Emotion Recognition and Social Behavioral Functioning Among Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Linneman, Julia (2024) Emotion Recognition and Social Behavioral Functioning Among Patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Introduction: Emotion recognition is a key aspect of social cognition and important for successful social interactions. Although significant impairments in emotion recognition have been observed in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), research is still limited on how these impairments affect social behavioral functioning in daily life. This study aimed to further examine the relationship between impairments in emotion recognition and social behavioral functioning in PwMS as well as to assess whether PwMS have insight into their own social behavioral problems. Method: In total 87 PwMS and 83 healthy controls (HCs) were compared on the Facial Expressions of Emotion – Stimuli and Tests (FEEST), assessing emotion recognition. Social behavioral problems in PwMS were assessed using social cognition subscales of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX-self and DEX-proxy). Results: PwMS had significantly lower scores on FEEST-total compared to HCs (p = .006), with worse recognition of Anger (p = .030), Disgust (p <.001), and Happiness (p <.001) in specific. Significant negative correlations were found between FEEST-total score and all DEX-proxy subscales including Social Conventions (rs = -.224), Metacognition (rs = -.258), and Behavioral-emotional self- regulation (rs = -.222). In addition, for the PwMS group DEX-self total scores did not significantly differ from DEX-proxy scores on the total score of the three social cognition subscales. Conclusions: The findings revealed that PwMS performed worse on a measure for emotion recognition compared to HCs. Moreover, lower performance on a task for emotion recognition was significantly related to more self- and proxy-reported social behavioral problems in PwMS. Furthermore, there was no evidence that PwMS lack insight into their social behavioral problems.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Rakers, S.E.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Clinical Neuropsychology (CN) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	28 Jun 2024 12:40
Last Modified:	28 Jun 2024 12:40
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3550

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