Effects of aging on emotion recognition from dynamic multimodal expressions and vocalizations

• Age-related differences in emotion recognition have predominantly been investigated usingstatic pictures of facial expressions. Previous studies have also mainly studied recognition ofnegative emotions, and positive emotions beyond happiness have rarely been included. Thecurrent study instead used dynamic facial and vocal stimuli, and included a wider than usualrange of positive emotions. In Task 1, younger and older adults were tested for their abilities torecognize 12 positive and negative emotions from brief video recordings presented in visual,auditory and multimodal blocks. Task 2 assessed recognition of 18 positive and negativeemotions conveyed by non-linguistic vocalizations (e.g., laughter, sobs, and sighs). Resultsfrom both tasks showed that younger adults had higher overall recognition rates than olderadults. In Task 1, significant age-related differences (younger > older) were only observed inthe auditory condition, and for relief, anger, and irritation. In Task 2, significant groupdifferences were instead observed for most of the emotions. Overall, results indicate thatrecognition of both positive and negative emotions show age-related differences. This suggeststhat the age-related positivity effect in emotion recognition may become less evident whendynamic emotional stimuli are used and happiness is not the only positive emotion under study.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

aging

emotion recognition ability

facial expression

speech prosody

vocalizations

Psychology

psykologi

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