1
|
Xiao NG, Angeli V, Fang W, Manera V, Liu S, Castiello U, Ge L, Lee K, Simion F. The discrimination of expressions in facial movements by infants: A study with point-light displays. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 232:105671. [PMID: 37003155 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
Perceiving facial expressions is an essential ability for infants. Although previous studies indicated that infants could perceive emotion from expressive facial movements, the developmental change of this ability remains largely unknown. To exclusively examine infants' processing of facial movements, we used point-light displays (PLDs) to present emotionally expressive facial movements. Specifically, we used a habituation and visual paired comparison (VPC) paradigm to investigate whether 3-, 6-, and 9-month-olds could discriminate between happy and fear PLDs after being habituated with a happy PLD (happy-habituation condition) or a fear PLD (fear-habituation condition). The 3-month-olds discriminated between the happy and fear PLDs in both the happy- and fear-habituation conditions. The 6- and 9-month-olds showed discrimination only in the happy-habituation condition but not in the fear-habituation condition. These results indicated a developmental change in processing expressive facial movements. Younger infants tended to process low-level motion signals regardless of the depicted emotions, and older infants tended to process expressions, which emerged in familiar facial expressions (e.g., happy). Additional analyses of individual difference and eye movement patterns supported this conclusion. In Experiment 2, we concluded that the findings of Experiment 1 were not due to a spontaneous preference for fear PLDs. Using inverted PLDs, Experiment 3 further suggested that 3-month-olds have already perceived PLDs as face-like stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Naiqi G Xiao
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
| | - Valentina Angeli
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Wei Fang
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada
| | - Valeria Manera
- Cognition Behaviour Technology (CoBTeK), EA 7276, Edmond and Lily Safra Center, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, 06000 Nice, France
| | - Shaoying Liu
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
| | - Umberto Castiello
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Liezhong Ge
- Center for Psychological Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2X2, Canada
| | - Francesca Simion
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy; Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Geangu E, Vuong QC. Seven-months-old infants show increased arousal to static emotion body expressions: Evidence from pupil dilation. INFANCY 2023. [PMID: 36917082 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 12/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Human body postures provide perceptual cues that can be used to discriminate and recognize emotions. It was previously found that 7-months-olds' fixation patterns discriminated fear from other emotion body expressions but it is not clear whether they also process the emotional content of those expressions. The emotional content of visual stimuli can increase arousal level resulting in pupil dilations. To provide evidence that infants also process the emotional content of expressions, we analyzed variations in pupil in response to emotion stimuli. Forty-eight 7-months-old infants viewed adult body postures expressing anger, fear, happiness and neutral expressions, while their pupil size was measured. There was a significant emotion effect between 1040 and 1640 ms after image onset, when fear elicited larger pupil dilations than neutral expressions. A similar trend was found for anger expressions. Our results suggest that infants have increased arousal to negative-valence body expressions. Thus, in combination with previous fixation results, the pupil data show that infants as young as 7-months can perceptually discriminate static body expressions and process the emotional content of those expressions. The results extend information about infant processing of emotion expressions conveyed through other means (e.g., faces).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elena Geangu
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Quoc C Vuong
- Biosciences Institute and School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
García-Guerrero MA, Peña J, Zubiaurre-Elorza L, Benítez D, Hernández AM, Oribe A, Ojeda N. Voice, Body Cues and Facial Expression in Emotion Recognition of Spanish Children and Adolescents: The Validation of Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test. THE SPANISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 25:e7. [PMID: 35129107 DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2022.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Emotion recognition has been traditionally measured trough the recognition of emotional expressions of static faces. Studies suggest that emotion recognition is progressively acquired from early stages in our infancy. However, the literature regarding other emotional domains such as voice or body movements is scarce. Additionally, the number of tools that integrate several domains is limited, especially in children and adolescents, and none of them tested in Spanish samples. Therefore, this study aimed to define the psychometric properties of the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT) and a new-designed alternate version providing normative data in Spanish children and adolescents (from 8 to 15 years old corresponding to 3th). Moreover, we aim to describe the emotional acquisition trajectory of children and adolescents with a tool that integrates voice, face expressions and body movements. For that purpose, BLERT was translated into Spanish (BLERT-SI) and an alternate version was created (BLERT-SII). A total of 545 children and adolescents from 8 to 15 year-old participated in the study (250 male/295 female). All participants fulfilled BLERT-SI and BLERT-SII within two weeks of difference. Order of presentation was counterbalanced. Results showed that BLERT-SI and SII have good internal consistency (α = .70 and 71 respectively). Test-retest reliability showed a moderate correlation (r = .45; p < .001). Percentages equivalences per age are provided. Age correlated with BLERT-SI (r = .31; p < .001) and BLERT-SII (r = .21; p < .001), showing a progressive acquisition and development of emotion recognition during this period. BLERT-SI and SII are useful tools when studying the follow-up of children and adolescents.
