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Emotion recognition by children with Down syndrome
C Kasari1, S F Freeman, M A Hughes
1Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1521, USA. kasari@gseis.ucla.edu
American Journal of Mental Retardation : AJMR
|March 15, 2001
Summary
Children with Down syndrome show similar emotion recognition to peers until age 4. After this, their abilities lag behind, suggesting unique developmental differences in processing emotions.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Genetics
Background:
- Emotion recognition is crucial for social interaction.
- Children with Down syndrome often exhibit social-communication challenges.
- Understanding emotion recognition development in Down syndrome is vital.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess emotion recognition skills in children with Down syndrome.
- To compare their abilities with typically developing children and those with other intellectual disabilities.
- To investigate developmental trajectories of emotion recognition.
Main Methods:
- Three studies involving emotion recognition tasks.
- Tasks assessed knowledge, labeling, and contextual understanding of emotions.
- Participants included children with Down syndrome and matched controls.
Main Results:
- Young children with Down syndrome (MA ~3 years) performed similarly to typical controls.
- By age 4, children with Down syndrome performed significantly worse than MA-matched typical children.
- Emotion recognition abilities did not improve over 2 years despite mental age gains.
Conclusions:
- Children with Down syndrome exhibit distinct developmental patterns in emotion recognition.
- Findings suggest etiological factors influence emotion recognition.
- Early intervention may be needed to support social-emotional development.
