Psychologist Carla Arlien considers herself a cheerful person, but at the Alzheimer's clinic where she works, her patients seemed troubled by her demeanor, and often asked if she were okay. At first Arlien wondered whether there was something wrong with her. Then she began to suspect that the problem was literally in her patients' eyes.

Eyesight, of course, tends to worsen with age. Not only do we find it harder to read small print, we lose sensitivity to contrast, which makes it harder to distinguish details such as the subtle facial expressions of anger, fear, and sadness. Loss of contrast sensitivity tends to be pronounced in Alzheimer's patients. Arlien wondered whether this was affecting her patients' reactions to her.

Arlien set up a study at Case Western Reserve University that she presented last summer to the American Psychological Association. She showed photographs of faces with various expressions to subjects wearing visual filters to mimic the contrast insensitivity typical of Alzheimer's patients. She found that loss of contrast sensitivity made no difference to the subjects' perception of strong emotions such as happiness, but neutral expressions were more likely to be misinterpreted as negative emotions such as anger.

Though the effect was small, Arlien believes that her own neutral expression was being misread by her patients. Now she makes an extra effort to help them recognize her cheerfulness. It makes the world a brighter place for them - and for her.

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This article originally appeared in Spirituality & Health magazine, For subscriptions call (800) 876-8202 or visit www.spiritualityhealth.com.

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