Naming emotions in motion:Alexithymic traits impact the perception of implied motion in facial displays of affect

Something akin to motion perception occurs when actual motion is not present but implied. However, it is not known if the experience of implied motion occurs during the perception of static faces nor if the effect would vary for different facial expressions. To examine this, participants were presented with pairs of faces where successive expressions depicted either increasing emotional intensity or its diminution. Participants indicated if the second face in the pair was the same as, or different from, the first face shown. To measure general facial emotion recognition ability, the Ekman 60 faces test was administered. As individual differences in depression, anxiety, and alexithymia have been shown to influence face processing, we measured these factors using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and the Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20). As expected, participants were more likely to endorse the second face as being a match to the first when its expression implied forward motion compared to backward motion. This effect was larger for happiness and fear and positively related to accuracy on the Ekman 60 faces task. The effect was not related to depression or anxiety but it was negatively related to scores on the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, suggesting that individuals who have problems identifying their own and others' feelings experienced a reduction in implied motion. Observers process implied motion from some facial expressions of emotion but the experience is modified by the ability to recognize one's own feelings and those of others

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Alexithymic traits impact the perception of implied motion in facial displays of affect.

Something akin to motion perception occurs even when actual motion is not present but merely implied. However, it is not known if the experience of implied motion occurs during the perception of faces or even different affects. Moreover, it is not known if implied motion is moderated by individual differences in anxiety, depression or alexithymia. To examine this, participants were presented with picture pairs showing facial affect that implied either a forward or backward motion, i.e., depicting an increasing intensity in affect, or its diminution. Participants indicated whether or not the second face in the pair was the same as, or different from, the first face shown. To measure general affect recognition ability the Ekman 60 faces test was administered, as were the Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). Analysis of error rates revealed significant main effects for direction and emotion. There was no significant correlation with overall HADS score for any of the six emotions; there was also no effect of depression, anxiety or general face recognition abilities. Interestingly, the number of errors in the forward condition was negatively related to scores on the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, which suggests that individuals who have problems identifying their own and others’ feelings had experienced a reduction in the experience of implied motion. Results suggest that implied motion may influence the experience of affect recognition and can be applied to clinical groups, specifically those demonstrating deficits in correctly recognising salient social cues

Alexithymic traits impact the perception of implied motion in facial displays of affect.

Something akin to motion perception occurs even when actual motion is not present but merely implied. However, it is not known if the experience of implied motion occurs during the perception of faces or even different affects. Moreover, it is not known if implied motion is moderated by individual differences in anxiety, depression or alexithymia. To examine this, participants were presented with picture pairs showing facial affect that implied either a forward or backward motion, i.e., depicting an increasing intensity in affect, or its diminution. Participants indicated whether or not the second face in the pair was the same as, or different from, the first face shown. To measure general affect recognition ability the Ekman 60 faces test was administered, as were the Toronto Alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS). Analysis of error rates revealed significant main effects for direction and emotion. There was no significant correlation with overall HADS score for any of the six emotions; there was also no effect of depression, anxiety or general face recognition abilities. Interestingly, the number of errors in the forward condition was negatively related to scores on the difficulty identifying feelings subscale of the TAS-20, which suggests that individuals who have problems identifying their own and others’ feelings had experienced a reduction in the experience of implied motion. Results suggest that implied motion may influence the experience of affect recognition and can be applied to clinical groups, specifically those demonstrating deficits in correctly recognising salient social cues