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. 2026 May 29;16:26209. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-52969-8

Table 2.

Overall associations between emotion recognition and cognitive performance Within Executive Subdomains, with heterogeneity indices.

Emotion
type		 Sub-domain k r Lower CI Upper CI p Inline graphic 2 Inline graphic I2
Anger Abstraction 12 0.080 -0.086 0.242 0.342 0.044 0.209 61.83
Anger Attention 3 0.128 -0.322 0.531 0.584 0.133 0.364 79.08
Anger Flexibility 8 0.032 -0.094 0.157 0.620 0.004 0.061 11.49
Anger Fluency 24 0.100 -0.03 0.227 0.131 0.040 0.201 59.36
Anger Inhibition 10 0.09 -0.023 0.179 0.129 0.000 0.001 0.001
Anger

Working

memory

 13 0.148 0.064 0.230 < 0.001 *** 0.000 0.001 0.001
Disgust Abstraction 9 0.028 -0.141 0.195 0.749 0.032 0.180 55.44
Disgust Flexibility 5 0.077 -0.068 0.219 0.296 0.000 0.001 0.001
Disgust Fluency 20 0.126 0.016 0.232 0.024 * 0.019 0.137 41.13
Disgust Inhibition 7 0.119 -0.004 0.239 0.058 ✝ 0.000 0.001 0.001
Disgust

Working

memory

 9 0.173 0.065 0.277 0.001 ** 0.003 0.050 8.44
Fear Abstraction 12 0.066 -0.066 0.196 0.329 0.021 0.146 44.09
Fear Attention 3 -0.062 -0.285 0.167 0.598 0.009 0.097 21.1
Fear Flexibility 8 0.099 -0.014 0.209 0.085 ✝ 0.000 0.001 0.001
Fear Fluency 24 0.177 0.087 0.265 < 0.001 *** 0.013 0.115 32.43
Fear Inhibition 10 0.087 -0.085 0.254 0.32 0.036 0.190 55.2
Fear

Working

memory

 12 0.224 0.102 0.338 < 0.001 *** 0.013 0.115 30.99
Happiness Abstraction 11 -0.007 -0.163 0.149 0.9322 0.033 0.182 57.74
Happiness Attention 3 0.065 -0.286 0.401 0.724 0.067 0.258 65.53
Happiness Flexibility 8 -0.182 -0.297 -0.062 0.003 ** 0.003 0.050 8.02
Happiness Fluency 23 -0.044 -0.174 0.086 0.507 0.039 0.197 60.51
Happiness Inhibition 11 -0.03 -0.155 0.096 0.642 0.011 0.104 24.7
Happiness

Working

memory

 13 0.098 -0.047 0.239 0.186 0.024 0.155 45.19
Neutral Abstraction 3 -0.068 -0.819 0.769 0.902 0.588 0.767 95.25
Neutral Attention 3 -0.151 -0.516 0.261 0.477 0.103 0.320 74.54
Neutral Flexibility 5 0.012 -0.169 0.193 0.896 0.010 0.100 27.77
Neutral Fluency 9 -0.113 -0.486 0.295 0.596 0.156 0.395 82.28
Neutral Inhibition 6 0.003 -0.323 0.328 0.986 0.094 0.307 77.03
Neutral

Working

memory

 4 -0.056 -0.286 0.179 0.641 0.014 0.118 29.38
Sadness Abstraction 12 0.033 -0.116 0.180 0.668 0.031 0.177 53.92
Sadness Attention 3 -0.010 -0.325 0.306 0.950 0.049 0.222 58.53
Sadness Flexibility 8 0.113 -0.021 0.243 0.098 ✝ 0.007 0.081 18.61
Sadness Fluency 23 0.119 0.032 0.203 0.007 ** 0.010 0.101 28.87
Sadness Inhibition 10 0.039 -0.077 0.155 0.508 0.005 0.073 15.32
Sadness

Working

memory

 13 0.172 0.035 0.303 0.014 * 0.021 0.145 41.75
Surprise Abstraction 9 0.044 -0.135 0.221 0.632 0.039 0.197 59.71
Surprise Flexibility 4 0.046 -0.113 0.204 0.569 0.000 0.001 0.001
Surprise Fluency 17 0.135 0.037 0.231 0.007 ** 0.010 0.100 30.14
Surprise Inhibition 6 0.030 -0.173 0.232 0.771 0.028 0.169 49.28
Surprise

Working

memory

 6 0.217 0.011 0.406 0.039 * 0.031 0.175 52.91
Total Abstraction 13 0.241 0.143 0.335 < 0.001 *** 0.008 0.087 21.12
Total Attention 5 0.269 0.128 0.399 < 0.001 *** 0.000 0.001 0.001
Total Flexibility 6 0.143 0.008 0.273 0.037 * 0.000 0.001 0.001
Total Fluency 32 0.239 0.137 0.335 < 0.001 *** 0.022 0.148 41.8
Total Inhibition 11 0.237 0.101 0.365 < 0.001 *** 0.016 0.128 32.65
Total

Working

memory

 15 0.215 0.137 0.291 < 0.001 *** 0.001 0.023 1.85

Note. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001; ✝ marginal (p < .10). CI = Confidence Interval. For consistency of interpretation, correlation signs for time-based tasks (e.g., Stroop, TMT) in the Flexibility and Inhibition domains were reversed so that positive correlations uniformly reflect better cognitive performance. “Total” rows refer to studies that reported global emotion recognition scores (aggregated across emotions).