"I cannot see your fear!" Altered recognition of fearful facial expressions in anorexia nervosa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The evidence about facial emotion recognition in anorexia nervosa as the role of alexithymic traits on this emotional ability is conflicting and heterogeneous.

Objective

We assessed the capability of recognizing facial expressions of two primary emotions, fear, and anger, in the context of anorexia nervosa.

Methods

Women affected by anorexia nervosa were compared with healthy weight women in a well-established implicit facial emotion recognition task. Both reaction time and level of accuracy were computed. Moreover, the individual levels of alexithymia were assessed through a standard self-report questionnaire.

Results

Participants with anorexia nervosa reported a significantly lower performance in terms of reaction time and accuracy when the emotion

SUBMITTER: Vaioli G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10732310 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature