The purpose of this study was to examine facial affect of young children who completed a singing task that included imitation and improvisation. Eighty-nine children (4–6 years: 45 male and 44 female participants) completed three singing conditions from a standard singing test battery (i.e., Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing-Test Battery of Singing Skills [AIRS-TBSS]). These included singing a favorite song, imitating a song, and improvising a song ending. Facial affect was analyzed with Noldus FaceReader software, and subjective responses also were collected. Results revealed children exhibited a happy emotion most prominently during the improvisation and favorite song conditions compared with the imitation condition. However, a higher percentage of surprised emotions were found during the imitation condition. Frequency analysis revealed a significantly different range and final note for the improvisation condition compared with imitation. Children’s self-reported ratings of happiness were related to their displayed facial affect (i.e., happiness) scores in FaceReader (p < .05). Qualitative data analysis revealed three emerging themes of song familiarity, object association, and song preference. Children exhibited more positive affect when singing a favorite song or improvising. Based on the type of vocal performance task, it is necessary to consider how young children respond to vocal tasks.

这项研究的目的是检查完成唱歌任务（包括模仿和即兴创作）的幼儿的面部影响。89名儿童（4-6岁：45名男性和44名女性参与者）通过标准的歌唱测试电池（即，促进跨学科研究的歌唱测试电池技术[AIRS-TBSS]）完成了三种唱歌条件。其中包括演唱喜欢的歌曲，模仿歌曲和即兴创作歌曲结局。使用Noldus FaceReader软件分析面部表情，并收集主观反应。结果表明，与模仿条件相比，儿童在即兴创作和喜欢的歌曲条件下表现出最显着的快乐情绪。但是，在模仿过程中发现较高比例的惊讶情绪。频率分析显示，与模仿相比，即兴演奏条件的范围和最终音符明显不同。儿童自我报告的幸福感等级与其在FaceReader中显示的面部表情（即幸福感）得分相关（p  <.05）。定性数据分析揭示了歌曲熟悉度，对象关联和歌曲偏好三个新出现的主题。当唱歌或即兴演奏时，儿童表现出更积极的影响。根据声乐任务的类型，有必要考虑幼儿对声乐任务的反应。