Facial expression recognition training for adults: A systematic review

Authors

Carol Rebeschini*, Tayse Conter de Moura, Bruna Cardoso Gerhardt, Adriane Xavier Arteche

Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

Facial emotional expressions and the ability to recognize them are fundamental for social interactions. Individual differences in the accuracy of this skill can have implications in social adjustment. It’s fundamental to understand how this skill can be enhanced by specific training. This is a systematic review about interventions that increase accuracy in the ability to recognize facial expressions. The PRISMA method was used to perform and describe the present study. Articles published from January 2013 to August 2018 were searched for on the Scopus, PubMed and PsycNET databases. A total of 1228 studies were initially identified and, after applying the exclusion criteria, 35 articles were included in this review. The proposed interventions varied from 25 minutes to 50 hours, with samples of 8 to 484 individuals. Thirty-two (91.4%) studies displayed improvement in facial recognition ability in the post-test evaluation and the effect size ranged from η2=0.001 to 0.87 and from d =0.08 to 3.30. The studies showed wide variation in sample size, number of sessions and types of intervention. Most studies used exposure to photographs and identification of emotions with a gradual increase of difficulty. The majority of them improved facial expression recognition, which suggests that this ability can be improved upon with cognitive interventions.

Keywords: training, facial expression, emotion recognition, interventions

PAGES:101-121

doi:10.24193/cbb.2019.23.06

* Corresponding author:
E-mail: Această adresă de email este protejată contra spambots. Trebuie să activați JavaScript pentru a o vedea.