TY  - JOUR
AU  - Pauli, Ruth
AU  - Kohls, Gregor
AU  - Tino, Peter
AU  - Rogers, Jack C.
AU  - Baumann, Sarah
AU  - Ackermann, Katharina
AU  - Bernhard, Anka
AU  - Martinelli, Anne
AU  - Jansen, Lucres
AU  - Oldenhof, Helena
AU  - Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen
AU  - Smaragdi, Areti
AU  - Gonzalez-Torres, Miguel Angel
AU  - Kerexeta-Lizeaga, Iñaki
AU  - Boonmann, Cyril
AU  - Kersten, Linda
AU  - Bigorra, Aitana
AU  - Hervas, Amaia
AU  - Stadler, Christina
AU  - Fernandez-Rivas, Aranzazu
AU  - Popma, Arne
AU  - Konrad, Kerstin
AU  - Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate
AU  - Fairchild, Graeme
AU  - Freitag, Christine M.
AU  - Rotshtein, Pia
AU  - De Brito, Stephane A.
TI  - Machine learning classification of conduct disorder with high versus low levels of callous-unemotional traits based on facial emotion recognition abilities
JO  - European child & adolescent psychiatry
VL  - 2021
SN  - 1018-8827
CY  - Heidelberg
PB  - Springer
M1  - FZJ-2022-00504
SP  -  
PY  - 2021
AB  - 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.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - 34661765
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000708405100003
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s00787-021-01893-5
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/905221
ER  -