Impairment in emotion perception from body movements in individuals with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder is associated with functional capacity.
BACKGROUND
Individuals with bipolar disorder present with moderate impairments in social cognition during the euthymic state. The impairment extends to theory of mind and to the perception of emotion in faces and voices, but it is unclear if emotion perception from body movements is affected. The main aim of this study was to examine if participants with bipolar disorder perform worse than healthy control participants on a task using point-light displays of human full figures moving in a manner indicative of a basic emotion (angry, happy, sad, fearful, neutral/no emotion). A secondary research question was whether diagnostic subtypes (bipolar I, bipolar II) and history of psychosis impacted on this type of emotion perception. Finally, symptomatic, neurocognitive, and functional correlates of emotion perception from body movements were investigated.


METHODS
Fifty-three individuals with bipolar I (n = 29) or bipolar II (n = 24) disorder, and 84 healthy control participants were assessed for emotion perception from body movements. The bipolar group also underwent clinical, cognitive, and functional assessment. Research questions were analyzed using analyses of variance and bivariate correlations.


RESULTS
The bipolar disorder group differed significantly from healthy control participants for emotion perception from body movements (Cohen's d = 0.40). Analyses of variance yielded no effects of sex, diagnostic subtype (bipolar I, bipolar II), or history of psychosis. There was an effect of emotion, indicating that some emotions are easier to recognize. The lack of a significant group × emotion interaction effect points, however, to this being so regardless of the presence of bipolar disorder. Performance was unrelated to manic and depressive symptom load but showed significant associations with neurocognition and functional capacity.


CONCLUSIONS
Individuals with bipolar disorder had a small but significant impairment in the ability to perceive emotions from body movement. The impairment was global, i.e., affecting all emotions and equally present for males and females. The impairment was associated with neurocognition and functional capacity, but not symptom load. Our findings identify pathopsychological factors underlying the functional impairment in bipolar disorder and suggest the consideration of social cognition training as part of the treatment for bipolar disorder.
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1094, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway. anja.vaskinn@psykologi.uio.no.|NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. anja.vaskinn@psykologi.uio.no.
Anja
A
Vaskinn
NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Trine Vik
TV
Lagerberg
NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Thomas D
TD
Bjella
NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.|Early Intervention in Psychosis Advisory Unit, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Carmen
C
Simonsen
NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.|Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Ole A
OA
Andreassen
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1094, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway.|NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Torill
T
Ueland
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1094, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway.|NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Kjetil
K
Sundet
Bipolar disorder; Body language; Cognition; Emotion perception; Functional capacity; Functioning; Psychosis; Social cognition