title: Perception of Verbal and Nonverbal Emotional Signals in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder: Evidence of a Negative Bias and an Increased Reliance on Nonverbal Cues.
abstract: Studies conducted in patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have documented a variety of anomalies concerning patients' abilities to interpret emotional signals. Attempting to clarify the bases of these anomalies, the current literature draws attention to a possible role of dysfunctional expectations, such as the expectation of social rejection. Dysfunctional expectations, however, may not only bias social interpretations, but may also focus attention on social cues most important in conveying emotional messages, such as nonverbal signals. To explore these assumptions, 30 female BPD patients were tasked to judge the valence of emotional states conveyed by combinations of verbal and nonverbal emotional cues. Compared to controls, BPD patients exhibited a negative bias in their interpretations and relied more on available nonverbal cues. Shifts in the relative importance of nonverbal cues appeared to be rooted mainly in a reduced reliance on positive verbal cues presumably deemed less credible by BPD patients.
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brück
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Derstroff
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.|Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.|Department of Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolf-Arehult
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wekenmann
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wildgruber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010465:Perception; D012929:Psychological Distance; D055815:Young Adult