[The recognition of normal emotions and emotions in affective disorders].

Recognition of emotions by face expression was studied in 20 healthy subjects and 20 patients with endogenous depression. Pictures of sad, laughing and neural faces were displayed on computer screen and administered to the center of the visual field and to the right or left visual hemifields during 40-160 ms. Healthy subjects demonstrated more accurate recognition of emotional expression than the neutral expression; the right hemisphere dominated in discrimination of laughing faces. Depressed patients showed the overall impairment of facial expression recognition, which was the most significant for discrimination of sad faces; there were no interhemispheric difference. Discriminant analysis showed that activity of the right hemisphere is crucial for discrimination of healthy subjects and patients with endogenous depression. Possible mechanisms of impairment in recognition of emotional facial expressions in depressed patients are discussed.