authors.forename: Liliana R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Demenescu
authors.forename: Rudie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kortekaas
authors.forename: Johan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: den Boer
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aleman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D003142:Communication; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012938:Social Perception