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Visual scanning during emotion recognition in long-term recovered anorexia nervosa : An eye-tracking study

Dinkler, Lisa ; Rydberg Dobrescu, Sandra ; Råstam, Maria LU orcid ; Gillberg, I. Carina ; Gillberg, Christopher ; Wentz, Elisabet LU and Hadjikhani, Nouchine (2019) In International Journal of Eating Disorders 52(6). p.691-700
Abstract

Objective: To examine Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) and visual scanning behavior (eye-tracking) during FER in women long-term recovered from teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (recAN) with and without autism spectrum disorder (±ASD) and age-matched comparison women (COMP), using a sensitive design with facial emotion expressions at varying intensities in order to approximate real social contexts. Method: Fifty-seven 38–47-year-old women (26 recAN of whom six with ASD, 31 COMP) participated in the study. They completed a non-verbal FER task, consisting of matching basic emotions at different levels of expression intensity with full emotional expressions. Accuracy, response time and visual scanning behavior were measured. Results: There... (More)

Objective: To examine Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) and visual scanning behavior (eye-tracking) during FER in women long-term recovered from teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (recAN) with and without autism spectrum disorder (±ASD) and age-matched comparison women (COMP), using a sensitive design with facial emotion expressions at varying intensities in order to approximate real social contexts. Method: Fifty-seven 38–47-year-old women (26 recAN of whom six with ASD, 31 COMP) participated in the study. They completed a non-verbal FER task, consisting of matching basic emotions at different levels of expression intensity with full emotional expressions. Accuracy, response time and visual scanning behavior were measured. Results: There were no differences between recAN-ASD and COMP in FER accuracy and visual scanning behavior during FER, including eye viewing and hyperscanning. In an exploratory analysis, recAN+ASD were more accurate than recAN-ASD in identifying expressions at low intensity, but not at medium or high expression intensity. Accuracy was not associated with the extent of attention to the eye region. Discussion: Our data indicate that women long-term recovered from adolescent-onset AN do not have deficits in basic FER ability and visual scanning behavior during FER. However, the presence of comorbid ASD might affect face processing in recovered AN. Future studies investigating basic FER in acute and recovered AN and other conditions need to ensure that the stimuli used are sensitive enough to detect potential deficits.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
anorexia nervosa, autism spectrum disorder, emotion recognition, eye tracking, facial expression
in
International Journal of Eating Disorders
volume
52
issue
6
pages
691 - 700
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85062367261
  • pmid:30828832
ISSN
0276-3478
DOI
10.1002/eat.23066
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
c0b4f179-12f6-42a1-859d-fff0d1757bcf
date added to LUP
2019-03-14 12:47:52
date last changed
2024-04-01 23:28:20
@article{c0b4f179-12f6-42a1-859d-fff0d1757bcf,
  abstract     = {{<p>Objective: To examine Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) and visual scanning behavior (eye-tracking) during FER in women long-term recovered from teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (recAN) with and without autism spectrum disorder (±ASD) and age-matched comparison women (COMP), using a sensitive design with facial emotion expressions at varying intensities in order to approximate real social contexts. Method: Fifty-seven 38–47-year-old women (26 recAN of whom six with ASD, 31 COMP) participated in the study. They completed a non-verbal FER task, consisting of matching basic emotions at different levels of expression intensity with full emotional expressions. Accuracy, response time and visual scanning behavior were measured. Results: There were no differences between recAN-ASD and COMP in FER accuracy and visual scanning behavior during FER, including eye viewing and hyperscanning. In an exploratory analysis, recAN+ASD were more accurate than recAN-ASD in identifying expressions at low intensity, but not at medium or high expression intensity. Accuracy was not associated with the extent of attention to the eye region. Discussion: Our data indicate that women long-term recovered from adolescent-onset AN do not have deficits in basic FER ability and visual scanning behavior during FER. However, the presence of comorbid ASD might affect face processing in recovered AN. Future studies investigating basic FER in acute and recovered AN and other conditions need to ensure that the stimuli used are sensitive enough to detect potential deficits.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dinkler, Lisa and Rydberg Dobrescu, Sandra and Råstam, Maria and Gillberg, I. Carina and Gillberg, Christopher and Wentz, Elisabet and Hadjikhani, Nouchine}},
  issn         = {{0276-3478}},
  keywords     = {{anorexia nervosa; autism spectrum disorder; emotion recognition; eye tracking; facial expression}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{691--700}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Eating Disorders}},
  title        = {{Visual scanning during emotion recognition in long-term recovered anorexia nervosa : An eye-tracking study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eat.23066}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/eat.23066}},
  volume       = {{52}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}