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BackgroundAs with cognitive function, the ability to recognize emotions changes with age. In the literature regarding the relationship between recognition of emotion and cognitive function during aging, the effects of predictors such as aging, emotional state, and cognitive domains on emotion recognition are unclear. This study was performed to clarify the cognitive functions underlying recognition of emotional facial expressions, and to evaluate the effects of depressive mood on recognition of emotion in elderly subjects, as well as to reproduce the effects of aging on the recognition of emotional facial expressions.Materials and MethodsA total of 26 young (mean age = 20.9 years) and 30 elderly subjects (71.6 years) participated in the study. All subjects participated in face perception, face matching, emotion matching, and emotion selection tasks. In addition, elderly subjects were administered a multicomponent cognitive test: the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (Cognistat) and the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Version. We analyzed these factors using multiple linear regression.ResultsThere were no significant differences between the two groups in the face perception task, but in the face matching, emotion matching, and emotion selection tasks, elderly subjects showed significantly poorer performance. Among elderly subjects, multiple regression analyses showed that performance on the emotion matching task was predicted by age, emotional status, and cognitive function, but paradoxical relationships were observed between recognition of emotional faces and some verbal functions. In addition, 47% of elderly participants showed cognitive decline in one or more domains, although all of them had total Cognistat scores above the cutoff.ConclusionIt might be crucial to consider preclinical pathological changes such as mild cognitive impairment when testing for age effects in elderly populations.

Lesion studies have shown that the right temporal lobe is crucial for recognition of facial expressions, particularly fear expressions. However, in previous studies, premorbid abilities of the patients were unknown and the effects of epileptic discharge could not be excluded. Herein, we report a case of a patient who underwent assessments of facial recognition before and after brain surgery and exhibited biased recognition of facial expressions. The patient was a 29-year-old right-handed male who underwent an awake craniotomy. Compared with the preoperative assessment, after the surgery, he showed biased recognition of surprised facial expressions, and his ability to recognize other facial expressions either improved or remained unchanged. These findings support the idea that the right temporal lobe is crucial for the recognition of facial expressions of surprise and that functional connectivity between various brain regions plays an important role in the ability to recognize facial expressions.

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