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Facial Expressions (facial + expression)
Kinds of Facial Expressions Terms modified by Facial Expressions Selected AbstractsAutomated Measurement of Facial Expression in Infant,Mother Interaction: A Pilot StudyINFANCY, Issue 3 2009Daniel S. Messinger Automated facial measurement using computer vision has the potential to objectively document continuous changes in behavior. To examine emotional expression and communication, we used automated measurements to quantify smile strength, eye constriction, and mouth opening in two 6-month-old infant-mother dyads who each engaged in a face-to-face interaction. Automated measurements showed high associations with anatomically based manual coding (concurrent validity); measurements of smiling showed high associations with mean ratings of positive emotion made by naive observers (construct validity). For both infants and mothers, smile strength and eye constriction (the Duchenne marker) were correlated over time, creating a continuous index of smile intensity. Infant and mother smile activity exhibited changing (nonstationary) local patterns of association, suggesting the dyadic repair and dissolution of states of affective synchrony. The study provides insights into the potential and limitations of automated measurement of facial action. [source] Encoding of Facial Expressions of Emotion and Knowledge of American Sign LanguageJOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2000NAOMI E. GOLDSTEIN The relationship between knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) and the ability to encode facial expressions of emotion was explored. Participants were 55 college students, half of whom were intermediate-level students of ASL and half of whom had no experience with a signed language. In front of a video camera, participants posed the affective facial expressions of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust. These facial expressions were randomized onto stimulus tapes that were then shown to 60 untrained judges who tried to identify the expressed emotions. Results indicated that hearing subjects knowledgeable in ASL were generally more adept than were hearing nonsigners at conveying emotions through facial expression. Results have implications for better understanding the nature of nonverbal communication in hearing and deaf individuals. [source] ERP and RT Delays in Long-Term Abstinent Alcoholics in Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions During Gender and Emotion Categorization TasksALCOHOLISM, Issue 7 2010George Fein Background:, There is considerable evidence that alcoholics differ from nonalcoholics in the processing of stimuli that have emotional content. The current study examines those differences that are present in multi-year abstinent individuals. Methods:, We compared reaction time (RT), accuracy, and Event Related Potentials (ERP) measures in long-term abstinent alcoholics (LTAA, n = 52) with that in age- and gender-comparable nonalcoholic controls (NAC, n = 47). Subjects were presented with male and female faces exhibiting happy, neutral, or sad facial expressions and were instructed to identify the picture gender in 1 task and the emotion being expressed in a subsequent task. Results:, LTAA had slower RTs than NAC when instructed to identify emotion, while RT was comparable when identifying gender. There were no differences between groups on task accuracy. P160 latency was increased in LTAA for both tasks compared to NAC, though P160 amplitude did not differ between groups. The P160 effect was about 5 × as large as the RT effect and was statistically independent of the RT effect, while the RT effect was no longer present after removing variance because of the P160 effect. Conclusions:, Our data demonstrate slower early processing of emotional facial stimuli in alcoholics that is unresolved by long-term abstinence and is most sensitively indexed by delayed P160 latency in LTAA. [source] Blunted Rostral Anterior Cingulate Response During a Simplified Decoding Task of Negative Emotional Facial Expressions in Alcoholic PatientsALCOHOLISM, Issue 9 2007Jasmin B. Salloum Background:, Alcoholism is characterized by deficits in emotional functioning as well as by deficits in cognitive functioning. However, most brain imaging research on alcoholism has focused on cognition rather than emotion. Method:, We used an event-related functional magnetic imaging approach to examine alcoholics' brain blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to evaluation of emotional stimuli and to compare their response to that of nonalcoholic controls. The task used was a simplified variant of a facial emotion-decoding task in which subjects determined the intensity level of a target emotion displayed as a facial expression. Facial expressions of happy, sad, anger, disgust, and fear were used as stimuli. Results:, Alcoholics and controls did not differ in accurately identifying the intensity level on the simple emotional decoding task but there were significant differences in their BOLD response during evaluation of facial emotion. In general, alcoholics showed less brain activation than nonalcoholic controls. The greatest differences in activation were during decoding of facial expressions of fear and disgust during which alcoholics had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Alcoholics also had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the ACC, while viewing sad faces. Only to facial expressions of anger did the alcoholics show significant activation in the affective ACC and in this case, their BOLD response did not significantly differ from that of the controls. Conclusion:, Alcoholics show a deficit in the function of the affective division of the ACC during evaluation of negative facial emotions that can serve as cues for flight or avoidance. This deficit may underlie some of the behavioral dysfunction in alcoholism. [source] An Eye for Detail: An Event-Related Potential Study of the Rapid Processing of Fearful Facial Expressions in ChildrenCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2010Petra H. J. M. Vlamings There is converging evidence for the presence of a fast subcortical face-processing route that operates on global face characteristics in the mature brain. Until now, little has been known about the development of such a route, which is surprising given suggestions that this fast subcortical face-processing route might be affected in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. To address this, early visual event-related potentials to pictures of fearful and neutral faces containing detailed or global information in 3- to 4-year-old (n = 20), 5- to 6-year-old (n = 25), and 7- to 8-year-old (n = 25) children were compared. In children, emotional processing was driven by detailed information. Developmental effects are discussed in terms of maturation of the fast subcortical face-processing route as well as an increase in experience with facial expressions with age. [source] Social Implications of Hyperfunctional Facial LinesDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 5 2003J. Charles Finn MD The face is the focus of human interactions, and facial appearance profoundly affects self-esteem. Facial appearance is not only a compilation of the dimensions of the primary morphologic features but is also a direct result of the emotional expressions exhibited on the face. Facial expressions are central in the communication of emotions, as well as in signaling characteristics such as age. The repeated expression of emotions produces hyperfunctional facial lines, and the presence of these lines when the face is at repose may give an erroneous impression of emotions or personality characteristics. These lines are also perceived as a sign of aging. Treatment of hyperfunctional facial lines is beneficial for patients who believe that their faces are not communicating their emotions properly, who want to delay the outward appearance of aging, or who simply want to look their best. [source] Facial expressions of emotions: a methodological contribution to the study of spontaneous and dynamic emotional faces,EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Anna Tcherkassof This paper addresses methodological considerations relevant to nonverbal communication of emotion research. In order to gather more information about the interpretations given to spontaneous and dynamic facial expressions, two main objectives guide the present exploratory research. The first one is to obtain naturalistic recordings of emotional expressions in realistic settings that are ,emotional enough'. The second one is to address the issue of dynamic judgments of facial expressions of emotion, that is real-time emotional recognition. An innovative device has been created for this specific purpose. Results show that, although the social nature of the eliciting situation is minimal, the experience of some emotions is reflected on the encoders' faces while being covertly videotaped in natural conditions. Moreover, results show the utility to investigate dynamic emotional judgments of spontaneous and dynamic expressions since observers seem to be sensitive to the slightest facial expression change in making their emotional judgments. A promising paradigm is thus proposed for the study of the dynamics of real-time nonverbal emotional interaction. