Emotion recognition of faces and emoji in individuals with moderate-severe traumatic brain injury.
Sharice Clough, Emily Morrow, Bilge Mutlu and 2 others
PMID 36847497WHAT IT FOUND
People with moderate-severe TBI recognized basic emotions in emoji as accurately as peers.
However, they were significantly worse at recognizing social emotions like embarrassment or anxiety in emoji, despite feeling just as confident in their guesses.
Key findings
01Participants with TBI did not differ from neurotypical peers in overall accuracy for labeling emotions depicted by faces or basic emojis.
02Participants with TBI were significantly less accurate than neurotypical peers at labeling social emotions (e.g., embarrassed, anxious) depicted by emojis.
03There was no significant difference in confidence ratings between the TBI and neurotypical groups, even when TBI participants were less accurate at recognizing social emotions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study did not replicate previous findings of general facial emotion recognition deficits in TBI, suggesting the sample may have had milder deficits or higher functioning than typical TBI populations. Participants were in the chronic phase of injury (mean 77 months post-injury), so results may not apply to acute or subacute stages. The task involved isolated emojis without the surrounding text context, which is how emojis are actually used in communication.
Declared interests
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a patient’s ability to recognize basic emotions in emojis means they can interpret social or complex emotional cues in digital communication. The study shows a specific deficit in social emotion recognition that is not accompanied by reduced confidence, meaning patients may confidently misinterpret messages.