[Integration of facial and situational cues in episode construction by preschool children].
The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of preschool children to reconcile inconsistent cues of emotion. Twenty four 4- and twenty 6-year-old children, half of them were boys and half girls, were shown a series of pictures, in which facial and situational cues were inconsistent. They were asked to construct episodes for the pictures, by integrating inconsistent events. It was found that the ability to integrate inconsistent cues increased with age. Of the three possible types of episodic explanations: situational, characteristic, and mental, only the number of mental episodic explanations increased with age. No age difference was found for situational or characteristic episodes. These results were discussed in relation to studies on children's ability of affective perspective taking.
Sawada
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Ehime College of Health Science, Takooda, Tobe-cho, Iyo-gun, Ehime 791-2101.
D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D002666:Psychology, Child