Generalized discrimination of positive facial expression by seven- and ten-month-old infants. 1991

P M Ludemann
NIH-NICHD, Bethesda, MD 20892.

The ability of 7- and 10-month-old infants to generalize their discrimination of facial expressions lacking featural consistency was investigated in a series of 4 experiments. Infants were habituated to models posing either prototypically positive displays (e.g., happy expressions) or positive expression blends (e.g., mock surprise). They were then tested for their ability to recognize a positive expression on the face of a novel model and to discriminate positive and negative facial expressions. Only in Experiment 1, in which infants were familiarized to a mix of happy and surprised facial expressions, did 10-month-olds demonstrate generalized discrimination of positive affect. When positive blends or happy expressions alone served as familiarization stimuli, both 7- and 10-month-old infants failed to dishabituate to a change in affective tone. 7-month-olds, in particular, showed consistent recovery of looking to the introduction of novel models. The pattern of results suggests that it is not until sometime after 7 months of age that dependence on the presence of expression-specific features for affect recognition and discrimination diminishes. By 10 months of age, however, infants are beginning to recognize the affective similarity of familiar positive facial expressions.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D004192 Discrimination, Psychological Differential response to different stimuli. Discrimination, Psychology,Psychological Discrimination
D005149 Facial Expression Observable changes of expression in the face in response to emotional stimuli. Face Expression,Expression, Face,Expression, Facial,Face Expressions,Facial Expressions
D005795 Generalization, Stimulus The tendency to react to stimuli that are different from, but somewhat similar to, the stimulus used as a conditioned stimulus. Generalizations, Stimulus,Stimulus Generalization,Stimulus Generalizations
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000339 Affect The feeling-tone accompaniment of an idea or mental representation. It is the most direct psychic derivative of instinct and the psychic representative of the various bodily changes by means of which instincts manifest themselves. Mood,Affects,Moods

Related Publications

P M Ludemann
February 1983, Child development,
P M Ludemann
December 1979, Child development,
P M Ludemann
January 1999, Science (New York, N.Y.),
P M Ludemann
March 1979, Child development,
P M Ludemann
December 1985, Child development,
P M Ludemann
December 1986, Child development,
Copied contents to your clipboard!