Are 6-month-old human infants able to transfer emotional information (happy or angry) from voices to faces? An eye-tracking study

Improving social-emotional abilities in children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities through a person-centred eye-tracking-based training: A pilot study

Individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) are characterized by a combination of a profound intellectual disabilities and a profound motor disability frequently associated with a number of additional severe secondary disabilities or impairments. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative person-centred training based on eye-tracking computerised serious games on the social-emotional abilities in these individuals with PIMD. Nine participants aged 7-18 years were followed over a period of 1 year. A pre-test (T1) - training - post-test (T2) design was used. During T1 and T2, visual attention and six social-emotional abilities (preferential attention to biological motion, social orienting, facial expression exploration, emotional faces discrimination, joint attention and socio-moral evaluations) were assessed using an eye-tracking-based experimental paradigm combining various visual preference tasks. During the training, each participant benefited from personalized one-to-one sessions tailored to their skills based on results of T1 and the observations of their practitioners. To implement person-centred training, the experimenter chose from a set of serious games to train these social-emotional abilities, those he felt were best suited to the participant's current state of heath and alertness, personal skills and specific needs. All participants improved their visual exploration between T1 and T2. In addition, they all made progress on at least one of the six social-emotional competencies. These results showed preliminary evidence that it is possible to increase some social-emotional abilities in these individuals with an adapted training, thus indicating that they also have unsuspected learning abilities.

The Development of Emotion Recognition Skills from Childhood to Adolescence

This study investigates how the ability to recognize static facial emotional expressions changes over time, specifically through three developmental stages: childhood, preadolescence, and adolescence. A total of 301 Italian participants were involved and divided into three age groups: children (7-10 years), pre-adolescents (11-13 years), and adolescents (14-19 years). Participants completed an online emotional decoding task using images from the Child Affective Facial Expression (CAFE) database, depicting anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and neutrality, conveyed by children of different ethnicities (African American, Caucasian/European American, Latino, and Asian). Results indicated that female participants generally exhibited a higher emotion recognition accuracy than male participants. Among the emotions, happiness, surprise, and anger were the most accurately recognized, while fear was the least recognized. Adolescents demonstrated a better recognition of disgust compared to children, while pre-adolescents more poorly recognized neutrality compared to children and adolescents. Additionally, this study found that female facial expressions of disgust, sadness, and fear were more accurately recognized than male expressions, whereas male expressions of surprise and neutrality were better recognized than female expressions. Regarding the ethnicity of facial expressions, results revealed that ethnicity can be better or more poorly recognized depending on the emotion investigated, therefore presenting very heterogeneous models.

An Eye-Tracking Study on Six Early Social-Emotional Abilities in Children Aged 1 to 3 Years

BACKGROUND

The experimental evaluation of young children's socio-emotional abilities is limited by the lack of existing specific measures to assess this population and by the relative difficulty for researchers to adapt measures designed for the general population.

METHODS

This study examined six early social-emotional abilities in 86 typically developing children aged 1 to 3 years using an eye-tracking-based experimental paradigm that combined visual preference tasks adapted from pre-existing infant studies.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to obtain developmental norms in six early social-emotional abilities in typical children aged 1 to 3 years that would be promising for an understanding of disorders of mental development. These developmental standards are essential to enable comparative assessments with children with atypical development, such as children with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD).

RESULTS

The participants had greater spontaneous visual preferences for biological (vs. non-biological) motion, socially salient (vs. non-social) stimuli, the eye (vs. mouth) area of emotional expressions, angry (vs. happy) faces, and objects of joint attention (vs. non-looked-at ones). Interestingly, although the prosocial (vs. antisocial) scene of the socio-moral task was preferred, both the helper and hinderer characters were equally gazed at. Finally, correlational analyses revealed that performance was neither related to participants' age nor to each other (dismissing the hypothesis of a common underpinning process).

CONCLUSION

Our revised experimental paradigm is possible in infants aged 1 to 3 years and thus provides additional scientific proof on the direct assessment of these six socio-emotional abilities in this population.

A perspective-based analysis of attachment from prenatal period to second year postnatal life

Attachment is one of the foundational themes in the history of the psychological development of human beings. For this reason, we assume that it must be approached by taking into account multiple scientific perspectives. The present review aims at analyzing the state of the art regarding the genetic, neurobiological and cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of attachment bonding, considering the child as the frame of reference. We hypothesize that attachment may be present in prototypical forms even in the prenatal period, thus our analysis has a temporal origin in the intrauterine period preceding birth. The intrauterine period is assumed to be a period of maximum sensitivity to stimuli and in particular to those coming from a potential primary caregiver: the biological mother. We conclude with a reframing of the state of the art and propose that future research work would benefit from a superordinate model of attachment, capable of containing and regulating all its components and variables.

