Effects of age on the identification of emotions in facial expressions: a meta-analysis

PeerJ

article

Ana R. Gonçalves¹  Carina Fernandes¹  Rita Pasion¹  Fernando Ferreira-Santos¹  Fernando Barbosa¹  João Marques-Teixeira¹ 

[1] Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Universidade do Porto;Faculty of Medicine, Universidade do Porto;Language Research Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa

关键词: Aging;    Facial expressions;    Emotion identification;    Neural changes;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5278

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEmotion identification is a fundamental component of social cognition. Although it is well established that a general cognitive decline occurs with advancing age, the effects of age on emotion identification is still unclear. A meta-analysis by Ruffman and colleagues (2008) explored this issue, but much research has been published since then, reporting inconsistent findings.MethodsTo examine age differences in the identification of facial expressions of emotion, we conducted a meta-analysis of 24 empirical studies (N = 1,033 older adults, N = 1,135 younger adults) published after 2008. Additionally, a meta-regression analysis was conducted to identify potential moderators.ResultsResults show that older adults less accurately identify facial expressions of anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and happiness compared to younger adults, strengthening the results obtained by Ruffman et al. (2008). However, meta-regression analyses indicate that effect sizes are moderated by sample characteristics and stimulus features. Importantly, the estimated effect size for the identification of fear and disgust increased for larger differences in the number of years of formal education between the two groups.DiscussionWe discuss several factors that might explain the age-related differences in emotion identification and suggest how brain changes may account for the observed pattern. Furthermore, moderator effects are interpreted and discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY