Monitoring the emotional facial reactions of individuals with antisocial personality disorder during the retrieval of self-defining memories

While a deficit in the recognition of facial expression has been demonstrated in persons with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), few studies have investigated how individuals with ASPD produce their own emotional facial expressions. This study examines the production of facial emotional express...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-06, Vol.17 (6), p.e0268818-e0268818
Main Authors: Lavallee, Audrey, Pham, Thierry H, Gandolphe, Marie-Charlotte, Saloppé, Xavier, Ott, Laurent, Nandrino, Jean-Louis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Anger
Antisocial personality disorder
Biology and Life Sciences
Care and treatment
Cognitive science
Computer and Information Sciences
Dominance
Electromyography
Emotions
Engineering and Technology
Facial expression
Forensic science
Indicators
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental disorders
Pattern recognition
Personality
Physiological aspects
Psychology
Retrieval
Social behavior
Social Sciences
Sociopathic personality
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Summary:While a deficit in the recognition of facial expression has been demonstrated in persons with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), few studies have investigated how individuals with ASPD produce their own emotional facial expressions. This study examines the production of facial emotional expressions of male inpatients with ASPD in a forensic hospital compared with a control group as they retrieve autobiographical memories. This design constitutes a specific ecological experimental approach fostering the evocation of personal feelings. Two indicators characterizing the activation of facial expression were used: activation of emotional action units and emotional dominance. The results showed that individuals with ASPD 1) activated angrier facial expressions than control participants for both indicators, 2) displayed a higher dominance of angry facial expressions during the retrieval of positive self-defining memories than control participants and 3) recalled significant memories that were less associated with neutral facial states than the control sample, regardless of the valence of their memories. These findings highlight the core role of anger in ASPD and the possible development of pathological anger, which would distinguish trajectories toward anxious or mood disorders and trajectories characterized by external disorders.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0268818