Emotional body language: Social cognition deficits in bipolar disorder

Abstract Background : Research suggests that people with bipolar disorder (BD), like individuals with autism spectrum disorders or schizophrenia (among other forms of psychopathology), often have social cognition deficits that negatively impact relationships and quality of life. Studies of social cognition largely focus on face emotion recognition. However, relying solely on faces is not ecologically valid – other cues are available outside of a lab environment. If the ability to correctly interpret other emotion cues is intact, people with face emotion recognition deficits could learn to rely on other cues in order to make inferences about peoples’ emotional states. This study explored whether both facial emotion and emotional body language (EBL) recognition are impaired in people with BD. Method : We measured the performance of individuals with BD relative to community controls on a computer-based emotion recognition task that isolated participants’ ability to interpret emotions in faces, bodies without faces, and in bodies with faces. Results : Results indicated that the BD group was significantly less accurate on face emotion recognition (Cohen's d = −0.87, p = .023), and was more likely to misidentify neutral stimuli as sad (Cohen's d = −0.58, p = .030). Emotion identification accuracy was equivalent across groups when the body (not just face) was visible. Conclusion : People with BD experience deficits in face emotion recognition, and their emotional state may influence their interpretation of others’ emotions. However, recognition of EBL seems largely intact in this population. Paying attention to EBL may help people with BD to compensate for face emotion processing deficits and improve social functioning.