Recognition of facial emotional expressions and its correlation with cognitive abilities in children with Down syndrome.

Carla C V P De Santana,Wânia C De Souza,Maria Angela Guimarães Feitosa

doi:10.3922/j.psns.2014.017

Abstract

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common chromosomal abnormalities. Delays in cognitive development are found in the first years of life. As years pass, it may turn into intellectual deficiencies that unfold into several aspects, including difficulty recognizing emotional facial expressions. The present study investigated the recognition of six universal facial emotional expressions in a population of children aged 6-11 years who were divided into two groups: DS group and typically developing children (TDC) group. We used the Perception Test of Facial Emotional Expressions (Teste de Percepcao de Emocoes Faciais; TEPEF) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III) and found that children with DS presented alterations in the recognition of expressions of disgust, surprise, and fear, whereas the recognition of happiness, sadness, and anger was maintained at a level comparable to the TDC group. Participants with DS presented significant positive correlations between sadness and Picture completion, Mazes, Arithmetic, Vocabulary, Digits, Verbal IQ, Verbal Comprehension Index, and Working Memory Index. All other facial expressions showed significant negative correlations with the Intelligence Quotient and WISC-III factorial index subtests. Absence of correlations was found among the TEPEF's six facial expressions and Information, Coding, Symbols, and Working Memory Index. The contribution of this study is related to understanding the characteristics of the recognition of facial emotions in children with DS, an important component of social relationships with their peers, schools, and families.

Highlights

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic condition that was first described by John Langdon H
For the facial expressions of happiness, sadness, and anger, we found high levels of correct recognition in the typically developing children (TDC) group (98, 98, and 97%, respectively) and DS group (98, 94, and 86%, respectively; Table 4), a pattern of results that is consistent with the literature (Darwin, 1872; Ekman, 1972; Ekman et al, 1987; Matsumoto & Hwang, 2011)
We investigated the perception of facial emotional expressions in a group of children with DS and a Information Coding Mazes Picture arrangement Arithmetic Block design Vocabulary Object assembly Comprehension Symbols Digits Verbal Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Execution IQ Total IQ Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) Working Memory Index (WMI) Processing Speed Index (PSI) *p < .05, **p

Summary

Introduction

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic condition that was first described by John Langdon H. Down (Down, 1886) and associated with chromosome 21 trisomy by Lejeune, Gautier, and Turpin (1959), and has since been widely studied. This syndrome is related to a delay in development that begins in the first years of life, leading to intellectual deficiency. Other phenotypic characteristics include brachycephaly, brachydactyly, an epicanthal fold, hypotonia, lax ligaments, a short stature, and an open mouth (Roizen & Patterson, 2003). Throughout psychomotor development, the cognitive functions that may undergo further changes include auditory perception, attention, cognition, motivation, and language (Tristão & Feitosa, 1998, 2002). A timeline of a general cognitive profile of individuals with DS shows that learning delays in infancy (0-4 years) are common at ages 0-2 and accelerate at ages 2-4

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