Association between action kinematics and emotion perception across adolescence

Research with adults suggests that we interpret the internal states of others from kinematic cues, using models calibrated to our own action experiences. Changes in action production that occur during adolescence may therefore have implications for adolescents' understanding of others. Here we examined whether, like adults, adolescents use velocity cues to determine others' emotions and whether any differences in emotion perception would be those predicted based on differences in action production. We measured preferred walking velocity in groups of early (11-12 years old), middle (13-14 years old), and late (16-18 years old) adolescents, as well as adults, and recorded their perception of happy, angry, and sad "point-light walkers." Preferred walking velocity decreased across age, and ratings of emotional stimuli with manipulated velocity demonstrated that all groups used velocity cues to determine emotion. Importantly, the relative intensity ratings of different emotions also differed across development in a manner that was predicted based on the group differences in walking velocity. Further regression analyses demonstrated that emotion perception was predicted by participants' own movement velocity, rather than age or pubertal stage per se. These results suggest that changes in action production across adolescence are indeed accompanied by corresponding changes in how emotions are perceived from velocity. These findings indicate the importance of examining differences in action production across development when interpreting differences in how individuals understand others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).