Facial expression processing in older adults

Abstract

We present an overview of research into the processing of facial expressions, focusing on older adults’ ability to recognize, perceive, and mimic facial expressions of others. Although some researchers argue that older adults exhibit a so-called positivity effect in facial expression recognition (a behavioral tendency for older adults to adept at processing positive compared to negative or neutral stimuli), recent findings suggest that the effect is not so robust as previously thought. Instead, it appears that older adults consistently show a compromised ability to recognize negative facial expressions including anger, fear or sadness, compared to young adults. Different theories have been proposed to explain this pattern, but none give a comprehensive account of the current findings. We argue that during the early stages of facial expression detection, older adults are adept at detecting negative facial expressions and do not show a positivity effect. Compared to facial recognition, facial mimicry (which appears to indicate automatic processing of facial expressions) is more likely to be preserved throughout adulthood. We discuss the dissociation patterns between automatic and conscious processing of facial expressions. We conclude the review with an emphasis on the need to investigate further the stages of facial expression processing in older adults.