Facial Emotions Perceptions In Young Female Students With High-Level Anxiety And Subclinical Panic Disorder. ERP And Behavioral Study

ABSRACTThis study investigated facial emotion processing in non-medicated young students (girls) with panic disorder. 13 young girls with panic disorder and 14 matched healthy controls were recruited. Evoked potential (EP) components P100, N150, and P300 in the posterior areas, and N200, P300, and late negativity were evaluated while the participants recognize angry, fearful, happy, and neutral facial stimuli. The girls with panic disorder showed increased levels of situational anxiety compared to healthy controls. EP demonstrated an increased reactivity to facial expression at sensory stage (P100 component), in particular, on angry faces, that indicates a shift automated attention on threat facial stimuli. The increased reactivity was also found in later processing, corresponding to the P300 component, reflecting an enhanced selective attention to socially important events. In subjects with panic disorder, we also found signs of increased activation in the right temporal area in the P300 time window, and the increased late frontal negativity in 350-450 ms time window. It can be assumed, that altered functional state of the prefrontal regions results in reduced top-down modulating effects on the lower limbic and sensory cortex levels.