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26 Alexithymia Predicts Affect Recognition after Acquired Brain Injury
- Robiann R Broomfield, Lisa J Rapport, Rebecca De La Garza, Darius Vann, Jo Blocton, Lauren J Radigan
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, p. 135
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Objective:
Alexithymia is characterized by difficulty identifying and describing one’s emotions. Alexithymia is more prevalent and severe after acquired brain injury (ABI; Fynn et al., 2021). Additionally, studies have shown frequent impairment of affect recognition after ABI (Neumann et. al, 2014). Research examining the relationship between the subjective experience of alexithymia and the objective ability to recognize emotion in others has been limited, especially among individuals with ABI. Some research indicates that alexithymia is more common following traumatic brain injury (TBI) than non-traumatic brain injury such as stroke; however, no previous research has examined the relationship between alexithymia and affect perception comparing adults with TBI and stroke. Accordingly, this study aimed to fill that gap.
Participants and Methods:Participants were 218 adults in three groups: healthy adults (HA; n = 99), TBI (n = 63), and stroke (n = 56).
Participants completed a neuropsychological battery that included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS; Bagby et al., 1994), and a multicultural Face Emotion Perception Test (MFEPT). The MFEPT used images from the Montreal Set of Facial Displays of Emotion (Beaupre et al., 2000) to assess recognition accuracy for anger, sadness, fear, disgust, and neutral expressions. The Recognition Memory Test (RMT; Warrington, 1984) was included to account for variance in facial affect recognition associated with face recognition only.
Results:Analysis of variance indicated a significant difference among the means on TAS (p < .001, n2 = .09. Tukey post hoc tests indicated lower TAS among HA than Stroke (d = -0.73, p = .001) and TBI (d = -0.56, p = .002) groups; however, TBI and Stroke did not differ significantly (d = -0.15, p = .667). Chi-square tests indicated that the percent of HA with clinically-elevated alexithymia (7.1%) was lower than Stroke (21.4%, p = .009) and TBI (25.8%, p = .001), who did not differ significantly (p = .610). Pearson correlations indicated medium inverse correlations between alexithymia and affect recognition for Stroke (r = -.39, p = .002) and TBI (r = -.36, p = .002). For HA, who showed low alexithymia, the relationship was not significant (r = -.15, p = .070). Examination of the TAS subscales indicated that TAS-Total correlations with MFEPT were driven primarily by Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF), as compared to Difficulty Describing Feelings or Externally-oriented Thinking. Partial correlations between TAS-DIF and MFEPT accounting for RMT remained significant for both TBI (rp = -.23, p = .036) and Stroke (rp = -.39 p = .002).
Conclusions:Consistent with prior research, alexithymia was more prevalent and severe among adults with TBI and stroke as compared to healthy adults. Adults with TBI and stroke showed similar levels of alexithymia, and the pattern of associations is consistent with the theory that alexithymia disrupts recognition of emotion displayed by others. This link may partly explain the robust findings of diminished and impaired social and interpersonal outcomes after ABI. Future research should test these links directly, to support the development of interventions to maximize social and interpersonal well-being after ABI.
38 Assessing Memory for Emotions Separately from Emotion Recognition
- Gavin Sanders, Lisa J. Rapport, Robiann Broomfield, Sarah D. Patrick, Emily Flores, Robin A. Hanks, Mark A. Lumley, Scott A. Langenecker, Lauren J. Radigan
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue s1 / November 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 December 2023, pp. 826-827
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Objective:
Accurate processing of facial displays of emotion is critical for effective communication. A robust literature has documented impairment in the ability to recognize facial affect in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), but research is scarce about memory for facial affect. Disruptions in recognizing and remembering the emotions of others can undermine relationship quality and may result in psychosocial dysfunction. Importantly, the extant literature indicates that facial affect recognition dissociates from other cognitive abilities such that it is likely a distinct neuronal process. Thus, explicit measurement of affect recognition and memory for emotions may be critical for implementing and refining rehabilitation interventions. The present study examined the relationship between recognition and memory for emotions using a novel computerized task and explored its associations with other cognitive abilities.
Participants and Methods:Participants were adults who were neurologically healthy (n = 31) or had a history of moderate to severe TBI (n = 26). The battery included the novel Assessment of Facial Affect Recognition and Memory (AFARM), Cambridge Face Memory Test (face memory without emotion), Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Judgment of Line Orientation, Oral Symbol Digit Modalities, Digit Span, FAS, Animal Fluency, and the Affect Intensity Measure (experienced emotion). Spearman correlations examined the relationship of AFARM performance with the test battery. Logistic regression models examined whether immediate-delay (ID-EM) and long-delay face emotion-memory (LD-EM) accounted for unique variance in group membership beyond recognition accuracy of facial affect and memory for faces.
Results:AFARM demonstrated relationships with neuropsychological and mood variables in the expected directions across and within groups, with the strongest associations observed for memory for verbal information (rs = .51 to .58) and processing speed (rs = .48 to .57). Consistent with traditional list-learning tests, ID- and LD-EM were highly correlated (r = .85). Experienced affect intensity was inversely associated with ID-EM (r = -.29) and LD-EM (r = -.38) but not with recognition accuracy (r = -.10). Logistic regression examining ID-EM was significant, χ2(3) = 26.05, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 = .49. ID-EM accounted for unique variance in group status (p = .006; OR = 0.65) after accounting for recognition accuracy and face memory. Similarly, the model examining LD-EM was significant χ2(3) = 27.70, p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 = .43; LD-EM was significant after accounting for other variables (p = .017; OR = 0.69).
Conclusions:The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that memory for emotions represents a unique component of social cognition that is separate from recognition. Accuracy in identifying emotions, face recognition memory, and memory for emotions are strongly related but not wholly redundant processes. Consistent with prior literature, subjective experience of emotion had substantial effects on objective performance tasks, indicating that an individual's intense experience of their own emotions can disrupt sensitivity to the emotions of others. Future research should assess the extent to which memory for emotions relates to psychosocial outcomes such as the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships.
Was the COVID-19 Pandemic Associated with Gender Disparities in Authorship of Manuscripts Submitted to Clinical Neuropsychology Journals?
- Michelle A. Babicz, Anastasia Matchanova, Robiann Broomfield, Libby A. DesRuisseaux, Michelle M. Gereau, Stacey L. Brothers, Lauren Radigan, Erik Porter, Gregory P. Lee, Lisa J. Rapport, Yana Suchy, Keith Owen Yeates, Steven Paul Woods
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- Journal:
- Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society / Volume 29 / Issue 1 / January 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 December 2021, pp. 105-109
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Objective:
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated gender disparities in some academic disciplines. This study examined the association of the pandemic with gender authorship disparities in clinical neuropsychology (CN) journals.
Method:Author bylines of 1,018 initial manuscript submissions to four major CN journals from March 15 through September 15 of both 2019 and 2020 were coded for binary gender. Additionally, authorship of 40 articles published on pandemic-related topics (COVID-19, teleneuropsychology) across nine CN journals were coded for binary gender.
Results:Initial submissions to these four CN journals increased during the pandemic (+27.2%), with comparable increases in total number of authors coded as either women (+23.0%) or men (+25.4%). Neither the average percentage of women on manuscript bylines nor the proportion of women who were lead and/or corresponding authors differed significantly across time. Moreover, the representation of women as authors of pandemic-related articles did not differ from expected frequencies in the field.
Conclusions:Findings suggest that representation of women as authors of peer-reviewed manuscript submissions to some CN journals did not change during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies might examine how risk and protective factors may have influenced individual differences in scientific productivity during the pandemic.