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Amygdala,prefrontal dissociation of subliminal and supraliminal fearHUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 8 2006Leanne M. Williams Abstract Facial expressions of fear are universally recognized signals of potential threat. Humans may have evolved specialized neural systems for responding to fear in the absence of conscious stimulus detection. We used functional neuroimaging to establish whether the amygdala and the medial prefrontal regions to which it projects are engaged by subliminal fearful faces and whether responses to subliminal fear are distinguished from those to supraliminal fear. We also examined the time course of amygdala-medial prefrontal responses to supraliminal and subliminal fear. Stimuli were fearful and neutral baseline faces, presented under subliminal (16.7 ms and masked) or supraliminal (500 ms) conditions. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded simultaneously as an objective index of fear perception. SPM2 was used to undertake search region-of-interest (ROI) analyses for the amygdala and medial prefrontal (including anterior cingulate) cortex, and complementary whole-brain analyses. Time series data were extracted from ROIs to examine activity across early versus late phases of the experiment. SCRs and amygdala activity were enhanced in response to both subliminal and supraliminal fear perception. Time series analysis showed a trend toward greater right amygdala responses to subliminal fear, but left-sided responses to supraliminal fear. Cortically, subliminal fear was distinguished by right ventral anterior cingulate activity and supraliminal fear by dorsal anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal activity. Although subcortical amygdala activity was relatively persistent for subliminal fear, supraliminal fear showed more sustained cortical activity. The findings suggest that preverbal processing of fear may occur via a direct rostral,ventral amygdala pathway without the need for conscious surveillance, whereas elaboration of consciously attended signals of fear may rely on higher-order processing within a dorsal cortico,amygdala pathway. Hum Brain Mapp, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Blunted Rostral Anterior Cingulate Response During a Simplified Decoding Task of Negative Emotional Facial Expressions in Alcoholic PatientsALCOHOLISM, Issue 9 2007Jasmin B. Salloum Background:, Alcoholism is characterized by deficits in emotional functioning as well as by deficits in cognitive functioning. However, most brain imaging research on alcoholism has focused on cognition rather than emotion. Method:, We used an event-related functional magnetic imaging approach to examine alcoholics' brain blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to evaluation of emotional stimuli and to compare their response to that of nonalcoholic controls. The task used was a simplified variant of a facial emotion-decoding task in which subjects determined the intensity level of a target emotion displayed as a facial expression. Facial expressions of happy, sad, anger, disgust, and fear were used as stimuli. Results:, Alcoholics and controls did not differ in accurately identifying the intensity level on the simple emotional decoding task but there were significant differences in their BOLD response during evaluation of facial emotion. In general, alcoholics showed less brain activation than nonalcoholic controls. The greatest differences in activation were during decoding of facial expressions of fear and disgust during which alcoholics had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Alcoholics also had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the ACC, while viewing sad faces. Only to facial expressions of anger did the alcoholics show significant activation in the affective ACC and in this case, their BOLD response did not significantly differ from that of the controls. Conclusion:, Alcoholics show a deficit in the function of the affective division of the ACC during evaluation of negative facial emotions that can serve as cues for flight or avoidance. This deficit may underlie some of the behavioral dysfunction in alcoholism. [source] What do you think you're looking at?CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2007Investigating social cognition in young offenders Aim,This small study was designed to assess the nature and severity of social-cognitive deficits in antisocial adolescents. Method,Thirty-seven boys aged 15,18 from a Young Offenders Institute and Community College participated. They were asked to complete a test of general intellectual ability and self-rating of social competence as well as tasks from the Skuse Schedules for the Assessment of Social Intelligence. Results,Young offenders were poor at recognizing the facial expression of anger, regardless of intellectual ability. They could not accurately identify the direction of another's eye gaze. Their performance on theory of mind tasks, however, was unimpaired. Conclusion,These preliminary findings imply selective impairment in the cognitive appraisal of threat, which may contribute to social maladjustment. Further such study of social cognition among young offenders is indicated. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Residual cognitive impairments in remitted depressed patients,DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 6 2008Wendelien Merens M.A. Abstract Depressive disorders are associated with various cognitive impairments. Studies on whether or not these impairments persist into the euthymic phase have shown conflicting results, due to differences in test versions and in study samples. In this paper, we aimed to compare the cognitive performance of remitted depressed patients with that of age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers across a wide range of cognitive domains. In two studies, we found few differences on neutral as well as emotional information processing tests. The findings indicate that remitted depressed patients who use antidepressant medication still show an increased recognition of facial expression of fear compared to healthy controls. Patients also performed worse on a test of recognition of abstract visual information from long-term memory. No other residual cognitive impairments were found. These results indicate that most of the cognitive impairments associated with depression resolve with recovery through medication, even when recovery is incomplete. Considering the finding that remitted depressed patients have higher levels of cognitive reactivity, future studies may investigate the possibility that these cognitive impairments have not resolved but have become latent, and may therefore easily be triggered by small changes in mood state. Depression and Anxiety 0:1,10, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Decreased Tear Expression with an Abnormal Schirmer's Test Following Botulinum Toxin Type A for the Treatment of Lateral Canthal RhytidesDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 2 2002Seth L. Matarasso MD background. Inactivation of muscles of facial expression by chemodenervation with botulinum toxin remains an off-label indication. Nevertheless, it continues to be a safe and effective technique to improve dynamic rhytides and is the treatment of choice for the hypertrophic lateral fibers of the orbicularis oculi muscle that can cause the superimposed crow's feet. objective. Although infrequent and self-limiting, the complication of unexpected muscle weakness from toxin diffusion or erroneous placement is documented. methods. However, injection into the pretarsal portion of the orbicularis oculi muscle resulting in unilateral ocular irritation and diminished tear expression as evidenced by a dry eye and an abnormal Schirmer's test has rarely been reported. Direct injection into the pretarsal fibers of the muscle as opposed to diffusion of the toxin into the muscle fibers or the lacrimal gland was consistent with the onset of action of the toxin and the prolonged duration of the ocular symptoms. results. Treatment consisted of ocular lubrication until the effects of the toxin dissipated and muscle tone returned. Subsequent treatment did not result in a result in a recurrence of adverse sequelae. conclusions. Facial muscles are small, not isolated, and often have fibers that interdigitate. An important factor in the administration of botulinum toxin is the identification of the muscles responsible for the corresponding rhytide. Precise knowledge of muscular anatomy and function will aid in minimizing this and other potential complications. [source] Seizures and paroxysmal events: symptoms pointing to the diagnosis of pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy and