Facial Identity and Facial Emotions: Speed, Accuracy, and Processing Strategies in Children and Adults

Abstract

As yet, nearly all studies in face and facial affect recognition typically provide only data on the accuracy of processing, invariably also in the absence of reference data on abstract information processing. In this study, accuracy and speed of abstract visuo-spatial processing, face recognition, and facial emotion recognition were investigated in normal school children (7-10 years) and adults (25+/-4 years). In the age range of 7-10 years, accuracy of facial processing hardly increased, while speed did substantially increase with age. Adults, however, were substantially more accurate and faster than children. Differences between facial and abstract information processing were related to type of processing strategy, that is, configural or holistic processing versus featural or piecemeal processing. Improvement in task performance with age is discussed in terms of an enhanced efficiency of the configural organization of facial knowledge (facial information processing tasks), together with a further increase in processing capacity (all tasks). The differential developmental course of speed and accuracy levels indicates that speed is a more sensitive measure when children get older. Moreover, it also suggests that speed of performance, in addition to accuracy, might be successfully used in the assessment of clinical deficits, as has recently been demonstrated in children with autistic disorders of social contact.

Similarities and differences in the perceptual structure of facial expressions of children and adults

“…Of course, we can draw no conclusions about exactly when between 7 and 14 years of age the changes occur except to note that other evidence suggests that they are likely to occur over a number of years. Accuracy in recognizing facial expressions (Durand et al, 2007;Kolb et al, 1992;Vicari, Reilly, Pasqualetti, Vizzotto, & Caltagirone, 2000), reaction time in processing facial expressions (De Sonneville et al, 2002), and sensitivity to subtle expressions (Gao & Maurer, 2009, and unpublished data) all improve gradually after 7 years of age.…”

Convergence between physiological, facial and verbal self‐report measures of affective empathy in children

“…Although young children may have a relatively limited vocabulary with which to express emotions (Aldridge & Wood, 1997), the speed of emotion processing shows marked development at this stage (De Sonneville et al, 2002). It could therefore be argued that the lack of convergence between these measures may be a consequence of developmental and age related factors.…”

A neural model of voluntary and automatic emotion regulation: implications for understanding the pathophysiology and neurodevelopment of bipolar disorder

“…175 For instance, recent research suggests that explicit processing of emotional faces continues to develop from early childhood through adolescence. [176][177][178] Neural systems implicated in voluntary emotion regulation may not be fully mature until adulthood. For instance, in a study examining neural activity during voluntary reappraisal in 8-and 10-year-old girls, Levesque et al 179 found that in contrast to adult women young girls recruited a greater number of prefrontal regions, possibly reflecting immaturity of prefrontal-limbic connections in childhood.…”