Association between facial expression and PTSD symptoms among young children exposed to the Great East Japan Earthquake: a pilot study

Abstract

“Emotional numbing” is a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) characterized by a loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities, feeling detached from others, and an inability to express a full range of emotions. Emotional numbing is usually assessed through self-report, and is particularly difficult to ascertain among young children. We conducted a pilot study to explore the use of facial expression ratings in response to a comedy video clip to assess emotional reactivity among preschool children directly exposed to the Great East Japan Earthquake. This study included 23 child participants. Child PTSD symptoms were measured using a modified version of the Parent’s Report of the Child’s Reaction to Stress scale. Children were filmed while watching a 2-min video compilation of natural scenes (‘baseline video’) followed by a 2-min video clip from a television comedy (‘comedy video’). Children’s facial expressions were processed the using Noldus FaceReader software, which implements the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). We investigated the association between PTSD symptom scores and facial emotion reactivity using linear regression analysis. Children with higher PTSD symptom scores showed a significantly greater proportion of neutral facial expressions, controlling for sex, age, and baseline facial expression (p < 0.05). This pilot study suggests that facial emotion reactivity, measured using facial expression recognition software, has the potential to index emotional numbing in young children. This pilot study adds to the emerging literature on using experimental psychopathology methods to characterize children’s reactions to disasters.

Facial Expressions of Basic Emotions in Japanese Laypeople

“…Several engineers have assumed that the relationships between emotional states and facial expressions were established by the theory proposed by Ekman (1971) and have developed automated coding tools or artificial intelligence to read people’s emotions from their facial expressions based on that theory (e.g., Terzis et al, 2010). Several researchers used such tools to infer emotional states in a number of different situations, including while viewing films in individuals with and without mental disorders (Fujiwara et al, 2015) and while consuming food (Kostyra et al, 2016). However, our data suggest that the inner emotional states estimated from facial expressions based on the current theory may differ from the participants’ actual emotional states.…”

Facial reactions to emotional films in young children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous‐unemotional traits

“…Several studies have used FaceReader to examine facial expressions in young children (e.g. Bugos, DeMarie, Torres, & Fuller, 2022 ; Dys & Malti, 2016 ; Fujiwara, Mizuki, Miki, & Chemtob, 2015 ; Morales‐Sánchez, Pérez‐López, Reigal, & Hernández‐Mendo, 2020 ). These studies found that FaceReader intensity ratings of happy and sad facial expressions were significantly associated with preschoolers' self‐reported feelings of happiness and sadness, respectively (Bugos et al., 2022 ; Fujiwara et al., 2015 ).…”

“…Bugos, DeMarie, Torres, & Fuller, 2022 ; Dys & Malti, 2016 ; Fujiwara, Mizuki, Miki, & Chemtob, 2015 ; Morales‐Sánchez, Pérez‐López, Reigal, & Hernández‐Mendo, 2020 ). These studies found that FaceReader intensity ratings of happy and sad facial expressions were significantly associated with preschoolers' self‐reported feelings of happiness and sadness, respectively (Bugos et al., 2022 ; Fujiwara et al., 2015 ). Following Fanti, Kyranides, and Panayiotou ( 2017 ), FaceReader intensity values for each emotion were averaged across all frames within each film condition.…”

Oxytocin Response Following Playful Mother–Child Interaction in Survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake

“…Because of the limited language skills of preschool children, the effect of exposure to trauma due to the earthquake is difficult to assess and has been understudied (25). We initiated this cohort in Kesennuma, Miyagi, to clarify the effect of exposure to trauma due to the earthquake in preschool children (24,25).…”

“…Because of the limited language skills of preschool children, the effect of exposure to trauma due to the earthquake is difficult to assess and has been understudied (25). We initiated this cohort in Kesennuma, Miyagi, to clarify the effect of exposure to trauma due to the earthquake in preschool children (24,25). In our prior study, using data from this cohort, we reported an association between facial expressions of preschool children, measured by facial expression recognition software, and child PTSD symptoms (25).…”