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Xiaoqing Gao
McMaster University

The ability to recognize facial expressions facilitates social interactions. In my Ph.D. thesis, I took three approaches to compare the sensitivity of adults and children aged 5 to 14 years to the six basic facial expressions: 1) the influence of intensity on the recognition of facial expressions; 2) the perceived similarities among facial expressions; and 3) the selective use of spatial frequency information in recognizing facial expressions. Collectively, these studies reveal different developmental trajectories for different expressions, with sensitivity to happy expressions already adult-like at age 5, but changes for some negative expressions even continuing past age 10. The slow development of adult-like proficiency with negative expressions may lead children to make errors in judging the intentions of others.