pyridoxine phosphate oxidase deficiencyDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 7 2010BERNHARD SCHMITT Aim, We report on seizures, paroxysmal events, and electroencephalogram (EEG) findings in four female infants with pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy (PDE) and in one female with pyridoxine phosphate oxidase deficiency (PNPO). Method, Videos and EEGs were analysed and compared with videos of seizures and paroxysmal events archived from 140 neonates. PDE and PNPO were proven by complete control of seizures once pyridoxine or pyridoxal 5,-phosphate was administered and by recurrence when withdrawn. Mutations in the antiquitin gene were found in three patients and in the PNPO gene in one child. Results, Seizures began within 48 hours after birth in four newborns and at age 3 weeks in one. Frequent multifocal and generalized myoclonic jerks, often intermixed with tonic symptoms, abnormal eye movement, grimacing, or irritability, were observed in all infants with PDE and PNPO, but rarely in the other archived videos of neonates. EEGs were inconstant and frequently no discernable ictal changes were recorded during the seizures and the paroxysmal events. In addition, interictal EEGs were inconclusive, with normal and abnormal recordings. In older children tonic,clonic seizures, abnormal behaviour, inconsolable crying, frightened facial expression, sleep disturbance, loss of consciousness, paraesthesia, or intermittent visual symptoms were described during controlled and uncontrolled withdrawal or insufficient dosage. Interpretation, PDE or PNPO should be considered in infants with prolonged episodes of mixed multifocal myoclonic tonic symptoms, notably when associated with grimacing and abnormal eye movements. [source] Facial identity and facial expression matching in 5,12-year-old children and adultsINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2009Frini Karayanidis Abstract Facial identity and facial expression matching tasks were completed by 5,12-year-old children and adults using stimuli extracted from the same set of normalized faces. Configural and feature processing were examined using speed and accuracy of responding and facial feature selection, respectively. Facial identity matching was slower than face expression matching for all age groups. Large age effects were found on both speed and accuracy of responding and feature use in both identity and expression matching tasks. Eye region preference was found on the facial identity task and mouth region preference on the facial expression task. Use of mouth region information for facial expression matching increased with age, whereas use of eye region information for facial identity matching peaked early. The feature use information suggests that the specific use of primary facial features to arrive at identity and emotion matching judgments matures across middle childhood. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Convergence between physiological, facial and verbal self-report measures of affective empathy in childrenINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2007Xenia Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous Abstract The present study investigated the degree of convergence between three different measures of vicarious affective responsiveness (affective empathy),verbal self-report, facial expression and change in heart rate,in typically developing children (N=29, aged 8,10 years), when presented with an emotionally evocative film. Although convergence between physiological and verbal measures was only at chance levels, convergence between facial and physiological measures, and between facial and verbal measures was statistically significant, but low (,=0.30 and 0.22, respectively, p<0.01). These findings have important implications for the assessment of empathy in children and indicate that generalization of results across methods should be undertaken with caution. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Item selection and content validity of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool for non-verbal adultsJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 1 2009Céline Gélinas Abstract Title.,Item selection and content validity of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool for non-verbal adults. Aim., This paper is a report of the item selection process and evaluation of the content validity of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool for non-verbal critically ill adults. Background., Critically ill patients experience moderate to severe pain in the intensive care unit. While critical care clinicians strive to obtain the patient's self-report of pain, many factors compromise the patient's ability to communicate verbally. Pain assessment methods often need to match the communication capabilities of the patient. In non-verbal patients, observable behavioural and physiological indicators become important indices for pain assessment. Method., A mixed method study design was used for the development of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool in 2002,2003. More specifically, a four-step process was undertaken: (1) literature review, (2) review of 52 patients' medical files, (3) focus groups with 48 critical care nurses, and interviews with 12 physicians, and (4) evaluation of content validity with 17 clinicians using a self-administered questionnaire. Results., Item selection was derived from different sources of information which were convergent and complementary in their content. An initial version of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool was developed including both behavioural and physiological indicators. Because physiological indicators received more criticism than support, only the four behaviours with content validity indices >0·80 were included in the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool: facial expression, body movements, muscle tension and compliance with the ventilator. Conclusion., Item selection and expert opinions are relevant aspects of tool development. While further evaluation is planned, the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool appears as a useful instrument to assess pain in critically ill patients. [source] Encoding of Facial Expressions of Emotion and Knowledge of American Sign LanguageJOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2000NAOMI E. GOLDSTEIN The relationship between knowledge of American Sign Language (ASL) and the ability to encode facial expressions of emotion was explored. Participants were 55 college students, half of whom were intermediate-level students of ASL and half of whom had no experience with a signed language. In front of a video camera, participants posed the affective facial expressions of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust. These facial expressions were randomized onto stimulus tapes that were then shown to 60 untrained judges who tried to identify the expressed emotions. Results indicated that hearing subjects knowledgeable in ASL were generally more adept than were hearing nonsigners at conveying emotions through facial expression. Results have implications for better understanding the nature of nonverbal communication in hearing and deaf individuals. [source] The relationship between history of violent and criminal behavior and recognition of facial expression of emotions in men with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorderAGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2006Elisabeth M. Weiss Abstract Social psychological research underscores the relation between aggression and emotion. Specifically, regulating negative affect requires the ability to appraise restraint-producing cues, such as facial signs of anger, fear and other emotions. Individuals diagnosed with major mental disorders are more likely to have engaged in violent behavior than mentally healthy members of the same communities. We examined whether violent and criminal behavior in men with schizophrenia is related to emotion recognition abilities. Forty-one men with schizophrenia underwent a computerized emotion discrimination test presenting mild and extreme intensities of happy, sad, angry, fearful and neutral faces, balanced for gender and ethnicity. History of violence was assessed by the Life History of Aggression Scale and official records of arrests. Psychopathology was rated using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale. Criminal behavior was associated with poor emotion recognition, especially for fearful and angry facial expressions. History of aggression was also associated with more severe positive symptoms and less severe negative symptoms. These findings suggest that misinterpretation of social cues such as angry and fearful expression may lead to a failure in socialization and adaptive behavior in response to emotional situation, which may result in a higher number of criminal arrests. Aggr. Behav. 