| Summary: | The ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion appears to be a universal trait
among humans. Accurate perception of facial expressions is important for interpersonal
communication and social development. Clients with depression and schizophrenia exhibit
abnormal recognition of facial expressions of emotions. Sprengelmeyer and colleagues (1997)
demonstrated that clients with OCD are also impaired in their ability to recognize facial
expressions of emotion. Specifically, clients with OCD were markedly impaired in their ability
to recognize the facial expression of disgust. The current study questioned the robustness of this
effect, while controlling for several potential limitations.
Sixty participants (20 OCD outpatients, 20 panic disorder controls, and 20 normal
controls) took part in the current investigation. Participants were tested on their ability to
recognize facial expressions of anger, disgust, fear and sadness. Results revealed that compared
to the panic disorder and normal comparison groups, individuals with OCD were impaired in
their ability to recognize facial expressions of disgust and anger. Furthermore, OCD participants
did not perform as a unitary sample. Rather, two-thirds of the sample achieved normal levels of
accuracy for the recognition of disgust, whereas one-third showed marked impairment in the
ability to recognize disgust. This study also provides preliminary evidence that OCD symptom
severity and general functioning may be related to the accuracy of disgust facial expression
recognition. === Arts, Faculty of === Psychology, Department of === Graduate
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