Finding an emotional face in the kindergarten – Happiness superiority effect for children faces in pre-schoolers

Abstract

Previous studies investigating the advantage of emotional expressions in visual processing in preschool children only used adult faces. However, children perceive facial expression of emotions differently when displayed on adults’ compared to children’s faces. In the present study, pre-schoolers (N=43, Mean age=5.65) had to find a target face displaying an emotional expression among eight neutral faces. Gender of the faces (boy and girl) were also manipulated. Happy faces were found the fastest, while children still detected the angry face faster than the fearful one. The detection was faster with boys’ faces compare to girls’ for all emotions. It is suggested that the happy face could have an advantage in visual processing due to its importance in social situations.