32:1,8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Intrathecal neostigmine with bupivacaine for infants undergoing lower abdominal and urogenital procedures: dose responseACTA ANAESTHESIOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2009Y. K. BATRA Background: Intrathecal (IT) neostigmine produces dose-dependent analgesia in adults. However, the dose of spinal neostigmine has not been investigated in infants. The purpose of this study was to assess spinal anesthesia (SA) duration provided by four doses of spinal neostigmine added to bupivacaine for lower abdominal and urogenital procedures in infants. Methods: Seventy-five infants were randomized into five groups. The control group B received IT plain 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. Groups BN.25, BN.50, BN.75, and BN1.0 received bupivacaine with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 ,g/kg of neostigmine, respectively. The primary variable was the duration of anesthesia assessed by recovery of hip flexion. Postoperative pain with facial expression, leg activity, arm activity, crying and consolability scale score,and rescue analgesic requirements were the secondary variables measured, and the side effects were noted. Results: Seventy-three infants completed the study. There was a significant linear increase in SA duration with IT neostigmine to 65.2 (4.3) min with 0.5 ,g/kg (P<0.01), 88.2 (5.1) with 0.75 ,g/kg (P<0.001) and 92 (4.3) with 1 ,g/kg (P<0.001) from 52.4 (4.3) min with bupivacaine alone. SA duration showed no significant difference between plain bupivacaine and BN.25 (P=0.100) or between groups BN.75 and BN1.0 (P=0.451). Groups BN.75 and BN1.0 had significantly reduced pain scores, and the median duration before the first dose rescue analgesic was requested prolonged significantly (P<0.001) compared with the other three groups. Conclusions: IT neostigmine at a dose of 0.75 ,g/kg added to bupivacaine significantly prolonged SA duration with reduced postoperative pain scores and rescue analgesic requirements in infants undergoing lower abdominal and urogenital procedures. No additional benefits were provided on increasing it to 1 ,g/kg. [source] Spaciostructural analyses of mandibular and perioral soft tissue movements during masticationJOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 10 2001K. Sakaguchi We considered that elucidation of the movements of perioral soft tissues during mastication would be useful in evaluating masticatory movements. However, evaluation of movements specific to soft tissues is difficult because movements of the surface of the lower face during mastication include movements of the muscles of facial expression and mandibular movements. The aims of this study were to elucidate the influence of mandibular movements on perioral soft tissue movements during mastication using principal component analysis (PCA) and to abstract the component of movement specific to soft tissues in order to evaluate masticatory movements from the movements of perioral soft tissues. The subjects were 10 healthy persons with complete natural dentition. The experimental food used in this study was sufficiently softened chewing gum. The results of this study showed that the movements of mandibular and perioral soft tissue were closely related in the first and third PCs; in other words, the second PC was the component of movement specific to soft tissues. Thus, elucidation of the second PC is useful for evaluation of masticatory movements from movements of perioral soft tissues. [source] Blunted Rostral Anterior Cingulate Response During a Simplified Decoding Task of Negative Emotional Facial Expressions in Alcoholic PatientsALCOHOLISM, Issue 9 2007Jasmin B. Salloum Background:, Alcoholism is characterized by deficits in emotional functioning as well as by deficits in cognitive functioning. However, most brain imaging research on alcoholism has focused on cognition rather than emotion. Method:, We used an event-related functional magnetic imaging approach to examine alcoholics' brain blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to evaluation of emotional stimuli and to compare their response to that of nonalcoholic controls. The task used was a simplified variant of a facial emotion-decoding task in which subjects determined the intensity level of a target emotion displayed as a facial expression. Facial expressions of happy, sad, anger, disgust, and fear were used as stimuli. Results:, Alcoholics and controls did not differ in accurately identifying the intensity level on the simple emotional decoding task but there were significant differences in their BOLD response during evaluation of facial emotion. In general, alcoholics showed less brain activation than nonalcoholic controls. The greatest differences in activation were during decoding of facial expressions of fear and disgust during which alcoholics had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Alcoholics also had significantly less activation than controls in the affective division of the ACC, while viewing sad faces. Only to facial expressions of anger did the alcoholics show significant activation in the affective ACC and in this case, their BOLD response did not significantly differ from that of the controls. Conclusion:, Alcoholics show a deficit in the function of the affective division of the ACC during evaluation of negative facial emotions that can serve as cues for flight or avoidance. This deficit may underlie some of the behavioral dysfunction in alcoholism. [source] Surgical technique refinements in head and neck oncologic surgery,JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, Issue 8 2010Jeffrey C. Liu MD Abstract The head and neck region poses a challenging arena for oncologic surgery. Diseases and their treatment can affect a myriad of functions, including sight, hearing, taste, smell, breathing, speaking, swallowing, facial expression, and appearance. This review discusses several areas where refinements in surgical techniques have led to improved patient outcomes. This includes surgical incisions, neck lymphadenectomy, transoral laser microsurgery, minimally invasive thyroid surgery, and the use of vascularized free flaps for oromandibular reconstruction. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010; 101:661-668. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] A Psychophysical Investigation of the Facial Action Coding System as an Index of Pain Variability among Older Adults with and without Alzheimer's DiseasePAIN MEDICINE, Issue 8 2007Amanda C. Lints-Martindale MA ABSTRACT Objective., Reflexive responses to pain such as facial reactions become increasingly important for pain assessment among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) because self-report capabilities diminish as cognitive abilities decline. Our goal was to study facial expressions of pain in patients with and without AD. Design., We employed a quasi-experimental design and used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to assess reflexive facial responses to noxious stimuli of varied intensity. Two different modalities of stimulation (mechanical and electrical) were employed. Results., The FACS identified differences in facial expression as a function of level of discomforting stimulation. As expected, there were no significant differences based on disease status (AD vs control group). Conclusions., This is the first study to discriminate among FACS measures collected during innocuous and graded levels of precisely measured painful stimuli in seniors with (mild) dementia and in healthy control group participants. We conclude that, as hypothesized, FACS can be used for the assessment of evoked pain, regardless of the presence of AD. [source] Analysis of behavioural and physiological parameters for the assessment of postoperative analgesic demand in newborns, infants and young children: a comprehensive report on seven consecutive studiesPEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 3 2000W. Büttner Summary Many different systems for the assessment of pain in newborns and infants have been tested for validity, rarely for reliability but never for sensitivity or specificity. We aimed to determine whether the assessment of an analgesic demand in the lower age group during the postoperative period is possible by observational methods only. In an repetitive and sequential prospective process for identifying observationable behaviour and measurable physiological parameters as indicators of a postoperative analgesic demand, 584 newborns, infants and young children were studied (7 prospective studies, 4238 observations). Twenty-six items were selected as suggested by current literature and for reasons of economy and practicability. The factor analyses resulted in a two-factorial solution with the behavioural items loading on one factor and the physiological parameters on the other (principal component analyses). The physiological parameters blood pressure, respiratory rate and heart rate were found to be unreliable and had no discriminant power to detect an analgesic demand during the postoperative period (discriminant analyses, ROC-curves). In newborns and infants, nine observational items were identified as equally