Perceiving arousal and valence in facial expressions: Differences between children and adults

Abstract

<p>Arousal and valence have long been studied as the two primary dimensions for<br> the perception of emotional stimuli such as facial expressions. Prior correlational<br> studies that tested emotion perception along these dimensions found broad<br> similarities between adults and children. However, few studies looked for<br> direct differences between children and adults in these dimensions beyond<br> correlation. We tested 9-year-old children and adults on rating positive and<br> negative facial stimuli based on emotional arousal and valence. Despite high<br> significant correlations between children’s and adults’ ratings, our findings also<br> showed significant differences between children and adults in terms of rating<br> values: Children rated all expressions as significantly more positive than adults<br> in valence. Children also rated positive emotions as more arousing than adults.<br> Our results show that although perception of facial emotions along arousal and<br> valence follows similar patterns in children and adults, some differences in ratings<br> persist, and vary by emotion type.</p