ERIC Number: EJ1027442
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Infants' Perception of Emotion from Body Movements
Zieber, Nicole; Kangas, Ashley; Hock, Alyson; Bhatt, Ramesh S.
Child Development, v85 n2 p675-684 Mar-Apr 2014
Adults recognize emotions conveyed by bodies with comparable accuracy to facial emotions. However, no prior study has explored infants' perception of body emotions. In Experiment 1, 6.5-month-olds (n = 32) preferred happy over neutral actions of actors with covered faces in upright but not inverted silent videos. In Experiment 2, infants (n = 32) matched happy and angry videos to corresponding vocalizations when the videos were upright but not when they were inverted. Experiment 3 (n = 16) demonstrated that infants' performance in Experiment 2 was not driven by information from the covered face and head. Thus, young infants are sensitive to emotions conveyed by bodies and match them to affective vocalizations, indicating sophisticated emotion processing capabilities early in life.
Descriptors: Infants, Emotional Development, Emotional Response, Human Body, Nonverbal Communication, Visual Stimuli, Visual Discrimination, Motion, Verbal Communication, Affective Behavior
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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