Facial emotion discrimination: II. Behavioral findings in depression

RC Gur, RJ Erwin, RE Gur, AS Zwil, C Heimberg… - Psychiatry …, 1992 - Elsevier
RC Gur, RJ Erwin, RE Gur, AS Zwil, C Heimberg, HC Kraemer
Psychiatry research, 1992Elsevier
The facial discrimination tasks described in part I (Erwin et al., 1992) were administered to a
sample of 14 patients with depression and 14 normal controls matched for sex (12 women, 2
men) and balanced for age and sociodemographic characteristics. Patients performed more
poorly on measures of sensitivity for happy discrimination and specificity for sad
discrimination, and had a higher negative bias across tasks. Severity of negative affect was
correlated with poorer performance for patients. The results suggest that depression is …
Abstract
The facial discrimination tasks described in part I (Erwin et al., 1992) were administered to a sample of 14 patients with depression and 14 normal controls matched for sex (12 women, 2 men) and balanced for age and sociodemographic characteristics. Patients performed more poorly on measures of sensitivity for happy discrimination and specificity for sad discrimination, and had a higher negative bias across tasks. Severity of negative affect was correlated with poorer performance for patients. The results suggest that depression is associated with an impaired ability to recognize facial displays of emotion.
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