Facial Emotion Recognition in Insomnia and Emotional Regulation

Introduction Chronic insomnia is a prevalent disorder in the general population, affecting up to 20% according to French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, leading to a decline in quality of life and an increased risk of developing certain psychiatric disorders, notably major depressive episodes. Chronic insomnia, particularly when accompanied by reduced sleep duration, has been associated with cognitive impairments documented in the literature, such as reduced concentration, working memory, vigilance, and certain executive functions. While some studies suggest subjective cognitive impairment in insomnia, it remains inconclusive when objectively measured. Individuals with chronic insomnia often report a global deterioration in social life, characterized by irritability, attentional difficulties, asthenia, and social isolation. This raises questions about potential impairments in social abilities, particularly in recognizing facial emotions, which may be linked to the subjective complaints of reduced quality of life in individuals with insomnia. Several studies have explored facial emotion recognition in insomnia, with some indicating impairments in emotion recognition or evaluation of emotion intensity. Others demonstrated deficits in recognizing specific emotions (such as anger) or representations (such as fatigue), which were associated with attentional deficits and changes in visual fixation points in eye-tracking studies. However, some authors found no significant association between insomnia complaints and impaired facial emotion recognition. Facial emotion recognition has been studied using eye-tracking in major depressive episodes, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorders. Eye-tracking studies have revealed attentional biases toward negative emotions in depression and deficits in visual attention to the eye region in autism, contributing to impaired facial emotion recognition. To date, no study has comp