Children's Understanding of Facial Expression of Emotion: I. Voluntary Creation of Emotion-Faces

Abstract

22 children (ages 4 to 6 yr.) from a day-care service were asked to "make a face" that would show how they would feel in five situations representing the basic emotions of happiness, sadness, disgust, anger, and fear. Children decoded their own videotaped responses one week later, and they also decoded the same expressions presented by a child whom they did not know. Groups of day-care teachers and university students were employed in decoding the children's facial responses. Recognizability of all emotions by all decoders improved with the age of the child in a linear manner (9% gain per year). Happy and disgusted expressions were the most easily decoded.