title: Development of perceptual expertise in emotion recognition.
abstract: How do children's early social experiences influence their perception of emotion-specific information communicated by the face? To examine this question, we tested a group of abused children who had been exposed to extremely high levels of parental anger expression and physical threat. Children were presented with arrays of stimuli that depicted the unfolding of facial expressions, from neutrality to peak emotions. The abused children accurately recognized anger early in the formation of the facial expression, when few physiological cues were available. The speed of children's recognition was associated with the degree of anger/hostility reported by the child's parent. These data highlight the ways in which perceptual learning can shape the timing of emotion perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53711, USA. spollak@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Seth D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Pollak
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Messner
authors.forename: Doris J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kistler
authors.forename: Jeffrey F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cohn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012938:Social Perception