Social behaviour following severe traumatic brain injury: contribution of emotion perception deficits.

OBJECTIVE

This theoretically driven study aimed to determine contribution of emotional perception impairments to social behaviour following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

METHODS

Adults with severe TBI (n = 24) participated. Emotion perception predictors included: (i) appraisal: Montreal Set of Facial Displays of Emotion, The Adapted Story Task, (ii) affective state: Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and (iii) regulation: Delis Kaplan Executive Function System - Colour Word Interference and Word Fluency. Social behavioural outcomes were (i) interpersonal: Key Behaviors Change Inventory (KBCI) - Interpersonal Difficulties and (ii) communication: KBCI - Communication Problems.

RESULTS

Social behaviours correlated with affective state, but not appraisal or regulation. Simultaneous regression analyses revealed significant independent contributions of affective state: (i) the IRI Perspective Taking to the KBCI Interpersonal Difficulties and (ii) the DASS-21 (composite) and IRI Perspective Taking to the KBCI Communication Problems. The models explained 52% and 72% of the variance of the KBCI Interpersonal Difficulties and Communication Problems respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence that impairments in certain aspects of emotion perception: affective state [empathy (perspective taking) and mood], but not appraisal and regulation, contribute to social behaviour difficulties in patients with severe TBI, which has important implications for rehabilitation.