Emotion Recognition in Children With Down Syndrome: Influence of Emotion Label and Expression Intensity

Cebula, Katie R.; Wishart, Jennifer G.; Willis, Diane S.; Pitcairn, Tom K.

Abstract

Some children with Down syndrome may experience difficulties in recognising facial emotions, particularly fear, but it is not clear why, nor how such skills can best be facilitated. Using a photo-matching task, emotion recognition was tested in children with Down syndrome, children with non-specific intellectual disabilities and cognitively-matched typically-developing children (all groups N = 21) under four conditions: veridical vs exaggerated emotions and emotion-labelling vs generic task instructions. In all groups, exaggerating emotions facilitated recognition accuracy and speed, with emotion labelling facilitating recognition accuracy. Overall accuracy and speed did not differ in the children with Down syndrome, although recognition of fear was poorer than in the typically developing children and unrelated to emotion label use. Implications for interventions are considered.

Citation

Cebula, K. R., Wishart, J. G., Willis, D. S., & Pitcairn, T. K. (2017). Emotion Recognition in Children With Down Syndrome: Influence of Emotion Label and Expression Intensity. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 122(2), 138-155. https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-122.2.138

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 13, 2016
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Deposit Date: Oct 10, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 20, 2016
• Journal: American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• Print ISSN: 1944-7558
• Publisher: American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 122
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 138-155
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-122.2.138
• Keywords: Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health; Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Developmental and Educational Psychology; Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology; Psychiatry and Mental health; Clinical Neurology; General Medicine
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/401567
• Contract Date: Oct 20, 2016