selective, reliable, sensitive and specific to the assessment of postoperative analgesic demand, whereas in young children only five items could be identified (discriminant analyses, ROC-curves). For economic reasons, these five items (crying, facial expression, posture of the trunk, posture of the legs, motor restlessness) were chosen as the basis of an additional pain scale ranging from 0=no pain to 10=maximal (Children's and Infants' Postoperative Pain Scale, CHIPPS). Its internal consistency yielded values for Cronbachs', with 0.92 for toddlers and 0.96 for infants. The coefficient for interrater reliability was 0.93. The scale was validated constructively by the intravenous administration of metamizol, tramadol, nalbuphine, piritramide and ketamine (repeated measures analysis of variance). The Toddler,Preschooler Postoperative Pain Scale and CHIPPS equally identified painfree situations or analgesic demand in 87.4%. In cases with definite pain, the score of CHIPPS was never below 4 points. Seventy-one toddlers gave verbal comments on their pain intensity: in 29 painfree situations the CHIPPS score was 3.0 and in 29 painful situations it was 5.7. The values for sensitivity and specificity of CHIPPS were calculated to be 0.92,0.96 and 0.74,0.95, respectively (discriminant analyses). We conclude that it is possible to determine postoperative analgesic demand in the low age group of children by using an observational system such as CHIPPS alone. [source] Recognition of affect in facial expression using the Noh Mask Test: Comparison of individuals with schizophrenia and normal controlsPSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 1 2005SEIKO MINOSHITA phd Abstract, The purpose of the present study was to compare facial expression recognition in individuals with schizophrenia and normal controls using the Noh Mask Test. Fifteen men with schizophrenia and 15 normal controls were presented with a photograph of a Noh mask rotated either upward or downward from the neutral front-facing position, and an emotion label, and were requested to judge whether the expression of the mask was congruent with the indicated emotion. Using multidimensional scaling, the facial expression of the Noh mask recognized by the patients and the healthy controls was analyzed in 3-D: (i) Rejection,Attention; (ii) Pleasant,Unpleasant; and (iii) Awakening,Relaxation. Individuals with schizophrenia had difficulty recognizing that others had intentions of harming them. The Noh Mask Test was found to be useful in discriminating between individuals with schizophrenia and controls in the recognition of facial expression (discriminant ratio: 99.9%). [source] Proceedings of the 20th Annual Conference of the Japanese Association for Adolescent Psychotherapy, 16 November 2002, Tokyo, JapanPSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 5 2003Article first published online: 28 AUG 200 Inpatient treatment of obsessive,compulsive disorder in a child and adolescent psychiatry ward M. USAMI National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kohnodai Hospital, Chiba, Japan This is a case report of a 13-year-old-boy (2nd grade in junior high school). His father had poor communication; his mother was a very fragile woman. The boy had been overprotected by his parents, as long as he responded to their expectations. He did not have any other siblings. He played well with his friends since he was young, and did not have problems until the 1st term (from April to July) of 1st grade in junior high school. However, in September he started to have difficulties going well with his friends, and going to school. He spent most of his time in his room, and began to repeat checking and hand-washing frequently. Even at midnight, he forced his mother to touch the shutter from outside of the house for many times. He also ritually repeated to touch his mother's body, after he licked his hands, for over an hour. He became violent, when his parents tried to stop him. In April, year X, his parents visited our hospital for the first time. From then, his mother could not tolerate her son's coerciveness any longer. His father explained to the boy that ,your mother has been hospitalized', and she started to live in the next room to the boy's without making any noise. After 3 months he noticed that his mother was not hospitalized, and he got very excited. He was admitted to our hospital with his family and relatives, in October, year X. At the initial stage of hospitalization he showed distrust and doubt towards the therapist and hospital. He had little communication with other boys and did not express his feelings. Therefore, there was a period of time where he seemed to wonder whether he could trust the treatment staff or not. During his interviews with his therapist he repeated only ,I'm okay' and did not show much emotional communication. For the boy, exposing himself was equivalent to showing his vulnerability and incompleteness. Therefore, the therapist considered that he was trying to denying his feelings to avoid this. The therapist set goals for considering his own feelings positively and expressing them appropriately. Also, the therapist carried out behavioral restrictions towards him. He hardly had any emotional communication with the staff, and his peer relationship in the ward was superficial. Therefore, he gradually had difficulty spending his time at the end of December On the following day in which he and the therapist decided to return to his house for the first time, he went out of the ward a few days before without permission. From thereon it was possible for him to share feelings such as hostility and aggression, dependence and kindness with the therapist. The therapist changed his role from an invasive one to a more protective one. Then, his unsociability gradually faded. He also developed good peer relationships with other boys in the ward and began to express himself feeling appropriately. He was also able to establish appropriate relations with his parents at home, and friends of his neighborhood began to have normal peer relationships again. During childhood and adolescence, boys with obsessive,compulsive disorder are known to have features such as poor insight and often involving their mothers. We would like to present this case, through our understanding of dynamic psychiatry throughout his hospitalization, and also on the other therapies that were performed. Psychotherapy with a graduate student that discontinued after only three sessions: Was it enough for this client? N. KATSUKI Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan Introduction: Before and after the psychotherapy, SWT was administrated in this case. Comparing these two drawings, the therapist was provided with some ideas of what kind of internal change had taken place inside this client. Referring to the changes observed, we would like to review the purposes and the ways of the psychotherapy, as well as the adequacy of the limited number of the sessions (vis-a-vis result attained.) Also we will discuss later if any other effective ways could be available within the capacities of the consulting system/the clinic in the university. Case: Ms. S Age 24 years. Problems/appeal: (i) awkwardness in the relationship with the laboratory colleagues; (ii) symptoms of sweating, vomiting and quivering; and (iii) anxiety regarding continuing study and job hunting. Diagnosis: > c/o PTSD. Psychotherapeutic setting: At the therapy room in the clinic, placed at the university, 50 min-session; once a week; paralleled with the medical treatment. Process: (1) Since she was expelled from the study team in the previous year, it has become extremely difficult for her to attend the laboratory (lab) due to the aforementioned symptoms. She had a feeling of being neglected by the others. When the therapist suggested that she compose her mental confusions in the past by attending the therapy room, she seemed to be looking forward to it, although she said that she could remember only a few. (2) She reported that she overdosed on sedatives, as she could not stop irritating. She was getting tough with her family, also she slashed the mattress of her bed with a knife for many times. She complained that people neither understood nor appreciated her properly. and she said that she wanted revenge on the leader of the lab by punishing him one way or other. (3) Looking back the previous session, she said ,I had been mentally mixed up at that time, but I feel that now I can handle myself, as I stopped the medication after consulting the psychiatrist. According to what she said, when she disclosed the occurrences in the lab to her mother, she felt to be understood properly by her mother and felt so relieved. and she also reported that she had been sewing up the mattress which she slashed before, without any reason. She added, " although I don't even know what it means, I feel that this work is so meaningful to me, somehow". Finally, she told that she had already made her mind to cope with the situation by herself from now on, although it might result in a flinch from the real