Open AccessCategorical Perception of emotional faces is not affected by aging
Author(s) -
Mandy Rossignol,
Raymond Bruyer,
Pierre Philippot,
Salvatore Campanella
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
neuropsychological trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.198
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1970-321X
pISSN - 1970-3201
DOI - 10.7358/neur-2009-006-ross
Subject(s) - psychology , sadness , happiness , categorical perception , perception , categorical variable , facial expression , cognitive psychology , emotional expression , developmental psychology , anger , social psychology , communication , mathematics , statistics , neuroscience , speech perception
Effects of normal aging on categorical perception (CP) of facial emotional expressions were investigated. One-hundred healthy participants (20 to 70 years old; five age groups) had to identify morphed expressions ranging from neutrality to happiness, sadness and fear. We analysed percentages and latencies of correct recognition for nonmorphed emotional expressions, percentages and latencies of emotional recognition for morphed-faces, locus of the boundaries along the different continua and the number of intrusions. The results showed that unmorphed happy and fearful faces were better processed than unmorphed sad and neutral faces. For morphed faces, CP was confirmed, as latencies increased as a function of the distance between the displayed morph and the original unmorphed photograph. The locus of categorical boundaries was not affected by age. Aging did not alter the accuracy of recognition for original pictures, no more than the emotional recognition of morphed faces or the rate of intrusions. However, latencies of responses increased with age, for both unmorphed and morphed pictures. In conclusion, CP of facial expressions appears to be spared in aging.