Emotion Recognition in Multiple System Atrophy: An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study

Victoria Sidoroff; Federico Carbone; Philipp Ellmerer; Stefanie Bair; Alexandra Hoffmann; Thomas Maran; Florian Krismer; Philipp Mahlknecht; Katherina Mair; Cecilia Raccagni; Jean-Pierre Ndayisaba; Klaus Seppi; Gregor K Wenning; Atbin Djamshidian

doi:10.14802/jmd.23090

Emotion Recognition in Multiple System Atrophy: An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study

Victoria Sidoroff, Federico Carbone, Philipp Ellmerer, Stefanie Bair, Alexandra Hoffmann, Thomas Maran, Florian Krismer, Philipp Mahlknecht, Katherina Mair, Cecilia Raccagni, Jean-Pierre Ndayisaba, Klaus Seppi, Gregor K Wenning, Atbin Djamshidian

Krankenhaus Bozen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Original Article › peer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Emotional processing is a core feature of social interactions and has been well studied in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), albeit with contradictory.

RESULTS: . However, these studies excluded patients with atypical parkinsonism, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The objective of this exploratory study was to provide better insights into emotion processing in patients with MSA using eye tracking data.

METHODS: We included 21 MSA patients, 15 PD patients and 19 matched controls in this study. Participants performed a dynamic and a static emotion recognition task, and gaze fixations were analyzed in different areas of interest. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing and assessment of depression and alexithymia.

RESULTS: MSA patients were less accurate in recognizing anger than controls (p = 0.02) and had overall fewer fixations than controls (p = 0.001). In the static task, MSA patients had fewer fixations (p < 0.001) and a longer time to first fixation (p = 0.026) on the eye region. Furthermore, MSA patients had a longer fixation duration overall than PD patients (p = 0.004) and longer fixations on the nose than controls (p = 0.005). Alexithymia scores were higher in MSA patients compared to controls (p = 0.038).

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated impaired recognition of anger in MSA patients compared to HCs. Fewer and later fixations on the eyes along with a center bias suggest avoidance of eye contact, which may be a characteristic gaze behavior in MSA patients.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	38-46
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Movement Disorders
Volume	17
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.14802/jmd.23090
Publication status	Published - Jan 2024

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@article{08815566a93746c2b21e5de8d06f809d,

title = "Emotion Recognition in Multiple System Atrophy: An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study",

abstract = "OBJECTIVE: Emotional processing is a core feature of social interactions and has been well studied in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), albeit with contradictory.RESULTS: . However, these studies excluded patients with atypical parkinsonism, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The objective of this exploratory study was to provide better insights into emotion processing in patients with MSA using eye tracking data.METHODS: We included 21 MSA patients, 15 PD patients and 19 matched controls in this study. Participants performed a dynamic and a static emotion recognition task, and gaze fixations were analyzed in different areas of interest. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing and assessment of depression and alexithymia.RESULTS: MSA patients were less accurate in recognizing anger than controls (p = 0.02) and had overall fewer fixations than controls (p = 0.001). In the static task, MSA patients had fewer fixations (p < 0.001) and a longer time to first fixation (p = 0.026) on the eye region. Furthermore, MSA patients had a longer fixation duration overall than PD patients (p = 0.004) and longer fixations on the nose than controls (p = 0.005). Alexithymia scores were higher in MSA patients compared to controls (p = 0.038).CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated impaired recognition of anger in MSA patients compared to HCs. Fewer and later fixations on the eyes along with a center bias suggest avoidance of eye contact, which may be a characteristic gaze behavior in MSA patients.",

author = "Victoria Sidoroff and Federico Carbone and Philipp Ellmerer and Stefanie Bair and Alexandra Hoffmann and Thomas Maran and Florian Krismer and Philipp Mahlknecht and Katherina Mair and Cecilia Raccagni and Jean-Pierre Ndayisaba and Klaus Seppi and Wenning, {Gregor K} and Atbin Djamshidian",

note = "Lehr-kH Provincial Hospital of Bolzano Teaching Hospital of Paracelsus Medical Private University Bolzano-Bozen, Bolzano, Italy",

year = "2024",

month = jan,

doi = "10.14802/jmd.23090",

language = "English",

volume = "17",

pages = "38--46",

journal = "Journal of Movement Disorders",

issn = "2005-940X",

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}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Emotion Recognition in Multiple System Atrophy

