RECOGNITION OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION BY PERSONS WITH DOWN SYNDROME: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

The ability to correctly identify and respond to emotional expressions is especially significant for persons with intellectual disabilities who are less competent in initiating and maintaining successful social interactions. In several studies, individuals with intellectual disabilities have been found to have difficulties in facial emotion recognition, specifically in particular expressions of emotion, compared to individuals with typical development, although the causes and effects of the relevant performance deficits need to be further investigated. Recently, researchers have been interested in the examination of genetic syndrome-specific strengths and weaknesses in facial emotion recognition, but further empirical evidence is also needed. Considering the tendency to promote educational and social inclusion of persons with intellectual disabilities, further understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in socio-cognitive processing in persons with intellectual disabilities could result in the development of appropriate intervention strategies aiming at the enhancement of social functioning in these individuals. The aim of the present study was to examine the ability of persons with Down syndrome to recognize emotions on the basis of facial expressions. Specifically, the present study was designed to assess the participants’ responses on two types of task that involved labeling and recognition of four basic facial emotional expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, surprise). Ten adults with Down syndrome with a mean chronological age of 30.54 years participated in the study. In the emotion-labeling task, the participants were asked to verbally label emotional expressions through the administration of cards showing faces of real adult persons of both sexes. In the emotion-recognition task, the participants had to choose from among a series of cards and point to the one that corresponded to the emotion that was orally named by the researcher. As the results showed, the participants obtained higher scores on the recognition task than the labeling task, although significant task differences did not emerge for all the four individual emotions. The participants exhibited a significant difficulty in labeling, as well as recognizing the emotional expression of surprise. The results are discussed in relation to previous relevant research findings. Future research, including larger samples and adequately matched comparison groups, could shed light on the developmental trajectory of the emotion recognition ability in persons with Down syndrome. Since facial emotion recognition ability is an important aspect of interpersonal relationships, the assessment of this ability in persons with Down syndrome could provide valuable information for the enrichment of the educational programs and interventions that aim to the enhancement of their social functioning.