Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome
Published on: July 31, 2016
The changing face of emotion: age-related patterns of amygdala activation to salient faces
Rebecca M Todd1, Jennifer W Evans, Drew Morris
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. r.todd@acl.psych.toronto.edu
Abstract:
The present study investigated age-related differences in the amygdala and other nodes of face-processing networks in response to facial expression and familiarity. fMRI data were analyzed from 31 children (3.5-8.5 years) and 14 young adults (18-33 years) who viewed pictures of familiar (mothers) and unfamiliar emotional faces. Results showed that amygdala activation for faces over a scrambled image baseline increased with age. Children, but not adults, showed greater amygdala activation to happy than angry faces; in addition, amygdala activation for angry faces increased with age. In keeping with growing evidence of a positivity bias in young children, our data suggest that children find happy faces to be more salient or meaningful than angry faces. Both children and adults showed preferential activation to mothers' over strangers' faces in a region of rostral anterior cingulate cortex associated with self-evaluation, suggesting that some nodes in frontal evaluative networks are active early in development. This study presents novel data on neural correlates of face processing in childhood and indicates that preferential amygdala activation for emotional expressions changes with age.
Related Concept Videos
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Role of Amygdala in Memory
One of the...
Functional Brain Systems: Limbic System
Physiology of Emotion
Autonomic Nervous System
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a critical role in emotional responses by regulating involuntary physiological functions. It consists of two main components: the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The sympathetic system...
Association Areas of the Cortex
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused

