Facial emotion processing was examined in patients with severe depression (n = 68) and a healthy control group (n = 50), using the Facial Expression Recognition Task. A negative interpretation bias was observed in the depression group: neutral faces were more likely to be interpreted as sad and less likely to be interpreted as happy, compared with controls. The depression group also displayed a specific deficit in the recognition of facial expressions of disgust, compared with controls. This may relate to impaired functioning of frontostriatal structures, particularly the basal ganglia.
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