T2 - An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study

AU - Sidoroff, Victoria

AU - Carbone, Federico

AU - Ellmerer, Philipp

AU - Bair, Stefanie

AU - Hoffmann, Alexandra

AU - Maran, Thomas

AU - Krismer, Florian

AU - Mahlknecht, Philipp

AU - Mair, Katherina

AU - Raccagni, Cecilia

AU - Ndayisaba, Jean-Pierre

AU - Seppi, Klaus

AU - Wenning, Gregor K

AU - Djamshidian, Atbin

N1 - Lehr-kH Provincial Hospital of Bolzano Teaching Hospital of Paracelsus Medical Private University Bolzano-Bozen, Bolzano, Italy

PY - 2024/1

Y1 - 2024/1

N2 - OBJECTIVE: Emotional processing is a core feature of social interactions and has been well studied in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), albeit with contradictory.RESULTS: . However, these studies excluded patients with atypical parkinsonism, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The objective of this exploratory study was to provide better insights into emotion processing in patients with MSA using eye tracking data.METHODS: We included 21 MSA patients, 15 PD patients and 19 matched controls in this study. Participants performed a dynamic and a static emotion recognition task, and gaze fixations were analyzed in different areas of interest. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing and assessment of depression and alexithymia.RESULTS: MSA patients were less accurate in recognizing anger than controls (p = 0.02) and had overall fewer fixations than controls (p = 0.001). In the static task, MSA patients had fewer fixations (p < 0.001) and a longer time to first fixation (p = 0.026) on the eye region. Furthermore, MSA patients had a longer fixation duration overall than PD patients (p = 0.004) and longer fixations on the nose than controls (p = 0.005). Alexithymia scores were higher in MSA patients compared to controls (p = 0.038).CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated impaired recognition of anger in MSA patients compared to HCs. Fewer and later fixations on the eyes along with a center bias suggest avoidance of eye contact, which may be a characteristic gaze behavior in MSA patients.

AB - OBJECTIVE: Emotional processing is a core feature of social interactions and has been well studied in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), albeit with contradictory.RESULTS: . However, these studies excluded patients with atypical parkinsonism, such as multiple system atrophy (MSA). The objective of this exploratory study was to provide better insights into emotion processing in patients with MSA using eye tracking data.METHODS: We included 21 MSA patients, 15 PD patients and 19 matched controls in this study. Participants performed a dynamic and a static emotion recognition task, and gaze fixations were analyzed in different areas of interest. Participants underwent neuropsychological testing and assessment of depression and alexithymia.RESULTS: MSA patients were less accurate in recognizing anger than controls (p = 0.02) and had overall fewer fixations than controls (p = 0.001). In the static task, MSA patients had fewer fixations (p < 0.001) and a longer time to first fixation (p = 0.026) on the eye region. Furthermore, MSA patients had a longer fixation duration overall than PD patients (p = 0.004) and longer fixations on the nose than controls (p = 0.005). Alexithymia scores were higher in MSA patients compared to controls (p = 0.038).CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated impaired recognition of anger in MSA patients compared to HCs. Fewer and later fixations on the eyes along with a center bias suggest avoidance of eye contact, which may be a characteristic gaze behavior in MSA patients.

U2 - 10.14802/jmd.23090

DO - 10.14802/jmd.23090

M3 - Original Article

C2 - 37748924

SN - 2005-940X

VL - 17

SP - 38

EP - 46

JO - Journal of Movement Disorders

JF - Journal of Movement Disorders

IS - 1

ER -

Emotion Recognition in Multiple System Atrophy: An Exploratory Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract

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