Age Differences in Decoding Pain from the Facial Expression of Healthy Individuals and Patients with Dementia

Lautenbacher, Stefan; Höfer, W; Kunz, Miriam

doi:10.1111/pme.12927

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This finding is consistent with prior research (e.g., Horgas and Dunn 2001;Weiner et al 1999). Observers' greater rating correspondence for younger adults' pain may be due to an "own-age bias" (Ebner et al 2011), although there is research that is inconsistent with this explanation (Lautenbacher et al 2016). As an alternative explanation, age-related facial changes such as wrinkling could have confounded the correspondence of pain ratings for older adults (Borod et al 2004;Ebner and Johnson 2009;Hess et al 2012;Malatesta et al 1987;Murphy et al 2010;Riediger et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Observer gender may influence observational pain ratings (e.g., Robinson and Wise 2003;Vigil and Coulombe 2011). It has also been suggested that there are age-related changes in emotion and pain recognition when viewing facial expressions such that younger observers may be better at rating others' pain (Lautenbacher et al 2016;Ortega and Phillips 2008;Ruffman et al 2008). Perhaps a more diverse (e.g., with respect to age) sample of participant observers would yield effects based on demographic characteristics, which is something that could not be determined in this study because almost all observers were younger adults.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Eye Tracking Investigation of Pain Decoding Based on Older and Younger Adults’ Facial Expressions

2020

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Nonverbal pain cues such as facial expressions, are useful in the systematic assessment of pain in people with dementia who have severe limitations in their ability to communicate. Nonetheless, the extent to which observers rely on specific pain-related facial responses (e.g., eye movements, frowning) when judging pain remains unclear. Observers viewed three types of videos of patients expressing pain (younger patients, older patients without dementia, older patients with dementia) while wearing an eye tracker device that recorded their viewing behaviors. They provided pain ratings for each patient in the videos. These observers assigned higher pain ratings to older adults compared to younger adults and the highest pain ratings to patients with dementia. Pain ratings assigned to younger adults showed greater correspondence to objectively coded facial reactions compared to older adults. The correspondence of observer ratings was not affected by the cognitive status of target patients as there were no differences between the ratings assigned to older adults with and without dementia. Observers’ percentage of total dwell time (amount of time that an observer glances or fixates within a defined visual area of interest) across specific facial areas did not predict the correspondence of observers’ pain ratings to objective coding of facial responses. Our results demonstrate that patient characteristics such as age and cognitive status impact the pain decoding process by observers when viewing facial expressions of pain in others.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Eye Tracking Investigation of Pain Decoding Based on Older and Younger Adults’ Facial Expressions

2020

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“…Reasons for the persistent underestimation of pain are not clear (32). Intrapersonal factors found to influence perception and assessment of pain include personal factors like gender (87)(88)(89) and age (90)(91)(92), psychological and cognitive factors (88,89,(93)(94)(95)(96), and prior personal and professional experience with pain (88, 89).…”

Section: Pain Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The measurement properties of pediatric observational pain scales: A systematic review of reviews

Andersen

Langius‐Eklöf

Nakstad

et al. 2017

International Journal of Nursing Studies

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“…Nevertheless, pain expressions are accurately discriminated from other facial expressions by younger observers (Kappesser et al, 2006;Simon et al, 2008). Older observers' overall ability to judge pain in others seems to be maintained (Lautenbacher et al, 2016), until at least 80 years of age, though this needs to be further tested empirically.…”

Section: Observers' Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Pain evaluation and prosocial behaviour are affected by age and sex

Gingras

Coll

Tessier

et al. 2021

European Journal of Pain

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Background: Pain assessment and pain care are influenced by the characteristics of both the patient and the caregiver. Some studies suggest that the pain of older persons and of females may be underestimated to a greater extent than the pain of younger and male individuals. Aims: This study investigated the effect of age and sex on prosocial behavior and pain evaluation. Methods: 40 young (18-30 y/o; 20 women) and 40 older adults (55-82 y/o; 20 women) acted as healthcare professionals rating the pain and offering help to patients of both age groups. Trait empathy and social desirability were measured with questionnaires. Results: Linear mixed models showed that older and male patients were offered more help and were perceived as being in more intense pain than younger and female patients. Conclusion:The characteristics of the patients seem to have a greater impact on prosocial behavior and pain assessment compared to those of the observers, which bears significant implications for the treatment of pain in clinical contexts.

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Age Differences in Decoding Pain from the Facial Expression of Healthy Individuals and Patients with Dementia

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

An Eye Tracking Investigation of Pain Decoding Based on Older and Younger Adults’ Facial Expressions

An Eye Tracking Investigation of Pain Decoding Based on Older and Younger Adults’ Facial Expressions

The measurement properties of pediatric observational pain scales: A systematic review of reviews

Pain evaluation and prosocial behaviour are affected by age and sex

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