Recognizing Emotion in Faces: Developmental Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect.

Two experiments assessed recognition of emotion among physically abused and neglected preschoolers. Results showed that neglected children had more difficulty discriminating emotional expressions that control or abused children. Abused children displayed response bias for angry facial expressions. Control children viewed discrete emotions as dissimilar; neglected children saw fewer distinctions between emotions; abused children showed the most variance across emotions. (Author/KB)