Article Critique: Cortical Deficits Of Emotional Face Processing In Adults With ADHD: Its Relation To Social Cognition And Executive Function

Article Critique: Cortical Deficits of Emotional Face Processing In Adults With ADHD: Its Relation To Social Cognition And Executive Function

ADHD is a psychiatric condition that mostly starts in childhood and lasts into adulthood. The condition is usually caused by a mix of environmental and genetic factors, with the most common causes being inherited mental characteristics. People who have this condition experience several episodes of not paying attention and being very active. The signs and symptoms of the condition usually start when they are young. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease can include reducing attention to things an individual enjoys, difficulties completing tasks, forgetfulness, and a lack of interest in activities. The condition mainly manifests by making the patient feel fine but still sick (Ibáñez et al., 2017). In addition, some people have a condition that affects their thinking. This condition is called a malfunction because it affects how the brain works. The long-term effect of this condition is still being studied, but it is possible that it can affect someone’s ability to think clearly. Previous research has shown that adults who have ADHD often have reduced social skills. However, there is no clear evidence that this also affects their ability to process emotions. This article discusses how the neuropsychological profiles of adults with ADHD might be related to the areas of the brain responsible for emotional processing.

There are two different types of ADHD. Children with ADHD are hyperactive and impulsive. Adults with ADHD often don’t show any external signs, but they may have more psychiatric problems. Deficiencies in executive functions such as the ability to formulate plans and decide on the appropriate goals have been witnessed among adults with ADHD. In addition, people with ADHD have problems with working memory related to executive functioning (Magnus et al., 2020). Some children with this condition may have trouble recognizing different facial expressions, understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings, and being able to interact socially.

When we see someone’s face, we often understand how they are feeling. This is because their face can give us clues about their thoughts and feelings. Faces can also be important for social interactions, like when we recognize someone or want to please them. People also look at each other’s faces to acknowledge each other. The eyes play an essential role in this process. The central position means that it is necessary. Social recognition happens when we know who someone is. Mentalizing means understanding what someone is thinking or feeling (Magnus et al., 2020). People with reduced social competence have difficulty recognizing emotions shown through facial expressions. Other research has shown that people with ADHD have a harder time recognizing emotions in other people’s faces. So if you want to know how someone with ADHD is feeling, look at their face.

Cognitive brain processing is mainly done with event-related potentials. For example, N170 is a facial processing cortical marker whose neural generators are within the temporal sulcus (Ibáñez et al., 2017). N170 is an early response in the brain that helps with facial recognition. This response is different from how the brain recognizes objects or words. The N170 answer is more significant when we see a face that we know. So, if you want to know if someone with ADHD knows you, look at their brain’s N170 response.

This study looked at how adults with ADHD could recognize different emotions on people’s faces. They also looked at how well they could understand what other people were thinking or feeling. The study included 33 adults with ADHD and 33 adults without ADHD. The participants were shown different pictures of faces. They were then asked to choose the word that best described what they saw in the picture. The researchers found that the participants with ADHD were less likely to understand what the person in the picture was thinking or feeling than those without ADHD. They were also less likely to be able to recognize the emotions that were being shown on the person’s face. The researchers believe that this may be due to the reduced social skills in people with ADHD. 

References

Ibáñez, A., Petroni, A., Urquina, H., Torrente, F., Torralva, T., Hurtado, E., Guex, R., Blenkmann, A., Beltrachini, L., Muravchik, C., Baez, S., Cetkovich, M., Sigman, M., Lischinsky, A., & Manes, F. (2017). Cortical deficits of emotional face processing in adults with ADHD: Its relation to social cognition and executive function. Social Neuroscience, 6(5-6), 464–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2011.620769

Magnus, W., Nazir, S., Anilkumar, A. C., & Shaban, K. (2020). Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441838/