Citation

Genova HM, Genualdi A, Goverover Y, Chiaravalloti ND, Marino C, Lengenfelder J. Soc. Neurosci. 2016; 12(3): 303-307.

Affiliation

b Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School , 90 Bergen Street, Suite 3100, Newark , New Jersey.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17470919.2016.1173584

PMID

27052026

Abstract

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Individuals with moderate to severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) have been shown to experience significant problems in facial affect recognition. However, it is not known how these impairments relate to overall functioning and quality of life following TBI. The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that worse performance on a facial affect recognition task would be associated with reduced quality of life (related to social and emotional functioning), worse mood, and increased fatigue.

METHODS AND PROCEDURE: Forty-seven individuals with TBI and 27 healthy controls (HCs) completed the Facial Emotion Identification Task (FEIT), as well as questionnaires assessing social and emotional quality of life, mood and fatigue. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The TBI group performed significantly worse than HCs on the FEIT. A significant relationship between facial affect recognition and fatigue and quality of life related to social and emotional functioning was documented, but in an unexpected direction: individuals who performed better on the FEIT reported poorer quality of life and greater fatigue.

CONCLUSIONS: Individuals who have better facial affect recognition may require increased effort to perform this task (and thus experience greater fatigue and poorer social and emotional quality of life).

Language: en