Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Adler's Individual Psychology

Adler's Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler, a prominent figure in psychology, founded the school of individual psychology. In contrast to Freud's emphasis on sexual or aggressive motives, Adler suggested that individuals are primarily motivated by their purposes and goals. He believed that people strive for perfection rather than pleasure. Adler argued that individuals could creatively act upon their genetic inheritance and environmental experiences to shape their own lives, emphasizing conscious motivation over unconscious...

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

Charles Darwin proposed that facial expressions are an evolutionary adaptation for communication. He argued that these expressions are not influenced by culture but are universal across species. For example, a snarling expression with exposed teeth signals a threat in many animals, including humans. Darwin also suggested that displaying an emotion can intensify the feeling. Smiling, for example, could enhance one's sense of happiness. This idea laid the foundation for understanding the role of...

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are...

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

Socioemotional Development during Infancy

Socio-emotional development in infancy is primarily shaped by early emotional responses and social connections, with temperament playing a central role. Temperament refers to the consistent patterns in an individual's emotional and behavioral responses, observable even in infancy. By examining temperament, researchers can better understand an infant's unique ways of interacting with the world, influencing subsequent personality and socio-emotional growth.
Primary Temperament Types
Stella Chess...

Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development

Social-emotional experiences and cultural influences play significant roles in shaping gender development. During middle childhood, from ages 6 to 11, peer groups become dominant in reinforcing gender norms. Children in this age group often align with same-gender peer groups, which actively encourage behaviors that conform to traditional gender roles. For instance, boys may be discouraged from engaging in activities perceived as feminine, reinforcing culturally dictated norms about masculinity...

Factors Affecting Perception

Factors Affecting Perception

Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Decomposing trust-related decision making: Dimensionality and predictability of phishing susceptibility in an adult lifespan sample.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences·2026

Same author

Pain and Nutrition in Dementia and Alzheimer's Phase 1: a cross-sectional, observational study design.

Frontiers in dementia·2026

Same author

The Social Iowa Gambling Task: a promising tool for assessing deception detection in real-world contexts in adulthood.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences·2026

Same author

Is this real? Susceptibility to deepfakes in machines and humans.

Cognitive research: principles and implications·2026

Same author

The active monitoring of oxytocin research evidence (AMORE) platform.

Psychoneuroendocrinology·2025

Same author

Eye Tracking in Aging: Challenges, Best Practices, and Novel Frontiers.

ACM transactions on applied perception·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

Age-Group Differences in Interference from Young and Older Emotional Faces.

Natalie C Ebner¹, Marcia K Johnson

¹Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Cognition & Emotion

|February 3, 2011

Summary

Angry and happy faces capture attention, but their impact differs by age. Both young and older adults are distracted by faces of their own age group, with unique emotional expression effects observed.

More Related Videos

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia

Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia

Published on: December 2, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia

Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia

Published on: December 2, 2015

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Human Attention
Social Cognition

Background:

Human attention is selective, often prioritizing salient stimuli like angry faces.
Previous research on emotional face perception predominantly used young adult faces, limiting generalizability across age groups.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how task-irrelevant faces of varying ages and emotional expressions (angry, happy, neutral) affect performance on an unrelated task.
To determine if age and emotional expression interact to influence attentional interference.
To examine age-related differences in attentional responses to emotional faces.

Main Methods:

Two experiments employed a speeded number task with background presentation of task-irrelevant faces.
Participants included both young and older adults.
Face stimuli varied in age (young, old) and emotional expression (angry, happy, neutral).

Main Results:

Both young and older participants exhibited greater distraction from faces of their own age group compared to other-age faces.
Younger participants showed performance decrements with angry faces relative to happy faces.
Older participants demonstrated performance decrements with happy faces relative to angry faces.

Conclusions:

Attentional interference from emotional faces is influenced by the age of the face and the age of the observer.
Age-related differences exist in how emotional facial expressions capture attention and impact cognitive performance.
Future research should explore the underlying factors contributing to these age-group specific interference patterns.