Emotion recognition abilities in adults with anorexia nervosa are associated with autistic traits

TY - JOUR

T1 - Emotion recognition abilities in adults with anorexia nervosa are associated with autistic traits

AU - Kerr-Gaffney, Jess

AU - Mason, Luke

AU - Jones, Emily

AU - Hayward, Hannah

AU - Ahmad, Jumana

AU - Harrison, Amy

AU - Loth, Eva

AU - Murphy, Declan

AU - Tchanturia, Kate

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - Difficulties in socio-emotional functioning are proposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). This study aimed to examine emotion recognition abilities in individuals in the acute and recovered stages of AN compared to healthy controls (HCs). A second aim was to examine whether attention to faces and comorbid psychopathology predicted emotion recognition abilities. The films expressions task was administered to 148 participants (46 AN, 51 recovered AN, 51 HC) to assess emotion recognition, during which attention to faces was recorded using eye-tracking. Comorbid psychopathology was assessed using self-report questionnaires and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd edition (ADOS-2). No significant differences in emotion recognition abilities or attention to faces were found between groups. However, individuals with a lifetime history of AN who scored above the clinical cut-off on the ADOS-2 displayed poorer emotion recognition performance than those scoring below cut-off and HCs. ADOS-2 scores significantly predicted emotion recognition abilities while controlling for group membership and intelligence. Difficulties in emotion recognition appear to be associated with high autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, rather than a feature of AN. Whether individuals with AN and high ASD traits may require different treatment strategies or adaptations is a question for future research.

AB - Difficulties in socio-emotional functioning are proposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). This study aimed to examine emotion recognition abilities in individuals in the acute and recovered stages of AN compared to healthy controls (HCs). A second aim was to examine whether attention to faces and comorbid psychopathology predicted emotion recognition abilities. The films expressions task was administered to 148 participants (46 AN, 51 recovered AN, 51 HC) to assess emotion recognition, during which attention to faces was recorded using eye-tracking. Comorbid psychopathology was assessed using self-report questionnaires and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2nd edition (ADOS-2). No significant differences in emotion recognition abilities or attention to faces were found between groups. However, individuals with a lifetime history of AN who scored above the clinical cut-off on the ADOS-2 displayed poorer emotion recognition performance than those scoring below cut-off and HCs. ADOS-2 scores significantly predicted emotion recognition abilities while controlling for group membership and intelligence. Difficulties in emotion recognition appear to be associated with high autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, rather than a feature of AN. Whether individuals with AN and high ASD traits may require different treatment strategies or adaptations is a question for future research.

KW - Anorexia nervosa

KW - Asd

KW - Attention

KW - Comorbidity

KW - Emotion recognition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090793406&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/jcm9041057

DO - 10.3390/jcm9041057

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85090793406

SN - 2077-0383

VL - 9

JO - Journal of Clinical Medicine

JF - Journal of Clinical Medicine

IS - 4

M1 - 1057

ER -