INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #16 Empathy and Affect Recognition and Memory as Predictors of Community Integration Robiann Broomfield, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Destiny Weaver, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Gavin Sanders, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Mark Lumley, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Robin Hanks, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Detroit, United States Scott Langenecker, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, United States Lisa Rapport, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult) Keyword 1: social cognition Keyword 2: emotional processes Keyword 3: brain injury Objective: Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently impairs empathy and is linked to unfavorable social consequences. Empathy comprises cognitive empathy—understanding others’ emotional states —and affective empathy—relating to vicariously feeling others’ emotions. Accurate recognition and memory of emotions are critical for effective communication and are often impaired after TBI. These impairments have been demonstrated primarily via questionnaires and experimental tasks. Surprisingly, few studies have investigated links between impairments in empathy and emotion processing in real-world social outcomes. This study addressed this gap by examining the outcome of community integration, a key component of successful rehabilitation, which refers to perceived connections to work, assimilation, support, and independent living in one’s community. Participants and Methods: Participants were 53 adults with moderate to severe TBI and 64 healthy adults without TBI (HA). Measures included the novel Facial Recognition and Memory for Emotion (FRAME), a computerized task requiring participants to recognize and recall facial emotion displays; Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy; Community Integration Measure (CIM); and Oral Symbol Digit Modalities, a proxy for cognitive functioning assessing processing speed, a hallmark impairment after TBI. Results: For the total sample, CIM was significantly correlated with cognitive empathy (r = .23, p = .007), a result driven primarily by the TBI group (r = .39, p = .002). Affective empathy showed weak relation to CIM (r = .13, p = .089). Multiple regression tested the extent to which cognitive and affective empathy, recognition and memory for emotions, and cognitive function predicted CIM. The model for the total sample was significant, F(5, 107) = 3.19, p = .010, R² = .13. Cognitive empathy (sr² = .05, p = .011) and memory for emotions (sr² = .03, p = .047) were significant predictors. For the HA group, the model was significant, F(5, 58) = 2.52, p = .039, with memory for emotions (sr² = .15, p = .001) and cognitive function (sr² = .07, p = .028) as significant predictors. In contrast, for the TBI group, F(5, 48) = 2.39, p = .053; cognitive empathy was the sole significant predictor (sr² = .14, p = .008). Conclusions: Empathy and memory for emotions predicted community integration differently for adults with and without TBI. Among people with TBI, CI was positively related to the perceived ability to understand others’ frame of mind (cognitive empathy) but not the vicarious experience of others’ emotions (affective empathy) or objective emotion processing skills. Neither objective skills in emotion processing nor severity of cognitive impairment were associated with TBI participants’ experience of community integration. Conversely, among adults without TBI, objective capacity in emotion processing was crucial for community integration, and notably, memory for emotions expressed by others was inversely associated with perceived belonging. Although remembering other people’s emotions forms the foundation of intimacy, it may also make some individuals acutely sensitive to feeling excluded. Additional research is needed to replicate findings and develop interventions for social well-being after TBI.

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #16

Empathy and Affect Recognition and Memory as Predictors of Community Integration

Robiann Broomfield, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Destiny Weaver, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Gavin Sanders, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Mark Lumley, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Robin Hanks, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Detroit, United States
Scott Langenecker, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, United States
Lisa Rapport, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States

Category: Acquired Brain Injury (TBI/Cerebrovascular Injury and Disease - Adult)

Keyword 1: social cognition
Keyword 2: emotional processes
Keyword 3: brain injury

Objective:

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently impairs empathy and is linked to unfavorable social consequences. Empathy comprises cognitive empathy—understanding others’ emotional states —and affective empathy—relating to vicariously feeling others’ emotions. Accurate recognition and memory of emotions are critical for effective communication and are often impaired after TBI. These impairments have been demonstrated primarily via questionnaires and experimental tasks. Surprisingly, few studies have investigated links between impairments in empathy and emotion processing in real-world social outcomes. This study addressed this gap by examining the outcome of community integration, a key component of successful rehabilitation, which refers to perceived connections to work, assimilation, support, and independent living in one’s community.

Participants and Methods:

Participants were 53 adults with moderate to severe TBI and 64 healthy adults without TBI (HA). Measures included the novel Facial Recognition and Memory for Emotion (FRAME), a computerized task requiring participants to recognize and recall facial emotion displays; Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy; Community Integration Measure (CIM); and Oral Symbol Digit Modalities, a proxy for cognitive functioning assessing processing speed, a hallmark impairment after TBI.

Results:

For the total sample, CIM was significantly correlated with cognitive empathy (r = .23, p = .007), a result driven primarily by the TBI group (r = .39, p = .002). Affective empathy showed weak relation to CIM (r = .13, p = .089). Multiple regression tested the extent to which cognitive and affective empathy, recognition and memory for emotions, and cognitive function predicted CIM. The model for the total sample was significant, F(5, 107) = 3.19, p = .010, R² = .13. Cognitive empathy (sr² = .05, p = .011) and memory for emotions (sr² = .03, p = .047) were significant predictors. For the HA group, the model was significant, F(5, 58) = 2.52, p = .039, with memory for emotions (sr² = .15, p = .001) and cognitive function (sr² = .07, p = .028) as significant predictors. In contrast, for the TBI group, F(5, 48) = 2.39, p = .053; cognitive empathy was the sole significant predictor (sr² = .14, p = .008).

Conclusions:

Empathy and memory for emotions predicted community integration differently for adults with and without TBI. Among people with TBI, CI was positively related to the perceived ability to understand others’ frame of mind (cognitive empathy) but not the vicarious experience of others’ emotions (affective empathy) or objective emotion processing skills. Neither objective skills in emotion processing nor severity of cognitive impairment were associated with TBI participants’ experience of community integration. Conversely, among adults without TBI, objective capacity in emotion processing was crucial for community integration, and notably, memory for emotions expressed by others was inversely associated with perceived belonging. Although remembering other people’s emotions forms the foundation of intimacy, it may also make some individuals acutely sensitive to feeling excluded. Additional research is needed to replicate findings and develop interventions for social well-being after TBI.