eprintid: 10078515 rev_number: 22 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/07/85/15 datestamp: 2019-07-23 11:45:01 lastmod: 2021-12-13 23:59:18 status_changed: 2019-07-23 11:45:01 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Bone, JK creators_name: Lewis, G creators_name: Button, KS creators_name: Duffy, L creators_name: Harmer, CJ creators_name: Munafò, MR creators_name: Penton-Voak, IS creators_name: Wiles, NJ creators_name: Lewis, G title: Variation in recognition of happy and sad facial expressions and self-reported depressive symptom severity: A prospective cohort study ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D79 divisions: D12 divisions: J96 keywords: Depression, Facial expressions, Emotion recognition, Cognition, Cohort study note: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). abstract: Objective: Cognitive theories suggest people with depression interpret self-referential social information negatively. However, it is unclear whether these biases precede or follow depression. We investigated whether facial expression recognition was associated with depressive symptoms cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Methods: Prospective cohort study of people who had visited UK primary care in the past year reporting depressive symptoms (n = 509). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) at four time-points, 2 weeks apart. A computerised task assessed happy and sad facial expression recognition at three time-points (n = 505 at time 1). The unbiased hit rate measured ability to recognise emotions accounting for any general tendency to identify the emotion when it was not present. Results: The sample included the full range of depressive symptom severity, with 45% meeting diagnostic criteria for depression. There was no evidence that happy or sad unbiased hit rates were associated with concurrent or subsequent depressive symptoms. There was weak evidence that, for every additional face incorrectly classified as happy, concurrent PHQ-9 scores reduced by 0.05 of a point (95% CI = -0.10 to 0.002, p = 0.06 after adjustment for confounders). This association was strongest for more ambiguous facial expressions (interaction term p<0.001). Limitations: This was an observational study with relatively short follow-up (6 weeks) and small changes in depressive symptoms and emotion recognition. Only 7% of invited patients consented to participate. Conclusions: Reduced misclassifications of ambiguous faces as happy could be a state marker of depression, but was not associated with subsequent depressive symptoms. Future research should focus on the interpretation of ambiguous social information date: 2019-10-01 date_type: published official_url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.025 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1674150 doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.025 lyricists_name: Bone, Jessica lyricists_name: Duffy, Larisa lyricists_name: Lewis, Gemma lyricists_name: Lewis, Glyn lyricists_id: JKBON37 lyricists_id: LDUFF35 lyricists_id: GLEWI99 lyricists_id: GHLEW69 actors_name: Duffy, Larisa actors_id: LDUFF35 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Journal of Affective Disorders volume: 257 pagerange: 461-469 issn: 1573-2517 citation: Bone, JK; Lewis, G; Button, KS; Duffy, L; Harmer, CJ; Munafò, MR; Penton-Voak, IS; ... Lewis, G; + view all <#> Bone, JK; Lewis, G; Button, KS; Duffy, L; Harmer, CJ; Munafò, MR; Penton-Voak, IS; Wiles, NJ; Lewis, G; - view fewer <#> (2019) Variation in recognition of happy and sad facial expressions and self-reported depressive symptom severity: A prospective cohort study. Journal of Affective Disorders , 257 pp. 461-469. 10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.025 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.025>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10078515/1/Bone%20et%20al.pdf