Emotion Recognition Correlates With Social-Neuropsychiatric Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease

Clare L. Kempnich; Sophie C. Andrews; Fiona Fisher; Dana Wong; Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis; Julie C. Stout

doi:10.1017/S1355617717001308

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Emotion Recognition Correlates With Social-Neuropsychiatric Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Emotion Recognition Correlates With Social-Neuropsychiatric Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease

Clare L. Kempnich, Sophie C. Andrews, Fiona Fisher, Dana Wong, Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis and Julie C. Stout

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Vol.24(5), pp.417-423

2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617717001308

PMID: 29282160

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Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases

Huntington disease

Social perception

Apathy

Social behavior

Emotions

Objectives: People with Huntington's disease (HD) experience poor social quality of life, relationship breakdown, and social withdrawal, which are mediated to some extent by socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as apathy and disinhibition. Social cognitive symptoms, such as impaired emotion recognition, also occur in HD, however, the extent of their association with these socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms is unknown. Our study examined the relationship between emotion recognition and symptom ratings of apathy and disinhibition in HD. Methods: Thirty-two people with premanifest or symptomatic-HD completed Part 1 of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which is a facial emotion recognition task. In addition, we obtained severity ratings for apathy and disinhibition on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) from a close family member. Our analyses used motor symptom severity as a proxy for disease progression. Results: Emotion recognition performance was significantly associated with family-ratings of apathy, above and beyond their shared association with disease severity. We found a similar pattern for disinhibition ratings, which fell short of statistical significance. As expected, worse emotion recognition performance was correlated with higher severity in FrSBe symptom ratings. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that emotion recognition abilities relate to key socially debilitating neuropsychiatric symptoms in HD. Our results help to understand the functional significance of emotion recognition impairments in HD, and may have implications for the development of remediation programs aimed at improving patients' social quality of life.

Details

Title: Emotion Recognition Correlates With Social-Neuropsychiatric Dysfunction in Huntington's Disease
Authors: Clare L. Kempnich (Author) - Monash Univ, Fac Nursing Med & Hlth Sci, Sch Psychol Sci, Monash Inst Cognit & Clin Neurosci, Clayton Campus, Clayton, Vic 3800, Australia
Sophie C. Andrews (Author) - Monash University
Fiona Fisher (Author) - Calvary Health Care Bethlehem
Dana Wong (Author) - Monash University
Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis (Author) - Monash University
Julie C. Stout (Corresponding Author) - Monash University
Publication details: Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Vol.24(5), pp.417-423
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617717001308
ISSN: 1469-7661
PMID: 29282160
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Thompson Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99659596902621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Clinical Neurology; Neurosciences; Psychiatry; Psychology

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