ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 social isolation upon aspects of emotional and social cognitive function. We predicted that greater impairments in emotional and social cognition would be observed in people who experienced more disruption to their usual social connectivity during COVID-19 social isolation. Healthy volunteers (N = 92) without prior mental health problems completed assessments online in their own homes during the most stringent period of the first COVID-19 “lockdown” in the UK (March – May 2020). Measures included two questionnaires probing levels of social isolation, anxiety levels, as well as five neuropsychological tasks assessing emotional and social cognition. Reduced positive bias in emotion recognition was related to reduced contact with friends, household size and communication method during social isolation. In addition, reduced positive bias for attention to emotional faces was related to frequency of contact with friends during social isolation. Greater cooperative behaviour in an ultimatum game was associated with more frequent contact with both friends and family during social isolation. The present study provides important insights into the detrimental effects of subjective and objective social isolation upon affective cognitive processes.

摘要

本研究旨在检查 COVID-19 社会隔离对情绪和社会认知功能方面的影响。我们预测，在 COVID-19 社会隔离期间，他们通常的社会联系受到更多破坏的人会观察到更大的情感和社会认知障碍。在英国首次 COVID-19“封锁”最严格的时期（2020 年 3 月至 5 月），没有先前心理健康问题的健康志愿者 (N = 92) 在自己家中完成了在线评估。措施包括两份调查社会孤立程度、焦虑程度的问卷，以及五项评估情绪和社会认知的神经心理学任务。情绪识别中积极偏见的减少与与朋友的接触减少有关，社会隔离期间的家庭规模和沟通方式。此外，减少对情绪面孔的关注的积极偏见与社交孤立期间与朋友接触的频率有关。最后通牒游戏中更大的合作行为与社​​交隔离期间与朋友和家人更频繁的接触有关。本研究提供了关于主观和客观社会隔离对情感认知过程的不利影响的重要见解。