Facial Emotion Processing and Endophenotypic Traits in Euthymic Bipolar I Disorder and First-Degree Relatives
10.22802/jksbtp.2026.32.1.44
- Author:
Jihyun CHO
1
;
Kyungjae SEO
;
Seunghee WON
Author Information
1. Department of Psychiatry, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea
- Publication Type:Original Articles
- From:
Journal of the Korean Society of Biological Therapies in Psychiatry
2026;32(1):44-51
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Objectives:Patients with bipolar I disorder often show impairments in facial emotion recognition (FER), a key component of social cognition. This study used the Facial Labeling Task, which assesses the ability of Koreans to recognize emotions through facial expressions, to compare FER deficits among euthymic individuals with bipolar I disorder, their first-degree relatives, and healthy controls.
Methods:Three groups participated in this study: euthymic bipolar I disorder patients (n=55), first-degree relatives (n=40), and healthy controls (n=52), matched for age, sex, and education. FER performance was assessed using eight standardized facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, contempt, disgust, surprise, and neutral). Accuracy (commission error rate) and response times for each trial were recorded.
Results:There were no significant group differences in demographic characteristics, psychopathology, or neurocognitive measures. FER accuracy did not differ significantly among the three groups. However, the bipolar I disorder group showed delayed response times for sadness (p<0.05) and neutral (p<0.05) expressions, and the first-degree relatives exhibited slower responses to fearful expressions (p<0.05) compared with healthy controls.
Conclusions:These findings suggest that patients with bipolar I disorder exhibit delayed processing of specific emotional expressions even during the euthymic state. Thus, FER impairments should be considered in the assessment and treatment of bipolar I disorder. However, FER deficits are less likely to represent an endophenotype of bipolar I disorder.
