Putting motion in emotion: Do dynamic presentations increase preschooler's recognition of emotion?

In prior research, preschoolers were surprisingly poor at naming the emotion purportedly signaled by prototypical facial expressions-when shown as static images. To determine whether this poor performance is due to the use of static stimuli, rather than dynamic, we presented preschoolers (3-5 years) with facial expressions as either static images or dynamic audiovisual clips. Dynamic clips presented face alone (Study 1, N=48)or face, body movement, and vocal intonation (Study 2, N=72). Contrary to expectations. dynamic presentation did not increase children's naming of the emotion in either study and decreased it in Study 1. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.