Right hemisphere damage impairs the ability to process emotional expressions of unusual faces.

Bennett et al. (1998) asked adults with right-hemisphere brain injury to match emotions shown in odd face formats. The faces were cartoon-like, not photos. A control group with no brain injury did the same task.

The team used a quasi-experimental design. They compared accuracy between the two groups.

The brain-injury group scored much lower on reading feelings from the strange faces. Controls got most items right. The gap was large enough to say the injury hurt emotion recognition.

Andrés-Roqueta et al. (2021) also found poor emotion reading in adults, but their group had Down syndrome. Both studies show that when the brain is atypical, unusual faces are harder to read.

Ferrari et al. (2023) link visuospatial skill to emotion scores in IDD. K et al. fit this idea: right-side damage often cuts visuospatial power, so scores drop.

Leaf et al. (2012) show teens with ASD keep receptive emotion skills yet fail on expressive tasks. K et al. show the opposite pattern: receptive skill fails after right-side injury. Together they warn you to test both input and output channels.

If you work with adults after right-hemisphere stroke or TBI, do not assume photos are enough in emotion training. Use clear, natural faces first. Check whether the client can even see the slant of a mouth or the tilt of brows. If they struggle, add visuospatial warm-ups before emotion drills. This small shift can save weeks of frustration.