Emotional face recognition deficits and medication effects in pre-manifest through stage-II Huntington's disease.
Facial emotion recognition impairments have been reported in Huntington's disease (HD). However, the nature of the impairments across the spectrum of HD remains unclear. We report on emotion recognition data from 344 participants comprising premanifest HD (PreHD) and early HD patients, and controls. In a test of recognition of facial emotions, we examined responses to six basic emotional expressions and neutral expressions. In addition, and within the early HD sample, we tested for differences on emotion recognition performance between those 'on' vs. 'off' neuroleptic or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications. The PreHD groups showed significant (p<0.05) impaired recognition, compared to controls, on fearful, angry and surprised faces; whereas the early HD groups were significantly impaired across all emotions including neutral expressions. In early HD, neuroleptic use was associated with worse facial emotion recognition, whereas SSRI use was associated with better facial emotion recognition. The findings suggest that emotion recognition impairments exist across the HD spectrum, but are relatively more widespread in manifest HD than in the premanifest period. Commonly prescribed medications to treat HD-related symptoms also appear to affect emotion recognition. These findings have important implications for interpersonal communication and medication usage in HD.
School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Izelle
I
Labuschagne
Rebecca
R
Jones
Jenny
J
Callaghan
Daisy
D
Whitehead
Eve M
EM
Dumas
Miranda J
MJ
Say
Ellen P
EP
Hart
Damian
D
Justo
Allison
A
Coleman
Rachelle C
RC
Dar Santos
Chris
C
Frost
David
D
Craufurd
Sarah J
SJ
Tabrizi
Julie C
JC
Stout
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors