Enhanced recognition of facial expressions of disgust in opiate users receiving maintenance treatment

Martin, Louise, Clair, Joanna, Davis, Paul, O’Ryan, Dominic, Hoshi, Rosa ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3367-2327 and Curran, H. Valerie 2006. Enhanced recognition of facial expressions of disgust in opiate users receiving maintenance treatment. Addiction 101 (11) , pp. 1598-1605. 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01574.x

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Abstract

AIMS: Accurate recognition of facial expressions of emotion is critical in interpersonal interaction but is impaired in alcoholics, even after a period of abstinence. Little is known of whether other drug-dependent populations also show these impairments. This study aimed to investigate facial expression recognition by chronic opiate users. DESIGN: An independent group design was used to compare 20 participants receiving opiate substitution treatment, 20 ex-opiate users in rehabilitation (average abstinence of 6 months) and 21 unemployed healthy controls. MEASUREMENTS: The accuracy and speed of recognizing morphed emotional facial expressions were assessed using an emotional hexagon task. FINDINGS: Current opiate users were significantly more accurate than ex-users at recognizing expressions of disgust. They were also generally slower than controls in recognizing all expressions, and slower than ex-opiate users in recognizing surprise, happy and fearful expressions. CONCLUSIONS: Opiate users in maintenance treatment show a heightened ability to recognize facial expressions of disgust. We suggest that this may reflect increased exposure to other people’s expressions of disgust and/or priming by the physical and social environments encountered by opiate-dependent individuals. Further, opiate maintained individuals’ global slowness in processing emotional expressions may reflect the sedative effects of methadone.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	0965-2140
Date of Acceptance:	25 May 2006
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2022 13:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/152174

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