Infants' emerging sensitivity to emotional body expressions: insights from asymmetrical frontal brain activity.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Author(s): Missana M;Missana M; Grossmann T; Grossmann T
  • Source:
    Developmental psychology [Dev Psychol] 2015 Feb; Vol. 51 (2), pp. 151-60. Date of Electronic Publication: 2014 Dec 29.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: American Psychological Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0260564 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1939-0599 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00121649 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Dev Psychol Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Washington DC : American Psychological Association
      Original Publication: Richmond, Va., American Psychological Assn.
    • Subject Terms:
      Child Development/*physiology ; Discrimination, Psychological/*physiology ; Frontal Lobe/*growth & development ; Motivation/*physiology; Cerebrum/growth & development ; Cerebrum/physiology ; Electroencephalography ; Emotions/physiology ; Evoked Potentials ; Facial Expression ; Female ; Frontal Lobe/physiology ; Germany ; Humans ; Infant ; Male
    • Abstract:
      Sensitive responding to others' emotional body expressions is an essential social skill in humans. Using event-related brain potentials, it has recently been shown that the ability to discriminate between emotional body expressions develops between 4 and 8 months of age. However, it is not clear whether the perception of emotional body expressions in others evokes sensitive brain responses linked to motivational processes in infants. We therefore examined frontal EEG alpha asymmetry in response to dynamic happy and fearful body expressions presented to 4- and 8-month-old infants in 2 orientations (upright and inverted). Our results revealed that only 8-month-olds but not 4-month-olds showed significant differences in their frontal asymmetry responses between emotional expressions when presented in an upright orientation. Specifically, 8-month-old infants showed a greater lateralization to the left hemisphere in response to happy expression, indexing a greater tendency to approach, whereas they showed a greater lateralization to the right hemisphere in response to fearful expressions, indexing a greater tendency to withdraw. These findings provide further support for the notion that infants' perception of emotion undergoes a developmental tuning during this period in development. Critically, the results suggest that the infant brain becomes sensitive to the motivational significance conveyed by the emotional body expressions.
      (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20141230 Date Completed: 20150713 Latest Revision: 20191210
    • Publication Date:
      20240829
    • Accession Number:
      10.1037/a0038469
    • Accession Number:
      25546593