solution. Situations being the above, the session was closed. Swt: By the remarkable changes observed between the two drawings, the meanings of this psychotherapy and its closure to the client would be contemplated. Question of how school counselors should deal with separation attendant on students' graduation: On a case in which the separation was not worked through C. ASAHARA Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan Although time limited relationship is one of the important characteristics in school counseling, the question of separation attendant on it has not been much discussed based on specific cases. This study focuses on the question of separation through looking at a particular case, in which the separation was not worked through, and halfway relationship continued even after the student's graduation and the counselor's resignation. I was a part time school counselor at a junior high school in Tokyo. The client was a 14-year-old female student, who could not go to her classroom, and spent a few hours in a sick bay when she came to school. She was in the final grade and there was only half a year left before graduation when we first met, and we started to see each other within a very loose structure. As her personality was hyper-vigilant and defensive, it took almost 2 months before I could feel that she was nearer. Her graduation was the first occasion of separation. On that occasion, I found that there had been a discrepancy between our expectations; while I took it for granted that our relationship would end with the graduation, she expected to see me even after she graduated, and she actually came up to see me once in a while during the next year. A year later, we faced another occasion of separation, that was my resignation. Although I worried about her, all I have done for her was to hand a leaflet of a counseling office, where I work as a part time counselor. Again I could not refer to her feelings or show any concrete directions such as making a fixed arrangement. After an occasional correspondence for the next 10 months (about 2 years after her graduation), she contacted me at the counseling office asking for a constant counseling. Why could I not deal with both occasions? and how did that affect the client thereafter? There were two occasions of separation. At the time of the client's graduation, I seemed to be enmeshed in the way of separation that is peculiar to the school setting. In general in therapeutic relationship, mourning work between counselor and client is regarded as being quite important. At school, however, separation attendant on graduation is usually taken for granted and mourning work for any personal relationship tends to be neglected. Graduation ceremony is a big event but it is not about mourning over one's personal relationships but separation from school. That may be why I did not appreciate how the client counted on our relationship. At the time of my resignation I was too worried about working through a change from very loose structure which is peculiar to the school setting to a usual therapeutic structure (fees are charged, and time, place are fixed). That is why I did nothing but give her a leaflet. In this way, we never talked about her complex feelings such as sadness or loneliness, which she was supposed to experience on separation. Looking at the aforementioned process from the client's viewpoint, it can be easily imagined that she could not accept the fact of separation just because she graduated. and later, she was forced to be in double-bind situation, in which she was accepted superficially (handed a leaflet), while no concrete possibility was proposed concerning our relationship (she could never see me unless she tries to contact me.) As a result, she was left alone and at a loss whether she could count on me or not. The halfway situation or her suspense was reflected in her letter, in which she appeared to be just chatting at first sight, but between the lines there was something more implying her sufferings. Above discussion suggests that in some case, we should not neglect the mourning work even in a school setting. To whom or how it is done is the next theme we should explore and discuss in the future. For now, we should at least be conscious about the question of separation in school setting. Study of the process of psychotherapy with intervals for months M. TERASHIMA Bunkyo Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan This is a report on the process of psychotherapy of an adolescent girl who showed manic and depressive state. At the time of a depressed state, she could not go to a college and withdrew into home, and the severe regressive situation was shown. Her therapy began at the age of 20 and she wanted to know what her problem was. The process of treatment went on for 4 years but she stopped coming to sessions for several months because of failure of the therapist. She repeated the same thing twice. After going through these intervals the client began to remember and started to talk about her childhood , suffering abusive force from her father, with vivid impressions. They once were hard for her to accept, but she began to establish the consistent figure of herself from past to present. In this case, it could be thought that the intervals of the sessions had a certain role, with which the client controlled the structure of treatment, instead of an attack against the therapist. Her object relation, which is going to control an object offensively, was reflected in these phenomena. That is, it can be said that the ambivalence about dependency , difficult to depend but desirous of the object , was expressed. Discontinuation of the sessions was the product of the compromise formation brought about the ambivalence of the client, and while continuing to receive this ambivalence in the treatment, the client started to realize discontinuance of her memories and then advanced integration of her self-image. For the young client with conflict to dependence such as her, an interval does not destroy the process of treatment but in some cases it could be considered as a therapeutic element. In the intervals the client could assimilate the matter by herself, that acquired by the sessions. Psychotherapy for a schizoid woman who presented eccentric speech and behaviour M. OGASAWARA Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan Case presentation: A case of a 27-year-old woman at the beginning of therapy. Life history: She had been having a wish for death since she was in kindergarten and she had been feeling strong resistance to do the same as others after school attendance. She had a history of ablutomania from the age of 10,15, but the symptom disappeared naturally. and she said that she had been eliminated from groups that she tried to enter. After graduating a junior college, she changed jobs several times without getting a full-time position. Present history: Scolded by her boy friend for her coming home too late one day, she showed confusion such as excitement, self-injury or terror. She consulted a psychiatrist in a certain general hospital, but she presented there eccentric behaviours such as tense facial expression, stiffness of her whole body, or involuntary movement of limbs. and because she felt on bad terms with the psychiatrist and she had come to cause convulsion attacks in the examination room, she was introduced to our hospital. Every session of this psychotherapy was held once a week and for approximately 60 min at a time. Treatment process: She sometimes presented various eccentric attitudes, for example overturning to the floor with screaming (1), going down on her knees when entrance at the door (5), entering with a knife in her mouth and hitting the wall suddenly (7), stiffening herself just outside the door without entering the examination room (9), taking out a knife abruptly and putting it on her neck (40), exclaiming with convulsion responding to every talk from the therapist (41), or stiffening her face and biting herself in the right forearm suddenly (52). She also repeated self-injuries or convulsion attacks outside of the examination room in the early period of the therapy. Throughout the therapy she showed hypersensitivity for interpersonal relations, anxiety about dependence, terror for self-assertion, and avoidance for confrontation to her emotional problems. Two years and 6 months have passed since the beginning of this therapy. She ceased self-injury approximately 1 year and 6 months before and her sense of obscure terror has been gradually reduced to some extent. Discussion: Her non-verbal wariness and aggression to the therapist made the sessions full of tension and the therapist felt a sense of heaviness every time. In contrast, she could not express aggression verbally to the therapist, and when the therapist tried to identify her aggression she denied it. Her anxiety, that she will be thoroughly counterattacked to self-disintegration if she shows aggression to other persons, seems to be so immeasurably strong that she is compelled to deny her own aggression. Interpretations and