Eliciting Facial Expressions in Children with and without Down Syndrome

Abstract

This study investigated facial expressions of children between the ages of 10 and 15 years with Down Syndrome (experimental group) and compared them to typically developing children (control group). Elicitation of facial expressions was carried out through showings of video clips. Trained observers were used to code expressions of happiness, anger, and disgust from video recordings that were made of the children’s reactions while they watched the video clips. I hypothesized that Down Syndrome children will not differ from typically developing children in the frequency of elicited happy expressions. However, I expected them to differ in the frequency of elicited anger and disgust expressions. Results support my hypotheses, showing a significant difference between the control and experimental group when comparing frequency of anger and disgust expressions, but did not differ significantly when the groups were compared in their frequency of happy expressions.