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Does the Organization of Emotional Expression Change Over Time? Facial Expressivity From 4 to 12 Months

David S Bennett1, Margaret Bendersky, Michael Lewis

  • 1Department of Psychiatry Drexel University College of Medicine.

Infancy : the Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies
|August 15, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Infant facial expressions become more specific as babies develop. This study found that between 4 and 12 months, infants showed distinct emotional responses to tickling, sour tastes, and arm restraint, supporting developmental theories.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Infant Behavior
  • Emotional Development

Background:

  • Differentiation models suggest facial expressivity organization increases during infancy.
  • Infants are thought to display more specific facial expressions as they mature.
  • This study investigates the development of infant facial expressivity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that infants exhibit increasingly specific facial expressions in response to stimuli.
  • To examine changes in infant emotional responses from 4 to 12 months of age.
  • To analyze facial expressivity across different emotional eliciting situations.

Main Methods:

  • 151 infants (83 boys, 68 girls) were observed at 4 and 12 months.
  • Infants were exposed to four distinct situations: tickle, sour taste, arm restraint, and masked stranger.
  • Facial expressions were systematically recorded and analyzed for specificity changes over time.

Main Results:

  • Three of four situations demonstrated increased expression specificity with age.
  • Tickling elicited more joy and less interest/surprise expressions at 12 months compared to 4 months.
  • Sour taste evoked more disgust and less joy/interest expressions over time.
  • Arm restraint resulted in more anger expressions and fewer interest/surprise expressions.
  • No increased specificity was observed in response to a masked stranger.

Conclusions:

  • Infant facial expressivity becomes more organized and stimulus-specific during the first year of life.
  • Findings partially support the hypothesis of increasing facial expressivity organization in infants.
  • Developmental changes in emotional signaling are evident in early infancy across various contexts.

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