Perceptual Differences in Emotionally Ambiguous Neutral Faces Among Individuals Displaying Clinically Significant Insomnia Symptoms

Abstract

Many psychiatric populations present deficits in the processing of neutral faces. While insomnia is associated with perceptual alterations of facially expressed fear, sadness, and happiness, the perception of neutral faces have not been explored in this population. This study compared normal sleepers and individuals experiencing insomnia symptoms in their expression intensity ratings of neutral faces. A total of 56 normal sleepers scoring <5 on the Insomnia Severity Index and 58 individuals experiencing clinically significant insomnia symptoms scoring ≥15 on the Insomnia Severity Index (19.24 ± 3.53) observed 12 neutral facial photographs from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces database. Participants rated the extent to which each face appeared as attractive, sad, happy, trustworthy, approachable, healthy, and sociable. The results revelated a main effect of group, F(1,117) = 4.04, p = .047, and expression, F(7, 819) = 39.08, p = .001, on intensity ratings. While no significant Group × Expression interaction was confirmed, F(7,819)=1.03, p = .41, simple effects analysis determined that those experiencing insomnia symptoms rated neutral faces as significantly more attractive (34.30 ± 14.82; t(117) = −2.73, p = .007; Cohen’s d = 0.50) and happy (34.83 ± 13.87; t(117) = −2.23, p = .028; Cohen’s d = 0.41) compared with normal sleepers (Attractive: 26.89 ± 14.76; Happy: 28.90 ± 12.48). The present outcomes tentatively suggest that individuals experiencing clinically significant insomnia symptoms differentially perceive neutral faces when compared with normal sleepers. These outcomes present potentially negative psychosocial implications for those with insomnia.

Facial Emotion Recognition in Sleep Deprivation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…We used the JBICAC for Q-Es to assess the quality of the studies. Three studies (Cote et al, 2014;Stenson et al, 2021;van der Helm et al, 2010) were assessed as Grade A, and nine studies (Akram, 2020;Almondes et al, 2020;Crönlein et al, 2016;Holding et al, 2017;Huck et al, 2008;Killgore, 2017;Kyle et al, 2014;Maccari et al, 2014;Sack, Broer, & Anders, 2018) were assessed as Grade B (Table 2).…”

“…Four studies (Akram, 2020;Kyle et al, 2014;Stenson et al, 2021;van der Helm et al, 2010) reported the results of recognition of emotional intensity. One study (Akram, 2020) reported the intensity recognition of neutral emotions, and the other three studies reported the intensity rating of anger (Kyle et al, 2014;Stenson et al, 2021;van der Helm et al, 2010), fear (Kyle et al, 2014), happiness (Akram, 2020;Kyle et al, 2014;van der Helm et al, 2010), and sadness (Akram, 2020;Kyle et al, 2014;van der Helm et al, 2010). No significant difference was observed between the two groups in intensity rating across emotion categories (0.11; 95% CI, -0.15 to 0.36, I 2 = 0%; Figure 4A).…”

“…Regarding RT of facial emotion recognition, Cote's study showed a significant difference between the SD and control groups, but null results were found in other studies (Holding et al, 2017;Almondes et al, 2020). Ratings of emotional intensity also vary among different emotions between the SD and control groups (Akram, 2020;Kyle et al, 2014;van der Helm et al, 2010). Almondes et al (2016) summarized the relationship between SD and emotion recognition and the method of facial recognition tasks of the included studies and showed that SD led participants take longer to respond and have lower accuracy in emotion recognition.…”

Altered perception of emotional faces in lonely adults

“…To advance the understanding of face perception in relation to the experience of loneliness, we expand upon previous work by examining the categorisation accuracy (i.e., whether the displayed emotion was correctly identified), intensity (the strength of the emotion signal strength), and valence (i.e., the extent to which each expression was negatively aversive) of all six cross-culturally accepted facial expressions of emotion in adults displaying high, medium and low levels of loneliness (Ekman & Friesen, 1976). Moreover, as the experience of loneliness and perceptual alterations of emotional faces both occur in those experiencing mental health difficulties (Akram et al, 2020;Kyle et al, 2014;Langenecker et al, 2005;Leppänen et al, 2004), symptoms of insomnia, anxiety and depression were controlled for. Considering experimental research to date has yielded mixed evidence concerning the perception of emotional faces in relation to loneliness, this work is an exploratory investigation, with no a priori hypotheses.…”