Recognition of facial expressions by alcoholic patients: a systematic literature review.

Alcohol abuse and dependence can cause a wide variety of cognitive, psychomotor, and visual-spatial deficits. It is questionable whether this condition is associated with impairments in the recognition of affective and/or emotional information. Such impairments may promote deficits in social cognition and, consequently, in the adaptation and interaction of alcohol abusers with their social environment. The aim of this systematic review was to systematize the literature on alcoholics' recognition of basic facial expressions in terms of the following outcome variables: accuracy, emotional intensity, and latency time.