confrontations by the therapist make her protective, and occasionally she shows stronger resistance in the shape of denial of her problems or conversion symptoms (astasia, aphonia, or involuntary movements) but she never expresses verbal aggression to the therapist. and the therapist feels much difficulty to share sympathy with her, and she expresses distrust against sympathetic approach of the therapist. However, her obvious disturbance that she expresses when she feels the therapist is not sympathetic shows her desire for sympathy. Thus, because she has both strong distrust and desire for sympathy, she is in a porcupine dilemma, which is characteristic of schizoid patients as to whether to lengthen or to shorten the distance between herself and the therapist. This attitude seems to have been derived from experience she might have had during her babyhood and childhood that she felt terror to be counterattacked and deserted when she showed irritation to her mother. In fact, existence of severe problems of the relationship between herself and her mother in her babyhood and childhood can be guessed from her statement. Although she has been repeating experiences to be excluded from other people, she shows no attitude to construct interpersonal relationship actively. On the contrary, by regarding herself to be a victim or devaluating other persons she externalizes responsibility that she herself should assume essentially. The reason must be that her disintegration anxiety is evoked if she recognizes that she herself has problems; that is, that negative things exist inside of her. Therefore, she seems to be inhibited to get depressive position and obliged to remain mainly in a paranoid,schizoid position. As for the pathological level, she seems to have borderline personality organization because of frequent use of mechanisms to externalize fantastically her inner responsibility. For her high ability to avoid confronting her emotional problems making the most of her verbal ability, every intervention of the therapist is invalidated. So, it seems very difficult for her to recognize her own problems through verbal interpretations or confrontation by the therapist, for the present. In general, it is impossible to confront self problems without containing negative emotions inside of the self, but her ability seemed to be insufficient. So, to point out her problems is considered to be very likely to result in her confusion caused by persecution anxiety. Although the therapy may attain the stage on which verbal interpretation and confrontation work better some day, the therapist is compelled to aim at promoting her ability to hold negative emotion inside of herself for the time being. For the purpose, the therapist is required to endure the situation in which she brings emotion that makes the therapist feel negative counter-transference and her process to experience that the therapeutic relation itself would not collapse by holding negative emotion. On supportive psychotherapy with a male adolescent Y. TERASHIMA Kitasato University Health Care Center, Kanagawa, Japan Adolescent cases sometimes show dramatic improvements as a consequence of psychotherapy. The author describes how psychotherapy can support an adolescent and how theraputic achievements can be made. Two and a half years of treatment sessions with a male adolescent patient are presented. The patient was a 19-year-old man, living with his family. He had 5 years of experience living abroad with his family and he was a preparatory school student when he came to a mental clinic for help. He was suffering from not being able to sleep well, from difficulties concerning keeping his attention on one thing, and from fear of going to distant places. He could barely leave his room, and imagined the consequence of overdosing or jumping out of a window. He claimed that his life was doomed because his family moved from a town that was familiar to him. At the first phase of psychotherapy that lasted for approximately 1 year, the patient seldom responded to the therapist. The patient was basically silent. He told the therapist that the town he lives in now feels cold or that he wants to become a writer. However, these comments were made without any kind of explanation and the therapist felt it very difficult to understand what the patient was trying to say. The sessions continued on a regular basis. However, the therapist felt very useless and fatigued. Problems with the patient and his family were also present at this phase of psychotherapy. He felt unpleasant at home and felt it was useless to expect anything from his parents. These feelings were naturally transferred to the therapist and were interpreted. However, interpretation seemed to make no changes in the forms of the patient's transference. The second phase of psychotherapy began suddenly. The patient kept saying that he did not know what to talk about. However, after a brief comment made by the therapist on the author of the book he was reading, the patient told the therapist that it was unexpected that the therapist knew anything of his favorite writer. After this almost first interaction between the patient and the therapist, the patient started to show dramatic changes. The patient started to bring his favorite rock CDs to sessions where they were played and the patient and the therapist both made comments on how they felt about the music. He also started asking questions concerning the therapist. It seemed that the patient finally started to want to know the therapist. He started communicating. The patient was sometimes silent but that did not last long. The therapist no longer felt so useless and emotional interaction, which never took place in the first phase, now became dominant. The third phase happened rapidly and lasted for approximately 10 months. Conversations on music, art, literature and movies were made possible and the therapist seldom felt difficulties on following the patient's line of thought. He started to go to schools and it was difficult at first but he started adjusting to the environment of his new part-time jobs. By the end of the school year, he was qualified for the entrance to a prestigious university. The patient's problems had vanished except for some sleeping difficulties, and he did not wish to continue the psychotherapy sessions. The therapist's departure from the clinic added to this and the therapy was terminated. The patient at first reminded the therapist of severe psychological disturbances but the patient showed remarkable progress. Three points can be considered to have played important roles in the therapy presented. The first and the most important is the interpretation by behavior. The patient showed strong parental transference to the therapist and this led the therapist to feel useless and to feel fatigue. Content analysis and here-and-now analysis seemed to have played only a small part in the therapy. However, the therapist tried to keep in contact with the patient, although not so elegant, but tried to show that the therapist may not be useless. This was done by maintaining the framework of the therapy and by consulting the parents when it was considered necessary. Second point is the role that the therapist intentionally took as a model or target of introjection. With the help of behavioral interpretation that showed the therapist and others that it may not be useless, the patient started to introject what seemed to be useful to his well being. It can be considered that this role took some part in the patient going out and to adjust to the new environment. Last, fortune of mach must be considered. The patient and the therapist had much in common. It was very fortunate that the therapist knew anything about the patient's favorite writer. The therapist had some experience abroad when he was young. Although it is a matter of luck that the two had things in common, it can be said that the congeniality between the patient and the therapist played an important role in the successful termination of the therapy. From the physical complaint to the verbal appeal of A's recovery process to regain her self-confidence C. ITOKAWA and S. KAZUKAWA Toyama Mental Health Center, Toyama, Japan This is one of the cases at Toyama Mental Health Center about a client here, we will henceforth refer to her simply as ,A'. A was a second grade high school student. We worked with her until her high school graduation using our center's full functions; counseling, medical examination and the course for autogenic training (AT). She started her counseling by telling us that the reason for her frequent absences from school began because of stomach pains when she was under a lot of stress for 2 years of junior high school, from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. Due to a lack of self confidence and a constant fear of the people around her, she was unable to use the transportation. She would spend a large amount of time at the school infirmary because she suffered from self-diagnosed hypochondriac symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea and a palpitation. She