Age Differences in the Complexity of Emotion Perception

Abstract

Background/Study Context: The current study examined age differences in the number of emotion components used in the judgment of emotion from facial expressions.

Methods: Fifty-eight younger and 58 older adults were compared on the complexity of perception of emotion from standardized facial expressions that were either clear or ambiguous exemplars of emotion.

Results: Using an intra-individual factor analytic approach, results showed that older adults used more emotion components in perceiving emotion in faces than younger adults. Both age groups reported greater emotional complexity for the clear and prototypical emotional stimuli. Age differences in emotional complexity were more pronounced for the ambiguous expressions compared with the clear expressions.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that older adults showed increased elaboration of emotion, particularly when emotion cues were subtle and provide support for greater emotion differentiation in older adulthood.