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It’s Written All Over Your Face

It’s Written All Over Your Face. Jeannie Lengenfelder, PhD. Outline. What is Emotional Processing? How is Emotional Processing assessed in research? Emotional Processing after brain injury Using fMRI in evaluating Emotional Processing. Emotional Communication. Expressive

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It’s Written All Over Your Face

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  1. It’s Written All Over Your Face Jeannie Lengenfelder, PhD

  2. Outline • What is Emotional Processing? • How is Emotional Processing assessed in research? • Emotional Processing after brain injury • Using fMRI in evaluating Emotional Processing

  3. Emotional Communication • Expressive • Express or communicate your own emotional states to others • Receptive • Comprehend or understand others’ emotional expression

  4. Emotions • Behaviors • Body language/posture • Voice/tone • Facial affect

  5. Emotional Processing • Although emotions can be communicated through various ways, facial expression is the most common method of communication. • Facial stimuli is most often used in research.

  6. Basic Emotions

  7. Emotional Processing Stimulus Processing Social Behavior Smile back

  8. Why is studying Emotional Processing important? • Following brain injury, individuals often experience: • shrinking social network • reduced employment • reduced social activities • increased likelihood of depression • difficulty with family relationships • loneliness • reduced quality of life • Emotional processing is an essential component of successful interpersonal relationships.

  9. Why is studying Emotional Processing important? • Failure to accurately perceive other’s emotions could lead to: • misinterpreting other’s emotions • inappropriate responding • difficulty in maintaining social relationships • Understanding the impact of emotional processing deficits is important to develop appropriate treatments.

  10. Emotion Processing in Brain Injury: What we know • Emotion processing difficulties occur in up to 39% individuals with moderate-severe TBI • Impairments are likely due to damage resulting from brain injury itself rather than other factors (i.e., depression or anxiety) • The inability to correctly perceive other’s emotions has been associated with impaired social functioning following TBI.

  11. How Do We Assess Emotional Processing?

  12. Angry Surprise Sad Happy Disgust Fear

  13. Angry

  14. Angry Surprise Sad Happy Disgust Fear

  15. Happy

  16. Angry Surprise Sad Happy Disgust Fear

  17. Sad

  18. Same or Different?

  19. Different

  20. Same or Different?

  21. Same

  22. Brain Areas Important for Emotional Processing Temporoparietal junction Anterior cingulate cortex Medial prefrontal cortex Amygdala

  23. Emotional Processing in TBI Identification AngrySurpriseSad Happy Disgust Fear Discrimination Same or Different?

  24. Emotional Processing in TBI Individuals with TBI had significantly fewer correct responses than HC on identification (p=.001) and discrimination (p=.04), demonstrating impairments in emotional processing.

  25. Emotional Processing in TBI The ILF connects the amygdala to other regions of the brain. The amygdala is the brain region largely responsible for the experience of emotions Using DTI, persons with fewer correct responses also had lower measure of white matter integrity (FA ) in inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF).

  26. Current Work: Imaging Emotional Processing • Funded by the NJ Brain Injury Commission • Evaluate the neural network underlying emotional processing in TBI • fMRI study- imaging during a task of processing emotional faces

  27. Same or Different

  28. Same or Different

  29. Current Work: Imaging Emotional Processing • Preliminary findings are consistent with literature of neural network underlying emotional processing: • occipital lobes, specifically fusiform gyrus, frontal regions including inferior frontal gyrus, basal ganglia • Questions we hope to answer: • Is activation we see in TBI as strong or efficient as HC? • Any additional areas of activation being used or recruited?

  30. Treating Emotional Processing: incorporating fMRI • 12 session intervention to improve emotional processing • Computerized training program to identify facial features • Increase awareness of own emotion- generating stories from own life • Increase awareness of own facial expression- use mimicry examiner and mirror

  31. Changes after intervention • Differences in brain activation from before to after treatment • After treatment, increased activation was noted in: • frontal regions (superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus) • parietal regions (inferior parietal lobule) • Also saw improvements on measure of facial affect • Helps us to evaluate both behavioral changes as well as what brain areas (“why”)

  32. Summary • Emotional processing deficits can occur after brain injury • Imaging can be used in studying emotional processing: • Identifying areas of brain that might differ in emotional processing after a brain injury • How treatments to improve emotional processing might also change brain activation

  33. Thank you

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