continued that she might not be able to have the self-confidence to sit still to consult me on her feelings in one of our sessions. A therapist advised her to take the psychiatric examination and the use of AT and she actually saw the medical doctor. In counseling (sessions), she eventually started to talk about the abuse that started just after her entering of junior high school; she approached the school nurse but was unable to tell her own parents because she did not trust them. In doing so, she lost the rest of her confidence, affecting the way she looked at herself and thought of how others did. At school she behaved cheerfully and teachers often accused her of idleness as they regarded this girl's absences along with her brightly dyed hair and heavy make-up as her negligent laziness. I, as her therapist, contacted some of the school's staff and let them know of her situation in detail. As the scolding from the teachers decreased, we recognized the improvement of her situation. In order to recover from the missed academic exposure due to her long absence, she started to study by herself. In a couple of months her physical condition improved gradually, saying ,These days I have been doing well by myself, haven't I?' and one year later, her improved mental condition enabled her to go up to Tokyo for a concert and furthermore even to enjoy a short part-time job. She continued the session and the medical examination dually (in tangent) including the consultation about disbelief to the teachers, grade promotion, relationships between friends and physical conditions. Her story concentrated on the fact that she had not grown up with sufficiently warm and compassionate treatment and she could not gain any mental refuge in neither her family nor her school, or even her friends. Her prospects for the future had changed from the short-ranged one with no difficulty to the ambitious challenge: she aimed to try for her favorite major and hoped to go out of her prefecture. But she almost had to give up her own plan because the school forced her to change her course as they recommended. (because of the school's opposition with her own choice). So without the trust of the teachers combined with her low self-esteem she almost gave up her hopes and with them her forward momentum. In this situation as the therapist, I showed her great compassion and discussed the anger towards the school authorities, while encouraging this girl by persuading her that she should have enough self-confidence by herself. Through such sessions, she was sure that if she continued studying to improve her own academic ability by herself she could recognize the true meaning of striving forward. and eventually, she received her parents' support who had seemed to be indifferent to her. At last she could pass the university's entrance exams for the school that she had yearned to attend. That girl ,A' visited our center 1 month later to show us her vivid face. I saw a bright smile on her face. It was shining so brightly. [source] Virtual friend or threat?PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 5 2009The effects of facial expression, emotional experience, gaze interaction on psychophysiological responses Abstract The present study aimed to investigate the impact of facial expression, gaze interaction, and gender on attention allocation, physiological arousal, facial muscle responses, and emotional experience in simulated social interactions. Participants viewed animated virtual characters varying in terms of gender, gaze interaction, and facial expression. We recorded facial EMG, fixation duration, pupil size, and subjective experience. Subject's rapid facial reactions (RFRs) differentiated more clearly between the character's happy and angry expression in the condition of mutual eye-to-eye contact. This finding provides evidence for the idea that RFRs are not simply motor responses, but part of an emotional reaction. Eye movement data showed that fixations were longer in response to both angry and neutral faces than to happy faces, thereby suggesting that attention is preferentially allocated to cues indicating potential threat during social interaction. [source] Socioecological correlates of facial mobility in nonhuman anthropoidsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2009Seth D. Dobson Abstract Facial mobility, or the variety of facial movements a species can produce, is likely influenced by selection for facial expression in diurnal anthropoids. The purpose of this study is to examine socioecological correlates of facial mobility independent of body size, focusing on social group size and arboreality as possible evolutionary agents. Group size was chosen because facial expressions are important for group cohesion, while arboreality may limit the utility of facial expressions. Data for 12 nonhuman anthropoid species were taken from previous studies and analyzed using a phylogenetic generalized least-squares approach. Regression results indicate that group size is a good predictor of facial mobility independent of body size. No statistical support was found for the hypothesis that arboreality constrains the evolution of facial mobility. The correlation between facial mobility and group size may be a consequence of selection for more effective facial expression to help manage conflicts and facilitate bonding in larger groups. These findings support the hypothesis that the ultimate function of facial expression is related to group cohesion. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Allometry of facial mobility in anthropoid primates: Implications for the evolution of facial expressionAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Seth D. Dobson Abstract Body size may be an important factor influencing the evolution of facial expression in anthropoid primates due to allometric constraints on the perception of facial movements. Given this hypothesis, I tested the prediction that observed facial mobility is positively correlated with body size in a comparative sample of nonhuman anthropoids. Facial mobility, or the variety of facial movements a species can produce, was estimated using a novel application of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). I used FACS to estimate facial mobility in 12 nonhuman anthropoid species, based on video recordings of facial activity in zoo animals. Body mass data were taken from the literature. I used phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) to perform a multiple regression analysis with facial mobility as the dependent variable and two independent variables: log body mass and dummy-coded infraorder. Together, body mass and infraorder explain 92% of the variance in facial mobility. However, the partial effect of body mass is much stronger than for infraorder. The results of my study suggest that allometry is an important constraint on the evolution of facial mobility, which may limit the complexity of facial expression in smaller species. More work is needed to clarify the perceptual bases of this allometric pattern. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Deficits in facial expression recognition in male adolescents with early-onset or adolescence-onset conduct disorderTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 5 2009Graeme Fairchild Background:, We examined whether conduct disorder (CD) is associated with deficits in facial expression recognition and, if so, whether these deficits are specific to the early-onset form of CD, which emerges in childhood. The findings could potentially inform the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour, which suggests that early-onset and adolescence-limited forms of CD are subject to different aetiological processes. Method:, Male adolescents with either early-onset CD (n = 42) or adolescence-onset CD (n = 39), and controls with no history of serious antisocial behaviour and no current psychiatric disorder (n = 40) completed tests of facial expression and facial identity recognition. Dependent measures were: (a) correct recognition of facial expressions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise, and (b) the number of correct matches of unfamiliar faces. Results:, Relative to controls, recognition of anger, disgust, and happiness in facial expressions was disproportionately impaired in participants with early-onset CD, whereas recognition of fear was impaired in participants with adolescence-onset CD. Participants with CD who were high in psychopathic traits showed impaired fear, sadness, and surprise recognition relative to those low in psychopathic traits. There were no group differences in facial identity recognition. Conclusions:, Both CD subtypes were associated with impairments in facial recognition, although these were more marked in the early-onset subgroup. Variation in psychopathic traits appeared to exert an additional influence on the recognition of fear, sadness and surprise. Implications of these data for the developmental taxonomic theory of antisocial behaviour are discussed. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||