ABSTRACT

Background: It is still an open to what extent the ecological validity of face stimuli modulates age-related differences in the recognition of facial expression; and to what extent eye gaze direction may play a role in this process. The present study tested whether age effects in facial expression recognition, also as a function of eye gaze direction, would be less pronounced in dynamic than static face displays.

Method: Healthy younger and older adults were asked to recognize emotional expressions of faces with direct or averted eye gaze presented in static and dynamic format.

Results: While there were no differences between the age groups in facial expression recognition ability across emotions, when considering individual expressions, age-related differences in the recognition of angry facial expressions were attenuated for dynamic compared to static stimuli.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest a moderation effect of dynamic vs. static stimulus format on age-related deficits in the identification of angry facial expressions, suggesting that older adults may be less disadvantaged when recognizing angry facial expressions in more naturalistic displays. Eye gaze direction did not further modulate this effect. Findings from this study qualify and extend previous research and theory on age-related differences in facial expression recognition and have practical impact on study design by supporting the use of dynamic faces in aging research.

摘要

背景：面部刺激的生态有效性在多大程度上调节了面部表情识别中与年龄相关的差异，这仍然是一个开放的问题；以及眼睛注视方向在此过程中的作用有多大。本研究测试了面部表情识别中的年龄影响，也作为眼睛注视方向的函数，在动态中是否比静态面部显示更不明显。

方法：健康的年轻人和老年人被要求识别以静态和动态格式呈现的直接或转移视线的面部表情。

结果：虽然年龄组之间在跨情绪的面部表情识别能力上没有差异，但在考虑个体表情时，与静态刺激相比，动态的愤怒面部表情识别的年龄相关差异会减弱。

结论：我们的研究结果表明，动态与静态刺激形式对年龄相关的愤怒面部表情识别缺陷的调节作用，表明老年人在更自然的表现中识别愤怒的面部表情时可能没有那么不利。眼睛注视方向没有进一步调节这种效果。本研究的结果证实并扩展了先前关于面部表情识别中与年龄相关的差异的研究和理论，并通过支持在衰老研究中使用动态面部对研究设计产生实际影响。