Losing the feel for social judgements: Age-related physiological changes when evaluating the approachability of emotional faces
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1
Australian Catholic University, Australia
The ability to respond appropriately to facial expressions of emotion is critical for effective social communication. However, this capacity is understood to decline in later adulthood. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this cognitive decline is associated with altered physiological responses when judging whether to approach or avoid another individual. Thirty older (60-89 years) and 30 younger (18-39 years) adults judged the approachability of a series of emotional faces (i.e., angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, sad and neutral). While completing the task, physiological responses were measured from the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscle sites using facial electromygraphy (EMG). As anticipated, older adults judged all faces as more approachable than younger adults, however an interaction revealed that this was particularly the case for angry, fearful and neutral faces. When judging approachability, unlike younger adults, older adults' corrugator activity did not distinguish between emotional faces. Whereas younger adults showed enhanced corrugator activity when judging the approachability of negatively valenced faces, older adults failed to show this pattern. These findings indicate that the cognitive declines observed in older adulthood are associated with changes in physiological responding to emotional faces when evaluating approachability. The findings have important implications for our understanding of the social decision-making capacity of older adults and their potential vulnerability for social exploitation.
Keywords:
Ageing,
social cognition,
approachability,
facial expression recognition,
facial electromography
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Emotional and Social Processes
Citation:
Willis
M,
Netscher
C,
Terrett
G and
Rendell
P
(2015). Losing the feel for social judgements: Age-related physiological changes when evaluating the approachability of emotional faces.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00353
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Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Megan Willis, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia, dr.megan.willis@gmail.com