title: Facial emotion perception by intensity in children and adolescents with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.
abstract: Difficulties in the recognition of emotions in expressive faces have been reported in people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). However, while low-intensity expressive faces are frequent in everyday life, nothing is known about their ability to perceive facial emotions depending on the intensity of expression. Through a visual matching task, children and adolescents with 22q11.2DS as well as gender- and age-matched healthy participants were asked to categorise the emotion of a target face among six possible expressions. Static pictures of morphs between neutrality and expressions were used to parametrically manipulate the intensity of the target face. In comparison to healthy controls, results showed higher perception thresholds (i.e. a more intense expression is needed to perceive the emotion) and lower accuracy for the most expressive faces indicating reduced categorisation abilities in the 22q11.2DS group. The number of intrusions (i.e. each time an emotion is perceived as another one) and a more gradual perception performance indicated smooth boundaries between emotional categories. Correlational analyses with neuropsychological and clinical measures suggested that reduced visual skills may be associated with impaired categorisation of facial emotions. Overall, the present study indicates greater difficulties for children and adolescents with 22q11.2DS to perceive an emotion in low-intensity expressive faces. This disability is subtended by emotional categories that are not sharply organised. It also suggests that these difficulties may be associated with impaired visual cognition, a hallmark of the cognitive deficits observed in the syndrome. These data yield promising tracks for future experimental and clinical investigations.
authors.affiliation: Équipe Éthologie Développementale et Psychologie Cognitive, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UMR 6265 CNRS, UMR 1324 INRA, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 9E Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000, Dijon, France. arnaud.leleu@u-bourgogne.fr.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leleu
authors.affiliation: Centre de dépistage et de prises en charge des troubles psychiatriques d'origine génétique, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, BP 30039, 95 Boulevard Pinel, 69678, Bron Cedex, France.|Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive UMR 5229 (CNRS et Université Lyon 1), Bron, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saucourt
authors.affiliation: Centre de dépistage et de prises en charge des troubles psychiatriques d'origine génétique, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, BP 30039, 95 Boulevard Pinel, 69678, Bron Cedex, France.|Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive UMR 5229 (CNRS et Université Lyon 1), Bron, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rigard
authors.affiliation: Centre de dépistage et de prises en charge des troubles psychiatriques d'origine génétique, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, BP 30039, 95 Boulevard Pinel, 69678, Bron Cedex, France.|Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive UMR 5229 (CNRS et Université Lyon 1), Bron, France.|Service Universitaire de Réhabilitation, Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Gabrielle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chesnoy
authors.affiliation: Équipe Éthologie Développementale et Psychologie Cognitive, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UMR 6265 CNRS, UMR 1324 INRA, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 9E Boulevard Jeanne d'Arc, 21000, Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Yves
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Baudouin
authors.affiliation: Hospices Civils de Lyon, service de génétique et centre de référence des anomalies du développement, GHE, Lyon, France.|Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Inserm U1028, UMR CNRS 5292, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Hospices Civils de Lyon, service de génétique et centre de référence des anomalies du développement, GHE, Lyon, France.|Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Inserm U1028, UMR CNRS 5292, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Edery
authors.affiliation: Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive UMR 5229 (CNRS et Université Lyon 1), Bron, France.|Service Universitaire de Réhabilitation, Centre Hospitalier le Vinatier, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Franck
authors.affiliation: Centre de dépistage et de prises en charge des troubles psychiatriques d'origine génétique, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, BP 30039, 95 Boulevard Pinel, 69678, Bron Cedex, France. caroline.demily@ch-le-vinatier.fr.|Centre de Neuroscience Cognitive UMR 5229 (CNRS et Université Lyon 1), Bron, France. caroline.demily@ch-le-vinatier.fr.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Demily
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D004062:DiGeorge Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome; Emotional expression of faces; Low-intensity expressive faces; Social cognition; Visual skills