In normal observers, gazing at one's own face in the mirror for a few minutes, at a low illumination level, produces the apparition of strange faces. Observers see distortions of their own faces, but they often see hallucinations like monsters, archetypical faces, faces of relatives and deceased, and animals. In this research, patients with depression were compared to healthy controls with respect to strange-face apparitions. The experiment was a 7-minute mirror-gazing test (MGT) under low illumination. When the MGT ended, the experimenter assessed patients and controls with a specifically designed questionnaire and interviewed them, asking them to describe strange-face apparitions. Apparitions of strange faces in the mirror were very reduced in depression patients compared to healthy controls. Depression patients compared to healthy controls showed shorter duration of apparitions; minor number of strange faces; lower self-evaluation rating of apparition strength; lower self-evaluation rating of provoked emotion. These decreases in depression may be produced by deficits of facial expression and facial recognition of emotions, which are involved in the relationship between the patient (or the patient's ego) and his face image (or the patient's bodily self) that is reflected in the mirror.

Visual perception during mirror-gazing at one's own face in patients with depression / G.B. Caputo, M. Bortolomasi, R. Ferrucci, M. Giacopuzzi, A. Priori, S. Zago. - In: THE SCIENTIFIC WORLD JOURNAL. - ISSN 2356-6140. - 2014:(2014), pp. 946851.1-946851.4. [10.1155/2014/946851]

Visual perception during mirror-gazing at one's own face in patients with depression

R. Ferrucci;A. Priori
Penultimo
;
2014

Abstract

In normal observers, gazing at one's own face in the mirror for a few minutes, at a low illumination level, produces the apparition of strange faces. Observers see distortions of their own faces, but they often see hallucinations like monsters, archetypical faces, faces of relatives and deceased, and animals. In this research, patients with depression were compared to healthy controls with respect to strange-face apparitions. The experiment was a 7-minute mirror-gazing test (MGT) under low illumination. When the MGT ended, the experimenter assessed patients and controls with a specifically designed questionnaire and interviewed them, asking them to describe strange-face apparitions. Apparitions of strange faces in the mirror were very reduced in depression patients compared to healthy controls. Depression patients compared to healthy controls showed shorter duration of apparitions; minor number of strange faces; lower self-evaluation rating of apparition strength; lower self-evaluation rating of provoked emotion. These decreases in depression may be produced by deficits of facial expression and facial recognition of emotions, which are involved in the relationship between the patient (or the patient's ego) and his face image (or the patient's bodily self) that is reflected in the mirror.
Adult; Depression; Evoked Potentials; Face; Female; Fixation, Ocular; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Questionnaires; Time Factors; Visual Perception; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (all); 2300; Medicine (all)
Settore MED/26 - Neurologia
Settore M-PSI/02 - Psicobiologia e Psicologia Fisiologica
2014
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/341688
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