Schematic drawings of facial expressions for emotion recognition and interpretation by preschool-aged children.

Schematic drawings of facial expressions were evaluated as a possible assessment tool for research on emotion recognition and interpretation involving young children. A subset of Ekman and Friesen's (1976) Pictures of Facial Affect was used as the standard for comparison. Preschool children (N = 138) were shown drawing and photographs in two context conditions for six emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). The overall correlation between accuracy for the photographs and drawings was .677. A significant difference was found for the stimulus condition (photographs vs. drawings) but not for the administration condition (label-based vs. context-based). Children were significantly more accurate in interpreting drawings than photographs and tended to be more accurate in identifying facial expressions in the label-based administration condition for both photographs and drawings than in the context-based administration condition.

Facial interpretation and component consistency.

The issue of consistency, without regard to accuracy, of the facial component of focus (upper/eyebrows, middle/eyes, lower/nose and mouth) when interpreting facial expressions of emotion was examined. Eighty girls (average age, 7 years) chose, from an array of schematic faces, which face best represented various emotional scenarios (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise). The findings indicate that these children were remarkably consistent in facial area of focus. Across six trials for each emotion, children focused on the mouth (lower component) for happiness, sadness, surprise, and disgust, and on the eyebrows (the upper component) for anger and fear.

Interpretation of facial expressions of emotion: the influence of eyebrows.

The contribution of the eyebrow component (eyebrow density and eyebrow position) in interpretation of facial displays of emotions was explored. In Study 1, college students (N = 60) and children (N = 60), ages 6-9 years, listened to vignettes consisting of one or two sentences and selected the facial expression that best matched the vignette. A main effect for eyebrow density as well as interactions for Density x Age and Density x Emotion were found. Also, a main effect for eyebrow position and interactions for Position x Age, Position x Emotion, and Position x Age x Emotion were significant. Study 2 was conducted to better understand whether findings regarding eyebrow position were a function of mistaking the intended emotion portrayed in the vignettes. Using a within-subject design, responses from 60 children, age 6-9 years, were compared for trials when the emotion was designated and when emotion was not designated. A main effect for designation of emotion was not found; however, an interaction effect for Designation x Emotion was significant.

Production of facial expressions of emotion in preschool children.

138 preschool children created faces with manipulable facial components to represent expressed emotions. Proportions selecting appropriate components varied with emotions so the task was perhaps more cognitively demanding than Ekman and Friesen's facial recognition task.

Performance on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children as related to salivary testosterone in children with learning disabilities: a poststudy analysis.

Reanalysis of testosterone values published in 1993 gave a significantly higher mean and standard deviation for 15 learning-disabled children scoring P > V than those for 10 scoring V > P but not for a matched nonlearning-disabled group. Replication with larger samples would allow a test of hemispheric integration.

Salivary testosterone in children with and without learning disabilities.

Previous studies have indicated that the sex steroids have organizational effects upon neural tissue and that abnormal secretion during development may lead to functional anomalies. In this study, we explore the possibility of prepubertal steroid hormone involvement in the etiology of learning disabilities. Salivary testosterone levels in 264 children without learning disabilities (133 males, 131 females) were measured and compared to that in 32 children with learning disabilities (25 males, 7 females). The presence of learning disabilities was significantly associated with higher salivary testosterone. Data from equivalent samples of learning-disabled and control subjects also were compared separately because of disparities in sample size and variable distribution in the total group analysis. A 32-member sample of nonlearning-disabled children was created by randomly selecting individuals who exactly matched the age, race, and sex characteristics of the learning-disabled group. The matched analysis further substantiated the association between testosterone secretion and learning disabilities. Thus, it is possible that some learning disabilities may be associated in part with abnormal testosterone levels.

Interpretation of emotion from facial expressions in children with and without learning disabilities.

The accuracy and time required for children with and without learning disabilities to interpret emotions when restricted to information from facial expressions, and the accuracy of those interpretations, were investigated. Ninety-six children participated; an equal number of males and females were included in both learning categories and age levels. Accuracy and response time on a modified version of Pictures of Facial Affect were recorded for the emotions of fear, sadness, surprise, anger, happiness, and disgust, as well as for the entire task. Three-way ANOVAs revealed children with learning disabilities to (a) be less accurate interpreters of emotion and (b) spend more time identifying specific emotions. Both age and sex influenced response time: Younger subjects required more time to interpret the emotions of fear and anger; males spent more time interpreting happiness. Younger females with learning disabilities displayed difficulty in interpretation, and older children with learning disabilities (particularly males) were rapid, but often inaccurate, interpreters of emotion.

Body image of anorexic, obese, and normal females.