Predictors of Emotional Prosody Identification by School-Age Children With Cochlear Implants and Their Peers With Normal Hearing

OBJECTIVES

Children with cochlear implants (CIs) vary widely in their ability to identify emotions in speech. The causes of this variability are unknown, but this knowledge will be crucial if we are to design improvements in technological or rehabilitative interventions that are effective for individual patients. The objective of this study was to investigate how well factors such as age at implantation, duration of device experience (hearing age), nonverbal cognition, vocabulary, and socioeconomic status predict prosody-based emotion identification in children with CIs, and how the key predictors in this population compare to children with normal hearing who are listening to either normal emotional speech or to degraded speech.

DESIGN

We measured vocal emotion identification in 47 school-age CI recipients aged 7 to 19 years in a single-interval, 5-alternative forced-choice task. None of the participants had usable residual hearing based on parent/caregiver report. Stimuli consisted of a set of semantically emotion-neutral sentences that were recorded by 4 talkers in child-directed and adult-directed prosody corresponding to five emotions: neutral, angry, happy, sad, and scared. Twenty-one children with normal hearing were also tested in the same tasks; they listened to both original speech and to versions that had been noise-vocoded to simulate CI information processing.

RESULTS

Group comparison confirmed the expected deficit in CI participants' emotion identification relative to participants with normal hearing. Within the CI group, increasing hearing age (correlated with developmental age) and nonverbal cognition outcomes predicted emotion recognition scores. Stimulus-related factors such as talker and emotional category also influenced performance and were involved in interactions with hearing age and cognition. Age at implantation was not predictive of emotion identification. Unlike the CI participants, neither cognitive status nor vocabulary predicted outcomes in participants with normal hearing, whether listening to original speech or CI-simulated speech. Age-related improvements in outcomes were similar in the two groups. Participants with normal hearing listening to original speech showed the greatest differences in their scores for different talkers and emotions. Participants with normal hearing listening to CI-simulated speech showed significant deficits compared with their performance with original speech materials, and their scores also showed the least effect of talker- and emotion-based variability. CI participants showed more variation in their scores with different talkers and emotions than participants with normal hearing listening to CI-simulated speech, but less so than participants with normal hearing listening to original speech.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, these results confirm previous findings that pediatric CI recipients have deficits in emotion identification based on prosodic cues, but they improve with age and experience at a rate that is similar to peers with normal hearing. Unlike participants with normal hearing, nonverbal cognition played a significant role in CI listeners' emotion identification. Specifically, nonverbal cognition predicted the extent to which individual CI users could benefit from some talkers being more expressive of emotions than others, and this effect was greater in CI users who had less experience with their device (or were younger) than CI users who had more experience with their device (or were older). Thus, in young prelingually deaf children with CIs performing an emotional prosody identification task, cognitive resources may be harnessed to a greater degree than in older prelingually deaf children with CIs or than children with normal hearing.

Parent-Child Communication Incongruence in Pediatric Healthcare

Parents play a key role in providing children with health-related information and emotional support. This communication occurs both in their homes and in pediatric healthcare environments, such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, and primary care offices. Often, this occurs within situations entailing heightened stress for both the parent and the child. There is considerable research within the communication literature regarding the nature of both verbal and nonverbal communication, along with the way in which these communication modalities are either similar (i.e., congruent) or dissimilar (i.e., incongruent) to one another. However, less is known about communication congruency/incongruency, specifically in parent-child relationships, or within healthcare environments. In this narrative review, we explore the concept of verbal and nonverbal communication incongruence, specifically within the context of parent-child communication in a pediatric healthcare setting. We present an overview of verbal and nonverbal communication and propose the Communication Incongruence Model to encapsulate how verbal and nonverbal communication streams are used and synthesized by parents and children. We discuss the nature and possible reasons for parental communication incongruence within pediatric settings, along with the consequences of incongruent communication. Finally, we suggest a number of hypotheses derived from the model that can be tested empirically and used to guide future research directions and influence potential clinical applications.

