Effectiveness of a Short Computer-based Emotion Recognition Training in Different Patient Groups

Overview

Emotion recognition and regulation are necessary skills for social interaction. Disrupted development of these processes severely interferes with socio-emotional development. These difficulties are commonly reported in patients with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Conduct Disorder (CD), with the subsequent social/interpersonal difficulties. The available evidence suggest that impaired emotion regulation processes might underlie the aggressive behaviours frequently observed in both disorders. However, no study has yet investigated the presence of disorder-specific characteristics on emotion processing between these two disorders. Different impaired emotion recognition difficulties may underlie the reported emotion dysregulation. A practical implication of this is that given that both disorders have shown difficulties during emotion recognition processes, a short, computer-based intervention to improve emotion recognition might benefit both cases, even though their aetiologies might differ.

For ASD patients, studies training facial emotion recognition have focused on increasing the active attention to the eye region, re-directing attention to facial features to facilitate facial emotion recognition. Evidence shows positive results using computer-based emotion recognition training programs with young children and adolescents with ASD. It has also been recently suggested that emotion recognition training may be a suitable intervention for patients with CD. This would be supported by some preliminary evidence in patients with severe behavioural problems, young offenders and patients with CD + CU Traits. The overall goal of this project is to investigate the compared impact of an emotion recognition training in patients with ASD or CD. This goal can be subdivided into three separate subgoals: a) identify whether the training program is effective; b) identify whether the training program has differentiated or comparable effects between both patients groups and c) investigate individual characteristics that may help identify those individuals who would benefit most from the intervention. This information is crucial to inform the design of more efficient treatments to differentially address the specific deficits associated to the disorders.