%0 Journal Article
%A Pauli, Ruth
%A Kohls, Gregor
%A Tino, Peter
%A Rogers, Jack C.
%A Baumann, Sarah
%A Ackermann, Katharina
%A Bernhard, Anka
%A Martinelli, Anne
%A Jansen, Lucres
%A Oldenhof, Helena
%A Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen
%A Smaragdi, Areti
%A Gonzalez-Torres, Miguel Angel
%A Kerexeta-Lizeaga, Iñaki
%A Boonmann, Cyril
%A Kersten, Linda
%A Bigorra, Aitana
%A Hervas, Amaia
%A Stadler, Christina
%A Fernandez-Rivas, Aranzazu
%A Popma, Arne
%A Konrad, Kerstin
%A Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate
%A Fairchild, Graeme
%A Freitag, Christine M.
%A Rotshtein, Pia
%A De Brito, Stephane A.
%T Machine learning classification of conduct disorder with high versus low levels of callous-unemotional traits based on facial emotion recognition abilities
%J European child & adolescent psychiatry
%V 2021
%@ 1018-8827
%C Heidelberg
%I Springer
%M FZJ-2022-00504
%P  
%D 2021
%X Conduct disorder (CD) with high levels of callous-unemotional traits (CD/HCU) has been theoretically linked to specific difficulties with fear and sadness recognition, in contrast to CD with low levels of callous-unemotional traits (CD/LCU). However, experimental evidence for this distinction is mixed, and it is unclear whether these difficulties are a reliable marker of CD/HCU compared to CD/LCU. In a large sample (N = 1263, 9–18 years), we combined univariate analyses and machine learning classifiers to investigate whether CD/HCU is associated with disproportionate difficulties with fear and sadness recognition over other emotions, and whether such difficulties are a reliable individual-level marker of CD/HCU. We observed similar emotion recognition abilities in CD/HCU and CD/LCU. The CD/HCU group underperformed relative to typically developing (TD) youths, but difficulties were not specific to fear or sadness. Classifiers did not distinguish between youths with CD/HCU versus CD/LCU (52% accuracy), although youths with CD/HCU and CD/LCU were reliably distinguished from TD youths (64% and 60%, respectively). In the subset of classifiers that performed well for youths with CD/HCU, fear and sadness were the most relevant emotions for distinguishing them from youths with CD/LCU and TD youths, respectively. We conclude that non-specific emotion recognition difficulties are common in CD/HCU, but are not reliable individual-level markers of CD/HCU versus CD/LCU. These findings highlight that a reduced ability to recognise facial expressions of distress should not be assumed to be a core feature of CD/HCU.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ 34661765
%U <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000708405100003
%R 10.1007/s00787-021-01893-5
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/905221