Attention Biases for Emotional Facial Expressions During a Free Viewing Task Increase Between 2.5 and 5 Years of Age

The normative, developmental changes in affect-biased attention during the preschool years are largely unknown. To investigate the attention bias for emotional versus neutral faces, an eye-tracking measurement and free viewing of paired pictures of facial expressions (i.e., happy, fearful, sad, or angry faces) and nonface pictures with neutral faces were conducted with 367 children participating in a Finnish cohort study at the age of 2.5 years and with 477 children at the age of 5 years, 216 of which having follow-up measurements. We found an attention-orienting bias for happy and fearful faces versus neutral faces at both age points. An attention-orienting bias for sad faces emerged between 2.5 and 5 years. In addition, there were significant biases in sustained attention toward happy, fearful, sad, and angry faces versus neutral faces, with a bias in sustained attention for fearful faces being the strongest. All biases in sustained attention increased between 2.5 and 5 years of age. Moderate correlations in saccadic latencies were found between 2.5 and 5 years. In conclusion, attention biases for emotional facial expressions seem to be age-specific and specific for the attentional subcomponent. This implies that future studies on affect-biased attention during the preschool years should use small age ranges and cover multiple subcomponents of attention.

Automated summary

The normative, developmental changes in affect-biased attention during the preschool years are largely unknown. This study explored attention bias for emotional versus neutral faces in children aged 2.5 and 5 years. The results showed age-specific and specific attention biases for different emotional expressions, with sustained attention for fearful faces being the strongest. There is a need for future studies to focus on small age ranges and cover multiple subcomponents of attention during the preschool years.