Recognition of nonverbal communication of emotion after traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Background:

Individuals who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have difficulty processing nonverbal communication (Ekman, 1976) The published research in this area has focused on a TBI patient's ability to recognize facial expression, vocal intonation, and postural expression (Croker, 2005; Hopkins, Dywan & Segalowitz, 2002).

Objective:

This study compared the non-verbal processing skills of brain-injured patients versus non-injured controls in all three domains.

Methods:

The stimuli were photographs of facial and postural expressions and audio recordings of intonational expressions.

Results:

The results indicated that persons with TBI have particular difficulty recognizing non-verbal communication resulting from vocal intonations.

Conclusions:

The TBI patients had difficulty processing tonality, therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that clinicians, friends, and family members should emphasize the explicit verbal content of spoken language when speaking to a person with TBI.