title: Relationship between individual differences in functional connectivity and facial-emotion recognition abilities in adults with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: Although several studies have demonstrated that facial-affect recognition impairment is common following moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), and that there are diffuse alterations in large-scale functional brain networks in TBI populations, little is known about the relationship between the two. Here, in a sample of 26 participants with TBI and 20 healthy comparison participants (HC) we measured facial-affect recognition abilities and resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) using fMRI. We then used network-based statistics to examine (A) the presence of rs-FC differences between individuals with TBI and HC within the facial-affect processing network, and (B) the association between inter-individual differences in emotion recognition skills and rs-FC within the facial-affect processing network. We found that participants with TBI showed significantly lower rs-FC in a component comprising homotopic and within-hemisphere, anterior-posterior connections within the facial-affect processing network. In addition, within the TBI group, participants with higher emotion-labeling skills showed stronger rs-FC within a network comprised of intra- and inter-hemispheric bilateral connections. Findings indicate that the ability to successfully recognize facial-affect after TBI is related to rs-FC within components of facial-affective networks, and provide new evidence that further our understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion recognition impairment in TBI.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The University of Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rigon
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The University of Iowa, United States; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, The University of Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin - Madison, United States; Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin - Madison, United States.
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Turkstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Sciences, The University of Wisconsin - Madison, United States.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mutlu
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The University of Iowa, United States; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa, United States; Department of Neurology, The University of Iowa, United States.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Duff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D063132:Connectome / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Emotion labeling; Emotion recognition; Facial affect; Network-based statistics; Resting state; Traumatic brain injury