Tuning the developing brain to emotional body expressions

Missana, M.; Atkinson, A.P.; Grossmann, T.

Abstract

Reading others’ emotional body expressions is an essential social skill. Adults readily recognize emotions from body movements. However, it is unclear when in development infants become sensitive to bodily expressed emotions. We examined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in 4- and 8-month-old infants in response to point-light displays (PLDs) of happy and fearful body expressions presented in two orientations (upright and inverted). The ERP results revealed that 8-month-olds but not 4-month olds respond sensitively to the orientation and the emotion of the dynamic expressions. Specifically, 8-month-olds showed (i) an early (200–400 ms) orientation-sensitive positivity over frontal and central electrodes, and (ii) a late (700–1100 ms) emotion-sensitive positivity over temporal and parietal electrodes in the right hemisphere. These findings suggest that orientation-sensitive and emotion-sensitive brain processes, distinct in timing and topography, develop between 4 and 8 months of age.

Citation

Missana, M., Atkinson, A., & Grossmann, T. (2015). Tuning the developing brain to emotional body expressions. Developmental Science, 18(2), 243-253. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12209

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 7, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jul 11, 2014
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2016
• Journal: Developmental Science
• Print ISSN: 1363-755X
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-7687
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 243-253
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12209
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1423832