title: The female advantage: sex as a possible protective factor against emotion recognition impairment following traumatic brain injury.
abstract: Although moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to facial affect recognition impairments in up to 39% of individuals, protective and risk factors for these deficits are unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of sex on emotion recognition abilities following TBI. We administered two separate emotion recognition tests (one static and one dynamic) to 53 individuals with moderate to severe TBI (females = 28) and 49 demographically matched comparisons (females = 22). We then investigated the presence of a sex-by-group interaction in emotion recognition accuracy. In the comparison group, there were no sex differences. In the TBI group, however, females significantly outperformed males in the dynamic (but not the static) task. Moreover, males (but not females) with TBI performed significantly worse than comparison participants in the dynamic task. Further analysis revealed that sex differences in emotion recognition abilities within the TBI group could not be explained by lesion location, TBI severity, or other neuropsychological variables. These findings suggest that sex may serve as a protective factor for social impairment following TBI and inform clinicians working with TBI as well as research on the neurophysiological correlates of sex differences in social functioning.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The University of Iowa, 420-I Seashore Hall, 328 Iowa Ave., Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. arianna-rigon@uiowa.edu.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rigon
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 474 Goodnight Hall 1975 Willow Dr., Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Lyn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turkstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1210 W. Dayton St., Room 6381, Madison, WI, 53706-1685, USA.
authors.forename: Bilge
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mutlu
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The University of Iowa, 420-I Seashore Hall, 328 Iowa Ave., Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.|Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa, 121D Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic, 250 Hawkins Dr., Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.|Department of Neurology, The University of Iowa, 2007 Roy Carver Pavilion, 200 Hawkins Dr., Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D000066499:Facial Recognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D065840:Protective Factors; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D057829:Gender-Affirming Procedures
keywords: Emotion recognition; Facial affect recognition; Sex difference; Traumatic brain injury