Collapse
|
4
|
Geangu E, Vuong QC. Look up to the body: An eye-tracking investigation of 7-months-old infants' visual exploration of emotional body expressions. Infant Behav Dev 2020; 60:101473. [PMID: 32739668 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The human body is an important source of information to infer a person's emotional state. Research with adult observers indicate that the posture of the torso, arms and hands provide important perceptual cues for recognising anger, fear and happy expressions. Much less is known about whether infants process body regions differently for different body expressions. To address this issue, we used eye tracking to investigate whether infants' visual exploration patterns differed when viewing body expressions. Forty-eight 7-months-old infants were randomly presented with static images of adult female bodies expressing anger, fear and happiness, as well as an emotionally-neutral posture. Facial cues to emotional state were removed by masking the faces. We measured the proportion of looking time, proportion and number of fixations, and duration of fixations on the head, upper body and lower body regions for the different expressions. We showed that infants explored the upper body more than the lower body. Importantly, infants at this age fixated differently on different body regions depending on the expression of the body posture. In particular, infants spent a larger proportion of their looking times and had longer fixation durations on the upper body for fear relative to the other expressions. These results extend and replicate the information about infant processing of emotional expressions displayed by human bodies, and they support the hypothesis that infants' visual exploration of human bodies is driven by the upper body.
Collapse
|
5
|
Okamoto Y, Kitada R, Kochiyama T, Naruse H, Makita K, Miyahara M, Okazawa H, Kosaka H. Visual Body Part Representation in the Lateral Occipitotemporal Cortex in Children/Adolescents and Adults. Cereb Cortex Commun 2020; 1:tgaa007. [PMID: 34296088 PMCID: PMC8152859 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) that responds to human bodies and body parts has been implicated in social development and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Neuroimaging studies using a representational similarity analysis (RSA) revealed that body representation in the LOTC of typically developing (TD) adults is categorized into 3 clusters: action effector body parts, noneffector body parts, and face parts. However, its organization of younger people (i.e., children and adolescents) and its association with individual traits remain unclear. In this functional MRI study, TD adults and children/adolescents observed photographs of hands, feet, arms, legs, chests, waists, upper/lower faces, the whole body, and chairs. The univariate analysis showed that fewer child/adolescent participants showed left LOTC activation in response to whole-body images (relative to those of chairs) than adult participants. Contrastingly, the RSA on both age groups revealed a comparable body representation with 3 clusters of body parts in the bilateral LOTC. Hence, this result indicates that, although response to whole-body images can differ, LOTC body part representations for children/ adolescents and adults are highly similar. Furthermore, sensory atypicality is associated with spatial LOTC organization, suggesting the importance of this region for understanding individual difference, which is frequently observed in ASD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuko Okamoto
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Seika-cho, Sorakugun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan.,Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Sorakugun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Ryo Kitada
- School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, HSS-04-13, Singapore 639818
| | - Takanori Kochiyama
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Seika-cho, Sorakugun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan.,Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Sorakugun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Naruse
- Division of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, University of Fukui Hospital, Eiheiji-cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
| | - Kai Makita
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, University of Fukui, Eiheiji-cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
| | - Motohide Miyahara
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, 1 Bunkyo-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori, 036-8560, Japan
| | - Hidehiko Okazawa
- Biomedical Imaging Research Center, University of Fukui, Eiheiji-cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui, 910-1193 Japan
| | - Hirotaka Kosaka
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Fukui, Eiheiji-cho, Yoshida-gun, Fukui 910-1193, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
White H, Jubran R, Heck A, Chroust A, Bhatt RS. Sex-specific scanning in infancy: Developmental changes in the use of face/head and body information. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 182:126-143. [PMID: 30825728 PMCID: PMC6414250 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Revised: 12/07/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The current investigation sought to differentiate between contrasting perspectives of body knowledge development by determining whether infants' adult-like scanning of male and female bodies is dependent on relevant information from the face/head alone, the body alone, or a combination of both sources. Scanning patterns of 3.5-, 6.5-, and 9-month-olds (N = 80) in response to images that contained information relevant to sex classification in either the face/head or the body were examined. The results indicate that sex-specific scanning in the presence of only one source of relevant information (i.e., face/head or body) is present only at 9 months. Thus, although sex-specific scanning of bodies emerges as early as 3.5 months, information from both faces/heads and bodies is required until sometime between 6.5 and 9 months of age. These findings constrain theories of the development of social perception by documenting the complex interplay between body and face/head processing early in life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hannah White
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
| | | | - Alison Heck
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|