title: Visual processing of emotional dynamic faces in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a neurogenetic syndrome. Individuals affected by this syndrome present poor social functioning and a high risk for the development of psychiatric disorders. Accurate emotion recognition and visual exploration of faces represent important skills for appropriate development of social cognition in individuals with 22q11DS. For these reasons, there is elevated interest in establishing relevant ways to test the mechanisms associated with emotion recognition in patients with 22q11DS.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study investigated emotional recognition and visual exploration of emotional faces in persons with 22q11DS, with a dynamic emotion task using an eye-tracking device. To our knowledge, no previous studies have used emotional dynamic stimuli with 22q11DS, despite improved ecological validity of dynamic stimuli compared with static images. Furthermore, these stimuli provide the opportunity to collect reaction times, as indicators of the emotional intensity necessary for identifying each emotion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our task, we observed comparable accuracy in emotion recognition in the 22q11DS and healthy control groups. However, individuals with 22q11DS were slower to recognise the emotions. They also spent less time looking at the nose during happy and fearful faces.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that individuals with 22q11DS may need either more time or more pronounced emotional cues to correctly label facial expressions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franchini
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schaer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kott-Radecka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.|Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Debanné
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Menghetti
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sander
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Office Médico-Pédagogique, Research Unit, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.|Department of Genetic Medicine and Development, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eliez
keywords: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome; FACSGen; eye-tracking; facial emotion recognition; reaction times