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Clinical Trial
. 2021 Jul 22;16(7):e0254623.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254623. eCollection 2021.

Volume of the right supramarginal gyrus is associated with a maintenance of emotion recognition ability

Sayaka Wada  1 , Motoyasu Honma  1 , Yuri Masaoka  1 , Masaki Yoshida  2 , Nobuyoshi Koiwa  3 , Haruko Sugiyama  4 , Natsuko Iizuka  1 , Satomi Kubota  1 , Yumika Kokudai  5 , Akira Yoshikawa  1 , Shotaro Kamijo  1 , Sawa Kamimura  1 , Masahiro Ida  6 , Kenjiro Ono  5 , Hidetoshi Onda  7 , Masahiko Izumizaki  1
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Volume of the right supramarginal gyrus is associated with a maintenance of emotion recognition ability

Sayaka Wada et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Emotion recognition is known to change with age, but associations between the change and brain atrophy are not well understood. In the current study atrophied brain regions associated with emotion recognition were investigated in elderly and younger participants. Group comparison showed no difference in emotion recognition score, while the score was associated with years of education, not age. We measured the gray matter volume of 18 regions of interest including the bilateral precuneus, supramarginal gyrus, orbital gyrus, straight gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, inferior frontal gyrus, insular cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus, which have been associated with social function and emotion recognition. Brain reductions were observed in elderly group except left inferior frontal gyrus, left straight gyrus, right orbital gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right supramarginal gyrus. Path analysis was performed using the following variables: age, years of education, emotion recognition score, and the 5 regions that were not different between the groups. The analysis revealed that years of education were associated with volumes of the right orbital gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right supramarginal gyrus. Furthermore, the right supramarginal gyrus volume was associated with the emotion recognition score. These results suggest that the amount of education received contributes to maintain the right supramarginal gyrus volume, and indirectly affects emotion recognition ability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests. The authors also declare that this study was funded by Kao Corporation. The funding body had no influence on design, analysis, and interpretation of the results. Y.M. and H.S. (H.S. is employed by Kao Corporation) were involved in MRI measurements, and were not involved in the subsequent data analysis or interpretation of the results. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Protocol and results of the emotion recognition test.
(A) A representation of a trial. One image of four facial expressions (angry, sad, happy, or surprised) was presented, and the participant was asked to choose a facial expression from five options (angry, sad, happy, surprised, and neutral). The facial picture is illustrated in this paper. (B) The t-test revealed that the total emotion recognition score in the elderly group (EG) was lower than that of younger group (YG). (C) An RM-ANCOVA with years of education and MoCA scores as covariates showed that there was no main effect of facial expression or group, and no interaction. Asterisks indicate significant differences (p < 0.05). Error bars indicate the standard error of mean.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Path diagram.
The 5 regions, years of education, and emotion recognition score were set as the observed variables. The solid lines indicate a significant direct effect. The dotted thick line indicates a significant indirect effect. Thin dotted lines indicate a non-significant direct path. Numbers indicate the standardized path coefficients.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Location of the right supramarginal gyrus in axial view (blue area).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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