Research investigating the early development of emotional processing has focused mainly on infants' perception of static facial emotional expressions, likely restricting the amount and type of information available to infants. In particular, the question of whether dynamic information in emotional facial expressions modulates infants' neural responses has been rarely investigated. The present study aimed to fill this gap by recording 7-month-olds' event-related potentials to static (Study 1) and dynamic (Study 2) happy, angry, and neutral faces. In Study 1, happy faces evoked a faster right-lateralized negative central (Nc) component compared to angry faces. In Study 2, both happy and angry faces elicited a larger right-lateralized Nc compared to neutral faces. Irrespective of stimulus dynamicity, a larger P400 to angry faces was associated with higher scores on the Negative Affect temperamental dimension. Overall, results suggest that 7-month-olds are sensitive to facial dynamics, which might play a role in shaping the neural processing of facial emotional expressions. Results also suggest that the amount of attentional resources infants allocate to angry expressions is associated to their temperamental traits. These findings represent a promising avenue for future studies exploring the neurobiological processes involved in perceiving emotional expressions using dynamic stimuli.

Quadrelli, E., Conte, S., Macchi Cassia, V., Turati, C. (2019). Emotion in motion: Facial dynamics affect infants' neural processing of emotions. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, 61(6), 843-858 [10.1002/dev.21860].

Emotion in motion: Facial dynamics affect infants' neural processing of emotions

Quadrelli, E
;
Conte, S;Macchi Cassia, V;Turati, C
2019

Abstract

Research investigating the early development of emotional processing has focused mainly on infants' perception of static facial emotional expressions, likely restricting the amount and type of information available to infants. In particular, the question of whether dynamic information in emotional facial expressions modulates infants' neural responses has been rarely investigated. The present study aimed to fill this gap by recording 7-month-olds' event-related potentials to static (Study 1) and dynamic (Study 2) happy, angry, and neutral faces. In Study 1, happy faces evoked a faster right-lateralized negative central (Nc) component compared to angry faces. In Study 2, both happy and angry faces elicited a larger right-lateralized Nc compared to neutral faces. Irrespective of stimulus dynamicity, a larger P400 to angry faces was associated with higher scores on the Negative Affect temperamental dimension. Overall, results suggest that 7-month-olds are sensitive to facial dynamics, which might play a role in shaping the neural processing of facial emotional expressions. Results also suggest that the amount of attentional resources infants allocate to angry expressions is associated to their temperamental traits. These findings represent a promising avenue for future studies exploring the neurobiological processes involved in perceiving emotional expressions using dynamic stimuli.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
attention; emotion; event-related potentials; motion; temperament;
attention, emotion, event‐related potentials, motion, temperament
English
2019
61
6
843
858
none
Quadrelli, E., Conte, S., Macchi Cassia, V., Turati, C. (2019). Emotion in motion: Facial dynamics affect infants' neural processing of emotions. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, 61(6), 843-858 [10.1002/dev.21860].
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/227397
Citazioni
  • Scopus 23
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 21
Social impact