Establishing the Relationship Between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Emotional Facial Expression...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Emotional regulation is frequently impaired in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
• While a facial emotion recognition (FER) deficit is noted in ADHD, its precise causal mechanisms require further elucidation.
• Understanding FER in ADHD is crucial for addressing social and emotional challenges associated with the disorder.

Approach:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across six databases in September 2022.
• Included studies focused on children, adolescents, and adults diagnosed with ADHD, with or without comorbidities.
• Participants were assessed using standardized Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) tasks.

Key Points:

• Twelve studies involving 385 participants (aged 6–37.1 years) were selected for review.
• A significant deficit in FER was identified in individuals with ADHD.
• This deficit was observed both in isolated ADHD cases and when comorbid with autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, or oppositional symptoms.

Conclusions:

• The review confirms a prevalent deficit in facial emotion recognition among individuals with ADHD.
• Adults with ADHD demonstrated partially compensated recognition accuracy, suggesting adaptive mechanisms.
• ADHD symptom severity and the presence of comorbidities significantly modulate the extent of FER deficits.