Abstract
The Ekman 60-Faces (EK-60F) Test is a well-known neuropsychological tool assessing emotion recognition from facial expressions. It is the most employed task for research purposes in psychiatric and neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases, such as the behavioral variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). Despite its remarkable usefulness in the social cognition research field, to date, there are still no normative data for the Italian population, thus limiting its application in a clinical context. In this study, we report procedures and normative data for the Italian version of the test. A hundred and thirty-two healthy Italian participants aged between 20 and 79 years with at least 5 years of education were recruited on a voluntary basis. They were administered the EK-60F Test from the Ekman and Friesen series of Pictures of Facial Affect after a preliminary semantic recognition test of the six basic emotions (i.e., anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise). Data were analyzed according to the Capitani procedure [1]. The regression analysis revealed significant effects of demographic variables, with younger, more educated, female subjects showing higher scores. Normative data were then applied to a sample of 15 bvFTD patients which showed global impaired performance in the task, consistently with the clinical condition. We provided EK-60F Test normative data for the Italian population allowing the investigation of global emotion recognition ability as well as selective impairment of basic emotions recognition, both for clinical and research purposes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1015-1021 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Neurological Sciences |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
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Keywords
- Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia
- Ekman 60-Faces Test
- Emotion recognition
- Social cognition
- Standardization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Dermatology
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Emotion recognition from facial expressions : A normative study of the Ekman 60-Faces Test in the Italian population. / Dodich, Alessandra; Cerami, Chiara; Canessa, Nicola; Crespi, Chiara; Marcone, Alessandra; Arpone, Marta; Realmuto, Sabrina; Cappa, Stefano F.
In: Neurological Sciences, Vol. 35, No. 7, 2014, p. 1015-1021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotion recognition from facial expressions
T2 - A normative study of the Ekman 60-Faces Test in the Italian population
AU - Dodich, Alessandra
AU - Cerami, Chiara
AU - Canessa, Nicola
AU - Crespi, Chiara
AU - Marcone, Alessandra
AU - Arpone, Marta
AU - Realmuto, Sabrina
AU - Cappa, Stefano F.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - The Ekman 60-Faces (EK-60F) Test is a well-known neuropsychological tool assessing emotion recognition from facial expressions. It is the most employed task for research purposes in psychiatric and neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases, such as the behavioral variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). Despite its remarkable usefulness in the social cognition research field, to date, there are still no normative data for the Italian population, thus limiting its application in a clinical context. In this study, we report procedures and normative data for the Italian version of the test. A hundred and thirty-two healthy Italian participants aged between 20 and 79 years with at least 5 years of education were recruited on a voluntary basis. They were administered the EK-60F Test from the Ekman and Friesen series of Pictures of Facial Affect after a preliminary semantic recognition test of the six basic emotions (i.e., anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise). Data were analyzed according to the Capitani procedure [1]. The regression analysis revealed significant effects of demographic variables, with younger, more educated, female subjects showing higher scores. Normative data were then applied to a sample of 15 bvFTD patients which showed global impaired performance in the task, consistently with the clinical condition. We provided EK-60F Test normative data for the Italian population allowing the investigation of global emotion recognition ability as well as selective impairment of basic emotions recognition, both for clinical and research purposes.
AB - The Ekman 60-Faces (EK-60F) Test is a well-known neuropsychological tool assessing emotion recognition from facial expressions. It is the most employed task for research purposes in psychiatric and neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases, such as the behavioral variant of Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). Despite its remarkable usefulness in the social cognition research field, to date, there are still no normative data for the Italian population, thus limiting its application in a clinical context. In this study, we report procedures and normative data for the Italian version of the test. A hundred and thirty-two healthy Italian participants aged between 20 and 79 years with at least 5 years of education were recruited on a voluntary basis. They were administered the EK-60F Test from the Ekman and Friesen series of Pictures of Facial Affect after a preliminary semantic recognition test of the six basic emotions (i.e., anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise). Data were analyzed according to the Capitani procedure [1]. The regression analysis revealed significant effects of demographic variables, with younger, more educated, female subjects showing higher scores. Normative data were then applied to a sample of 15 bvFTD patients which showed global impaired performance in the task, consistently with the clinical condition. We provided EK-60F Test normative data for the Italian population allowing the investigation of global emotion recognition ability as well as selective impairment of basic emotions recognition, both for clinical and research purposes.
KW - Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia
KW - Ekman 60-Faces Test
KW - Emotion recognition
KW - Social cognition
KW - Standardization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903397633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84903397633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10072-014-1631-x
DO - 10.1007/s10072-014-1631-x
M3 - Article
VL - 35
SP - 1015
EP - 1021
JO - Neurological Sciences
JF - Neurological Sciences
SN - 1590-1874
IS - 7
ER -