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Title
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Age differences in the perception of discrete emotions
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:4ba9c590aacd:11454
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identifier
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11885
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Creator
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Savage, Kimberley R.,
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Contributor
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Joan C. Borod
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Cognitive psychology | Aging | Affect | Emotion | Oldest-old | Perception
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Abstract
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Research has suggested that emotion perception declines with age, although there may be a differential change in emotion perception according to emotion type (e.g., happiness and sadness), with the perception of some emotions declining with age and the perception of others remaining relatively stable across the adult lifespan. However, few studies have investigated age-related changes in the perception of discrete emotions across multiple channels of communication. In addition, few studies have included individuals over the age of 80 years. Therefore, in an effort to extend previous work, the current study aims to characterize age differences in the perception of eight discrete emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, fear, disgust, unpleasant surprise, pleasant surprise, happiness, and interest) across facial, prosodic/intonational, and lexical/verbal channels in healthy adults aged 20-89 years.;A total of 117 healthy, right-handed adults, aged 20-89 completed the study. All participants completed a comprehensive screening process, which included measures of cognitive, perceptual, and affective functioning. Following the screening procedures, participants completed emotion perception tasks from the New York Emotion Battery (NYEB; Borod, Welkowitz, & Obler, 1992b), as well as nonemotional control tasks. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine associations among measures of emotion perception ability, nonemotional control tasks, and age. Age differences were also evaluated among seven age groups using parametric and non-parametric techniques. Finally, correlational and multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship among auditory acuity, cognitive function, emotion perception ability, and age.;Results of the study provided evidence of age differences in emotion perception abilities. In general, older adults were less accurate in the perception of emotion across all three channels of communication than were younger participants, but the most pronounced differences were observed in the prosodic channel for fear, happiness, and interest. Furthermore, age was a significant predictor of performance on emotion perception tests, even after controlling for factors such as performance on nonemotional control tasks, auditory acuity, and cognitive functions. Results are discussed in the context of the neuropsychological hypothesis, simulation theory, and common cause theory. This work has important clinical implications, particularly in terms of understanding social functioning in late life.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
