A decoding deficit for anger and contempt also has been reported. In a recent study by Townshend and Duka (2003), the authors demonstrated in line with previous studies that alcoholics were impaired in their recognition of emotional facial expressions. However, whereas previous studies (Philippot et al 1999; Kornreich et al 2001, 2002) had found that alcoholics overestimated the intensity of each of the emotional facial expressions, Townshend and Duka (2003) showed that alcoholics inappropriately enhanced the intensity of fear in the facial expressions. Additionally, alcoholics showed a different response than the controls in the recognition of anger and disgust. Alcoholics tended to overestimate the amount of the relevant emotion. Such a response could be explained by a tendency in alcoholics to exaggerate emotions and may be related to a disinhibitory effect of long-term alcohol use (Oscar-Berman et al 1990; Philippot et al 1999).
