The perception of facial, prosodic, and lexical emotion across the adult life span.
Item
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Title
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The perception of facial, prosodic, and lexical emotion across the adult life span.
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Identifier
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AAI9997093
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identifier
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9997093
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Creator
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Hall, Susan Jo.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Joan C. Borod
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Date
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2001
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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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Psychology, Developmental | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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Age-related changes in emotional perception across facial, prosodic, and lexical communication channels were examined in 100 healthy normal adults (20--80 years) in the context of the fluid/crystallized theory of intellectual functioning (Horn, 1972). Emotional perception was expected to be highly related across modalities and was hypothesized as a crystallized ability. Emotional identification and discrimination measures were taken from the New York Emotion Battery (Borod, Welkowitz, & Obler, 1992). Eight discrete emotions, three positive and five negative, were assessed. Aspects of nonemotional cognitive ability, including crystallized and fluid intelligence, and auditory and visual perception, were also evaluated.;Results from structural equation models revealed that, though highly correlated, verbal (i.e., lexical) and nonverbal (i.e., facial and prosodic) emotional perception were best characterized as distinct in terms of their relations with other intellectual abilities. Both types of emotional perception were best represented as separate from crystallized and fluid intelligence. Though best represented as separate factors, a functional relationship was seen, such that crystallized intelligence significantly influenced verbal emotional perception. According to correlational analyses, emotional perception as well as fluid intelligence evidenced strong inverse relations to age and strong positive relations to each other. When age was taken into account in the structural model, however, the relationship between emotional perception and fluid intelligence disappeared, suggesting that some common underlying age-based physiological changes contribute to age-related decline for both of these otherwise disparate abilities.;Correlational analyses revealed significant age-related decline in emotional identification abilities after controlling for nonemotional perceptual ability (see also Borod, Pick, Hall, et al., 2000). Independent group comparisons between younger and older individuals revealed an advantage for younger subjects on all emotional measures except one version of the prosodic discrimination task.;In an attempt to extend the common cause hypothesis (Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997; Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994) to emotional perception, the relationship between age-related declines in sensory functioning and emotional perception was examined. Differences in hearing thresholds did not attenuate age-related variance in emotional perception by an appreciable amount.;Overall results are discussed in the context of neuropsychological theory, cognitive aging research, theories of adult emotional development, and emotional intelligence.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
