Monday, 18 August 2003
This presentation is part of : Monday Poster Sessions

PA-014 Aging and Perturbation of Facial Emotion Perception

Philippe Granato1, Raymond Bruyer2, Nawal Waucquier3, Jean-Pierre Van Gansberghe4, Stephane Duhem5, and Christian Libersa5. (1) psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Valenciennes, Valenciennes, France, (2) Neuropsychologie, Facult� de Psychologie et des Sciences de l�Education (unit� de neurosciences cognitives). Universit� de Louvain la Neuve, Bel, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, (3) Medical Research, INSERM-CIC-CHR&U-LILLE, Lille, France, (4) Bruxelles, Belgium, (5) Medical research, INSERM-CIC-CHR&U-LILLE, Lille, France

Objective: Studying the impact of non-pathological cerebral ageing on psychic integration of facial emotion perception (PIFEP).

Design: Comparing in a metric way, using the M.A.R.I.E. software, PIFEB displayed by a population made of young subjects and a population of elderly subjects.

Materials and Methods: M.A.R.I.E. (see references) is a computer software tool which metrically records and mathematically models the PIFEB . Morphing, which allows to go from picture �A� to picture �B�, is the basic principle used by M.A.R.I.E. 3 different faces are displayed. A population made of 30 young subjects (YS) (15 men and 15 women) (age 23.5 +/-3) ; education level +3+/- 1.8. A population made of 30 elderly subjects (ES) (15 men and 15 women) (age 52.3+/-1.8) education level +1+/- 1.1. with a MATTIS score higher than 140 (143+/-1.7), (H.A.M.A.), and (M.I.N.I.) tests are administered to all subjects who are right-handed and in good health.

Emotional series (ES): anger/fear ; anger/sadness ; happiness/sadness; neutral/anger ; neutral/disgusted; neutral/happiness, neutral/fear; neutral/surprise and neutral/sadnesse were used for the test.

Results: The results for each ES were fitted to a sigmoid curve as expressed by the logistic equation, where �a�,�b�,�c� are obtained by an iteration process conducted until an adequate fitting is obtained. We compared these three coefficients for the YS and ES groups of subjects.

Conclusion: We observed that an idiosyncrasy effect appears in the PIFEB. The ES group identifies in a more categorical way: sadness, fear and surprise whereas perception of disgust is minimal. Thus, the PIFEB appears to be linked to the aging process.

References: Bruyer R, Granato P: Categorical effects in the perception of facial expressions M.A.R.I.E. a simple and discriminating clinical tool. European Review of Applied Psychology 1999; 49:3-10. Granato P, Bruyer R: Measurement of facially expressed emotions by a computerized study: method of study and analysis of integration of emotions: M.A.R.I.E. European Psychiatry 2002; 17; 6:1-10.

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