When gait reveals emotion: recognition through gait videos in Parkinson's disease

Gait disturbances represent a hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD), yet gait is increasingly recognized as not solely a motor function but as a dynamic channel for emotional expression. PD patients might exhibit deficits in recognizing emotions and emotional blunting, characterized by reduced valence and intensity ratings. However, whether individuals with PD can perceive emotional states from human gait remains unexplored.

This study examined whether PD individuals can recognize emotions from gait videos and whether they show selective impairments in emotional appraisal, with respect to healthy controls (HC) matched for age and sex.

Thirty-eight individuals with PD and 38 HC completed an online questionnaire including 12 videos of an actress walking with gait patterns expressing six emotions (i.e., happiness, sadness, fear, anxiety, anger, and neutral), each shown with blurred or visible facial expressions. Participants identified the expressed emotion and rated its valence and intensity. Accuracy in emotion recognition and valence and intensity scores were compared between and within groups and between conditions (i.e., blurred-face vs facial expression).

Recognition accuracy and valence ratings were largely preserved in PD. PD participants reported lower overall emotional intensity than HC, without evidence of an emotion-specific reduction.

PD patients display reduced emotional appraisal regarding intensity yet generally retain the ability to recognize emotions and their valence from gait. These findings may inform future research on the potential integration of emotional gait stimuli into action observation training programs.