Facial Affect Recognition in Myasthenia Gravis

Abstract

The assessment of facial expression is an important aspect of a clinical neurological examination, both as an indicator of a mood disorder and as a sign of neurological damage. To date, although studies have been conducted on certain psychosocial aspects of myasthenia, such as quality of life and anxiety, and on neuropsychological aspects such as memory, no studies have directly assessed facial emotion recognition accuracy. The aim of this study was to assess the facial emotion recognition accuracy (fear, surprise, sadness, happiness, anger, and disgust), empathy, and reaction time of patients with myasthenia. Thirty-five patients with myasthenia and 36 healthy controls were tested for their ability to differentiate emotional facial expressions. Participants were matched with respect to age, gender, and education level. Their ability to differentiate emotional facial expressions was evaluated using the computer-based program Feel Test. The data showed that myasthenic patients scored significantly lower (p < 0.05) than healthy controls in the total Feel score, fear, surprise, and higher reaction time. The findings suggest that the ability to recognize facial affect may be reduced in individuals with myasthenia.

Instrument for Assessing the Ability to Identify Emotional Facial Expressions in Healthy Children and in Children With ADHD: The FEEL Test

“…Deusto-e-Motion 1.0 (Lázaro et al, 2012) is a virtual reality tool that evaluates different constructs related to the theory of mind, among which the recognition of static and dynamic facial expressions (morphing) and the emotional empathy or understanding of self and others’ emotions in situational contexts through facial expression are included. This tool has been validated with a sample of 1,200 healthy children aged between 8 and 11 years.…”

“…In this context, the face is the way through emotions can be exteriorized and expressed in a nonverbal way, something very important for the adaptation to the social environment of the person (Mestre, Guil, Martínez-Cabañas, Larrán, & González, 2011;). The evaluation of the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions is an important aspect in neurological clinical assessments with clinical populations with neurodevelopmental or neuromuscular diseases, to take into account both, possible mood disorders and signs of neurological damage (Lázaro et al, 2012).…”

Mimik und Emotion

“…Allerdings wird seit einigen Jahren auch der Einfluss der eigenen eingeschränkten Mimik als Ursache für eine Einschränkung der Fähigkeit zur Interpretation des emotionalen Gehalts der Mimik anderer diskutiert. So finden sich Einschränkung in der Interpretation des emotionalen Gehalts der Mimik anderer auch bei Myasthenia gravis 47 , myotoner Dystrophie 48 , Duchenne Muskeldystrophy 49 und amyotropher Lateralsklerose 50 . All diese Erkrankungen betreffen zwar primär die Motorik der Patienten, haben jedoch auch zentrale Auswirkungen.…”

“…However, the influence of one’s own restricted facial expressions has also been discussed for some years as a cause of the limited ability to interpret the emotional content of the facial expressions of others. Thus, limitations in the interpretation of the emotional content of others’ facial expressions is also found in myasthenia gravis 47 , myotonic dystrophy 48 , Duchenne muscle dystrophy 49 , and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 50 . Although all these diseases primarily affect the patients’ motor function, they also have central effects.…”

Depression in myasthenia gravis: a heterogeneous and intriguing entity

“…Depressive symptoms are a key confounder in MG, accounting for 20% of initial misdiagnoses [7]. Facial weakness and ptosis generally convey an impression of apathy and depressed mood, also in the absence of such feelings [8]. Moreover, the characteristic fluctuation of myasthenic symptoms can mislead to the assumption of a psychiatric origin.…”