Emotion recognition from faces with in- and out-group features in patients with depression.

Background: Previous research has shown that context (e.g. culture) can have an impact on speed and accuracy when identifying facial expressions of emotion. Patients with a major depressive disorder (MDD) are known to have deficits in the identification of facial expressions, tending to give rather stereotypical judgments. While healthy individuals perceive situations which conflict with their own cultural values more negatively, this pattern would be even stronger in MDD patients, as their altered mood results in stronger biases. In this study we investigate the effect of cultural contextual cues on emotion identification in depression.

Methods: Emotional faces were presented for 100ms to 34 patients with an MDD and matched controls. Stimulus faces were either covered by a cap and scarf (in-group condition) or by an Islamic headdress (niqab; out-group condition). Speed and accuracy were evaluated.

Results: Results showed that across groups, fearful faces were identified faster and with higher accuracy in the out-group than in the in-group condition. Sadness was also identified more accurately in the out-group condition. In comparison, happy faces were more accurately (and tended to be faster) identified in the in-group condition. Furthermore, MDD patients were slower, yet not more accurate in identifying expressions of emotion compared to controls.

Limitations: All patients were on pharmacological treatment. Participants' political orientation was not included. The experiment differs from real life situations.

Conclusion: While our results underline findings that cultural context has a general impact on emotion identification, this effect was not found to be more prominent in patients with MDD.