This study investigated disturbances in body image perception with anorexic, obese and control groups (N = 24). Each group was comprised of 8 female subjects matched for age. An original silhouette chart and chi squares were employed, and a significant difference was found among the groups in the perception of the present-self body image (chi 2 (8) = 24.19, p less than .01), body image at plus 10 pounds (chi 2 (6) = 27.63, p less than .01), and body image at minus 10 pounds (chi 2 (8) = 26.05, p less than .01). No differences among the groups appeared in perceived ideal-self body image or in their perception of the body image that was expected from their families. A directional trend was noted in anorexic overestimation and obese underestimation on the total concept of body image. Significant differences among the groups as judged via a semantic differential technique were found for personality descriptions of happy/sad, active/passive, popular/unpopular, effective/ineffective, competent/incompetent, smart/stupid, and cold/warm.

Vision and academic performance of learning disabled children.

The purpose of this study was to assess difference in academic performance among myopic, hyperopic, and emmetropic children who were learning disabled. More specifically, myopic children were expected to perform better on mathematical and spatial tasks than would hyperopic ones and that hyperopic and emmetropic children would perform better on verbal measures than would myopic ones. For 439 learning disabled students visual anomalies were determined via a Generated Retinal Reflex Image Screening System. Test data were obtained from school files. Partial support for the hypothesis was obtained. Myopic learning disabled children outperformed hyperopic and emmetropic children on the Key Math test. Myopic children scored better than hyperopic children on the WRAT Reading subtest and on the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty Oral Reading Comprehension, Oral Rate, Flashword, and Spelling subtests, and on the Key Math Measurement and Total Scores. Severity of refractive error significantly affected the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised Full Scale, Performance Scale, Verbal Scale, and Digit Span scores but did not affect any academic test scores. Several other findings were also reported. Those with nonametropic problems scored higher than those without problems on the Key Math Time subtest. Implications supportive of the theories of Benbow and Benbow and Geschwind and Behan were stated.

Eye classification, sex, and math anxiety in learning disabled children: behavioral observations on conservation of volume.

Benbow and Benbow suggest that myopia and maleness are advantages in mathematical giftedness; however, the influence of these biological correlates on learning disabilities is not yet as clearly defined. 29 learning disabled children (aged 7-13 yr; eye class diagnosed) performed two Piagetian tasks on conservation of volume, one using numbered blocks to rebuild an original house whose "rooms" were cued by an illogically ordered system, and one using plain blocks to recreate an unnumbered house. A modification of the Preschool Observation Scale of Anxiety was used to observe frequencies of overt physiological behavioral indicators of anxiousness during task performances. No significance was noted by eye class; however, a significant interaction of sex by task did occur. Means differed by sex significantly on the numbered tasks. Implications are discussed in terms of certainty times versus correctness and facilitative versus debilitative anxiety.

Ocular anomalies: a comparison of learning disabled and nonlearning disabled elementary school children.

This study compared descriptive data, obtained via retinal reflex photography, concerning ocular anomalies of 439 learning disabled elementary school children, 1657 kindergarten and Grade 1 nonlearning disabled children, and 724 nonlearning disabled children in Grades 2 to 6. Ocular factors included refractive and nonametropic errors as well as severity of the problem. The learning disabled sample had a significantly higher incidence of refractive error than the normal samples in Kindergarten and Grade 1 but lower incidence than the normal sample in Grades 2 to 6. The learning disabled group had a significantly higher incidence of myopia in one or both eyes than did the kindergarten and first grade normal group. No such difference for myopia existed between the learning disabled and the normal sample in Grades 2 to 6. Incidence of hyperopia in both eyes was significantly lower in the learning disabled than in the kindergarten-first grade sample; however, hyperopia in one eye only was greater for the learning disabled than for the older normals. Significant differences between the younger and older normals existed for all types of refractive error except hyperopia in only one eye. Severity of the problem differed significantly between the learning disabled and the kindergarten-first grade sample in the classes of severe and minimal, not at all when comparing learning disabled and older normals, and in all classes when comparing younger and older normals. The learning disabled also had a significantly higher incidence of nonametropic anomalies than did the normal group. Implications relating refractive error and near environment were discussed.

Body image stereotypes: a developmental comparison.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that temperament judgments associated with different body types were dependent upon sex and age of the respondents. A total of 500 participants, 249 females and 251 males ranging from 6 to 60 years of age, were sampled. Participants were drawn from various civic, educational, institutional, and residential groups in a Southern cosmopolitan city. A paper-pencil instrument consisted of three body silhouettes (representing an ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph) and 40 temperament/behavior descriptors. The respondents matched each descriptor with one of the three body types. The results indicated that the descriptors were differentially associated with body types according to age groups but not by sex. The mesomorph was overwhelmingly and consistently viewed as the most positive of the three body types, but was rated somewhat more negatively as the age of the group increased. Participants of ages 6 through 25 rated the endomorph more negatively than the ectomorph, while those of ages 26-40 rates them equally. In contrast, participants over 40 years of age viewed the ectomorph more negatively than the endomorph.