A neural marker of rapid discrimination of facial expression in 3.5- and 7-month-old infants

Infants’ ability to discriminate facial expressions has been widely explored, but little is known about the rapid and automatic ability to discriminate a given expression against many others in a single experiment. Here we investigated the development of facial expression discrimination in infancy with fast periodic visual stimulation coupled with scalp electroencephalography (EEG). EEG was recorded in eighteen 3.5- and eighteen 7-month-old infants presented with a female face expressing disgust, happiness, or a neutral emotion (in different stimulation sequences) at a base stimulation frequency of 6 Hz. Pictures of the same individual expressing other emotions (either anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or neutrality, randomly and excluding the expression presented at the base frequency) were introduced every six stimuli (at 1 Hz). Frequency-domain analysis revealed an objective (i.e., at the predefined 1-Hz frequency and harmonics) expression-change brain response in both 3.5- and 7-month-olds, indicating the visual discrimination of various expressions from disgust, happiness and neutrality from these early ages. At 3.5 months, the responses to the discrimination from disgust and happiness expressions were located mainly on medial occipital sites, whereas a more lateral topography was found for the response to the discrimination from neutrality, suggesting that expression discrimination from an emotionally neutral face relies on distinct visual cues than discrimination from a disgust or happy face. Finally, expression discrimination from happiness was associated with a reduced activity over posterior areas and an additional response over central frontal scalp regions at 7 months as compared to 3.5 months. This result suggests developmental changes in the processing of happiness expressions as compared to negative/neutral ones within this age range.

Nonverbal emotion perception and vocabulary in late infancy

Language has been proposed as a potential mechanism for young children's developing understanding of emotion. However, much remains unknown about this relation at an individual difference level. The present study investigated 15- to 18-month-old infants' perception of emotions across multiple pairs of faces. Parents reported their child's productive vocabulary, and infants participated in a non-linguistic emotion perception task via an eye tracker. Infant vocabulary did not predict nonverbal emotion perception when accounting for infant age, gender, and general object perception ability (β = -0.15, p = .300). However, we observed a gender difference: Only girls' vocabulary scores related to nonverbal emotion perception when controlling for age and general object perception ability (β = 0.42, p = .024). Further, boys showed a stronger preference for the novel emotion face vs. girls (t(48) = 2.35, p = .023, d= 0.67). These data suggest that pathways of processing emotional information (e.g., using language vs visual information) may differ for girls and boys in late infancy.

Eye-tracking-based experimental paradigm to assess social-emotional abilities in young individuals with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities

Individuals with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD) experience a combination of severe cognitive and motor impairments frequently associated with additional sensory deficits and numerous medical disorders. The purpose of the present study was to propose an experimental paradigm based on eye-tracking that combines various pre-existing tasks from infancy research as an assessment tool. This would enable the investigation of social-emotional abilities in nine young individuals with PIMD through their visual preferences for different types of stimuli. The first objective was to test the feasibility of this paradigm, by expecting individuals to look more at the tasks’ presentation screen than elsewhere during its implementation. The second objective was to investigate whether PIMD individuals exhibit visual preferences for (a) biological (vs. non-biological) motion, (b) socially salient (vs. non-social) scenes, (c) the facial area of the eyes (vs. the mouth), (d) happy (vs. angry) faces, (e) objects of joint attention (vs. non-looked at ones), and for (f) prosocial (vs. anti-social) behaviors similar to those of a control group of typically developing children aged two years on average. Overall, the feasibility of this paradigm proved to be good, resulting in high individual looking rates that were not affected by the presentation or the content of the tasks. Analyses of individual social-emotional abilities, supported by the visual preference patterns of each PIMD individual, firstly revealed strong—but expected—variability both within and between subjects, and secondly highlighted some individual task-specific abilities although few similarities between these individual results and those of the control group were found. These findings underline the great relevance of using this type of paradigm for assessing PIMD individuals and thus contribute to a better understanding of their social and emotional development.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on infant and toddler development

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has created new cultural norms with pervasive societal implications. Families have experienced a heightened amount of physical, psychological, emotional, and financial stress. Infants and children living with stress have the potential for delayed developmental milestones, difficulty with emotional regulation, and social or behavioral issues.

PURPOSE

This study aims to determine if the pandemic has affected developmental outcomes in infants and toddlers.

METHODOLOGY

Prepandemic and postpandemic developmental (ASQ-3) scores were obtained from charts of 1,024 patients (6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months) from two pediatric practices.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences in prepandemic and postpandemic ASQ-3 scores for the overall sample. Age-group analysis showed statistically significant differences in domain scores. Postpandemic problem-solving scores decreased among 6-month-olds while increasing among 24-month-olds. Categorization by score interpretation categories showed a slight decrease in postpandemic scores in the communication domain among 6- and 12-month-olds.

CONCLUSIONS

The pandemic has the potential to affect childhood development. However, the results of this study are reassuring, showing only slight differences in developmental scores prepandemic versus postpandemic. More studies are needed to establish causation and possible trends in future developmental trajectories.

IMPLICATIONS

An increased focus on communication screening and promotion of language and communication skills in young children postpandemic is needed. Education about the importance of parent-child engagement, nurturing relationships, opportunities for free-play and exploration, and caregiver support and stress reduction will continue to be of paramount importance.

