@misc{10481/93450,
year = {2021},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/93450},
abstract = {Objective. The ability to accurately identify facial expressions of emotions is crucial in human interaction. Although a
previous study suggested deficient emotional face recognition in patients with fibromyalgia, not much is known
about the origin of this impairment. Against this background, the present study investigated the role of executive
functions. Executive functions refer to cognitive control mechanisms enabling implementation and coordination of
basic mental operations. Deficits in this domain are prevalent in fibromyalgia. Methods. Fifty-two fibromyalgia
patients and thirty-two healthy individuals completed the Ekman-60 Faces Test, which requires classification of facial
displays of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust. They also completed eight tasks assessing the executive
function components of shifting, updating, and inhibition. Effects of comorbid depression and anxiety disorders,
as well as medication use, were tested in stratified analyses of patient subgroups. Results. Patients made more
errors overall than controls in classifying the emotional expressions. Moreover, their recognition accuracy correlated
positively with performance on most of the executive function tasks. Emotion recognition did not vary as a
function of comorbid psychiatric disorders or medication use. Conclusions. The study supports impaired facial emotion
recognition in fibromyalgia, which may contribute to the interaction problems and poor social functioning characterizing
this condition. Facial emotion recognition is regarded as a complex process, which may be particularly reliant
on efficient coordination of various basic operations by executive functions. As such, the correlations between
cognitive task performance and recognition accuracy suggest that deficits in higher cognitive functions underlie impaired
emotional communication in fibromyalgia.},
organization = {This research was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, co-financed by European
Regional Development Fund (Project RTI2018-095830-B-I00) and the Doctoral School of the University of Ja en.},
publisher = {Oxford University Press},
keywords = {Fibromyalgia},
keywords = {Facial Emotion Recognition},
keywords = {Executive Functions},
keywords = {Emotion},
keywords = {Cognition},
title = {Facial Emotion Recognition and Executive Functions in Fibromyalgia},
doi = {10.1093/pm/pnab024},
author = {Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara, Cristina and Reyes del Paso, Gustavo and Fernández Serrano, María Josefa and Duschek, Stefan},
}