The role of language in emotion experience and perception: Theoretical review and developmental consideration

Abstract

In this paper, the role of language in emotion experience and emotion perception was investigated by reviewing the theory and evidence. By referring to the model of emergence and perception of emotion, the developmental stage at which language would influence these processes was indicated. The developmental perspective, which has rarely been focused on, was investigated by reviewing studies of infants and children. For emotion experience, our findings suggested that the inner conditions can be represented in two dimensions. For emotion perception, crude information such as information associated with “positive” or “negative” can be decoded without language. However, categorical recognition of emotion in experience and perception may require language.