Emotion recognition in faces as an indicator of subclinical depression in young and elderly people: A preliminary study

Facial emotion recognition plays an important role in human communication and social interaction. This study aims to analyze the possibility of detecting depressive symptoms through facial recognition of emotions and if this possibility is similar in young and elderly people. Two groups of participants were assessed, one with subclinical symptoms of depression, and the control group. The MSCEIT facial emotion recognition task was administered to both groups The main result is that there is an association between the recognition of a positive emotion in a neutral face and the level of depressive symptomatology, especially for people over 60 years old This result is consistent with the mood congruent effect participants with few depressive symptoms evaluate a neutral face in a more positive way, at least in terms of enthusiasm. In summary, this preliminary study provides data on how facial emotion recognition could be an indicator of subclinical depression, especially in the elderly.