Improved Ability in Emotional Recognition and Social Skills After Emotional Recognition Training in Children

Abstract

The recognition of emotional expressions is essential to achieving emotional regulation and social development. Therefore, stimulating this recognition could benefit children’s cognitive and social levels. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of training in emotional recognition on the recognition of emotional expressions and the social behavior of children. Typically-developing children (8-10 years old) were divided into two groups for either emotional or identity training. Before and after training, the recognition of three emotions (happiness, sadness, anger) and of identity was assessed by matching and memory tasks. In addition, a social skills scale was applied to parents. After training, only participants in the emotion group improved their accuracy (correct responses minus commission errors) in recognizing happiness and sadness, and on the identity tasks. The parents of the children in the emotion group also referred higher scores on the social skills scale. Results suggest that these children improved their recognition of emotional expressions by enhancing the attention paid to specific facial features. This improvement in emotional recognition induced by training may facilitate social interaction.