title: Meta-analysis of facial affect recognition difficulties after traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Difficulties in communication and social relationships present a formidable challenge for many people after traumatic brain injury (TBI). These difficulties are likely to be partially attributable to problems with emotion perception. Mounting evidence shows facial affect recognition to be particularly difficult after TBI. However, no attempt has been made to systematically estimate the magnitude of this problem or the frequency with which it occurs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A meta-analysis is presented examining the magnitude of facial affect recognition difficulties after TBI. From this, the frequency of these impairments in the TBI population is estimated. Effect sizes were calculated from 13 studies that compared adults with moderate to severe TBI to matched healthy controls on static measures of facial affect recognition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The studies collectively presented data from 296 adults with TBI and 296 matched controls. The overall weighted mean effect size for the 13 studies was -1.11, indicating people with TBI on average perform about 1.1 SD below healthy peers on measures of facial affect recognition. Based on estimation of the TBI population standard deviation and modeling of likely distribution shape, it is estimated that between 13% and 39% of people with moderate to severe TBI may have significant difficulties with facial affect recognition, depending on the cut-off criterion used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is clearly an area that warrants attention, particularly examining techniques for the rehabilitation of these deficits.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Duncan R
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9259-9246
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Babbage
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Jackki
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Linguistics, Brock University.
authors.forename: Barbra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zupan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, Indiana University.
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, School of Public Health and Health Professions, State University of New York at Buffalo.
authors.forename: Machiko R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo.
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Willer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D021641:Recognition, Psychology