A study on visual preference for social stimuli in typical Ecuadorian preschoolers as a contribution to the identification of autism risk factors

The goal of this study was to examine the visual preference towards socially salient stimuli, using a low-cost eye-tracking device in a group of typically developing (TD) Ecuadorian preschoolers aged 11 to 60 months, from rural and urban areas, and from families with low to high socioeconomic status (SES). Series of original stimuli inspired by those used in Western experiments on the early detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were proposed in two eye-tracking tasks. Two types of movements (human vs. object) were presented in task 1, and dynamic speaking faces in task 2. Parental perceptions of the adaptability of the low-cost eye-tracking device used here were also investigated through a questionnaire. The analyses of mean fixation times showed a visual preference for human movements compared to moving objects whatever age, residency location or SES. In task 2, visual preference for the mouth's area compared to the eyes' area was observed in specific conditions, modulated by residency location and SES but not by age. The analyses of the parental perception indicated that the eye-tracking technique is well accepted. The findings suggest that these stimuli, along with the experimental procedure and low-cost eye-tracking device used in the present study may be a relevant tool that can be used in clinical settings as a contribution to the early identification of at-risk factors of ASD in low- and middle-income contexts.

The implications of face masks for babies and families during the COVID-19 pandemic: A discussion paper

COVID-19 has changed the way that newborn babies are cared for within the neonatal setting due to the introduction of social distancing and wearing of face masks to limit the spread of the infection. Potential implications exist related to the normal development of bonding and connections with others. This paper discusses the importance of face to face interactions for early attachment between babies and parents within the context of relevant underpinning developmental theory. Mask wearing can also potentially impact relational communication, requiring us to change our current ways of working. Decreasing face to face interactions and relational communication, along with key recommendations for both parents and health professionals are further highlighted to mitigate the potential negative effects of masks on long-term development related to human connection and attachment.

Emotional facial perception development in 7, 9 and 11 year-old children: The emergence of a silent eye-tracked emotional other-race effect

The present study examined emotional facial perception (happy and angry) in 7, 9 and 11-year-old children from Caucasian and multicultural environments with an offset task for two ethnic groups of faces (Asian and Caucasian). In this task, participants were required to respond to a dynamic facial expression video when they believed that the first emotion presented had disappeared. Moreover, using an eye-tracker, we evaluated the ocular behavior pattern used to process these different faces. The analyses of reaction times do not show an emotional other-race effect (i.e., a facility in discriminating own-race faces over to other-race ones) in Caucasian children for Caucasian vs. Asian faces through offset times, but an effect of emotional face appeared in the oldest children. Furthermore, an eye-tracked ocular emotion and race-effect relative to processing strategies is observed and evolves between age 7 and 11. This study strengthens the interest in advancing an eye-tracking study in developmental and emotional processing studies, showing that even a "silent" effect should be detected and shrewdly analyzed through an objective means.

Intermodal emotion matching at 15 months, but not 9 or 21 months, predicts early childhood emotion understanding: A longitudinal investigation

Emotion understanding is a crucial skill for early social development, yet little is known regarding longitudinal development of this skill from infancy to early childhood. To address this issue, the present longitudinal study followed 40 participants from 9 to 30 months. Intermodal emotion matching was assessed using eye tracking at 9, 15, and 21 months, and emotion understanding was measured using the Affective Knowledge Test at 30 months of age. A novelty preference on the emotion matching task at 15 months (but not at 9 or 21 months) significantly predicted emotion understanding performance at 30 months. However, linear and quadratic trajectories for emotion matching development across 9- to 21-months did not predict later emotion understanding. No gender differences were observed in emotion matching or emotion understanding. These results hold implications for better understanding how infant emotion matching may relate to later emotion understanding, and the role that infant emotion perception may play in early emotional development.

Do Preverbal Infants Understand Discrete Facial Expressions of Emotion?

An ongoing debate in affective science concerns whether certain discrete, “basic” emotions have evolutionarily based signals (facial expressions) that are easily, universally, and (perhaps) innately identified. Studies with preverbal infants (younger than 24 months) have the potential to shed light on this debate. This review summarizes what is known about preverbal infants’ understanding of discrete emotional facial expressions. Overall, while many studies suggest that preverbal infants differentiate positive and negative facial expressions, few studies have tested whether infants understand discrete emotions (e.g., anger vs. disgust). Moreover, results vary greatly based on methodological factors. This review also (a) discusses how language may influence the development of emotion understanding, and (b) proposes a new developmental hypothesis for infants’ discrete emotion understanding.