title: Developmental differences in the neural mechanisms of facial emotion labeling.
abstract: Adolescence is a time of increased risk for the onset of psychological disorders associated with deficits in face emotion labeling. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine age-related differences in brain activation while adolescents and adults labeled the emotion on fearful, happy and angry faces of varying intensities [0% (i.e. neutral), 50%, 75%, 100%]. Adolescents and adults did not differ on accuracy to label emotions. In the superior temporal sulcus, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus, adults show an inverted-U-shaped response to increasing intensities of fearful faces and a U-shaped response to increasing intensities of happy faces, whereas adolescents show the opposite patterns. In addition, adults, but not adolescents, show greater inferior occipital gyrus activation to negative (angry, fearful) vs positive (happy) emotions. In sum, when subjects classify subtly varying facial emotions, developmental differences manifest in several 'ventral stream' brain regions. Charting the typical developmental course of the brain mechanisms of socioemotional processes, such as facial emotion labeling, is an important focus for developmental psychopathology research.
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA, jillian.wiggins@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Jillian Lee
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA, Department of Psychology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., 20064, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Adleman
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Denver, Denver, CO, 80208, USA, and.
authors.forename: Pilyoung
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Allison H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Oakes
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Richard C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.affiliation: Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brotman
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leibenluft
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescence; brain; development; emotion; face