Older people are better at reading facial expressions than younger people in real-life situations, according to new research from the University of Aberdeen.
The study, published in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, found that older adults were better at deciphering facial expressions than their younger counterparts but only in a ‘real-life’ context. The effect was reversed when all context was removed.
This, the researchers say, is because older adults can tap into their life experience, so can identify social cues like tone of voice and body language as well as facial expression to understand what the other person is feeling. Interestingly however, this advantage is lost when only the facial expression is shown.
This is important, the team of psychologists from the University say, because understanding each other's emotions is key to healthy relationships and older adults may misinterpret emotions when context is limited.
Also, the team say, previous research often considers aging in terms of decline – but these findings suggest that some abilities, including reading the emotions of others, can actually improve with age.
The study compared how well older and younger adults could read emotions when viewing photos and videos of people interacting with each other.
Participants from different age brackets (17 to 26 and 59 to 84) were shown clips of interactions, including scenes from four feature films: The Turn of the Screw, Perfect Strangers, Lost for Words and the Winter Guest.
They were then asked to choose words that best reflected the emotions portrayed in the scene.
The research was completed by Dr Louisa Lawrie from the Institute of Applied Health Sciences and Professor Louise Phillips, Dr Margaret Jackson and Laura Cowie from the School of Psychology. It was supported by a PhD scholarship from the University of Aberdeen.
Dr Lawrie said: “Being able to understand other people’s emotions is key to getting along with others and maintaining healthy relationships. It’s closely tied to our social wellbeing and can even influence our physical and mental health.
“For instance, loneliness has serious negative effects on health, especially for older adults. That’s why it’s so important to understand how the ability to read emotions develops and changes over time.
“Most past studies looking at how younger and older adults perceive emotions have used still photographs of facial expressions. While these are useful in controlled experiments, they don’t really reflect how we experience emotions in everyday life, where feelings are shown in dynamic interactions and in context.
“In our study, we used materials that better mirror real-life situations, making the tasks closer to what people actually encounter day to day.
“We often think of aging mainly in terms of decline - for example, memory getting worse. But our research suggests some abilities, including reading the emotions of others, can actually improve with age. It can also be a stage of life where people draw on their knowledge and experience to their advantage, especially in social situations that call for emotional intelligence.
“Older adults often find it harder to judge emotions from brief facial expressions or written messages, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. Younger adults tend to pick up on these fast, visual cues more easily, so they might feel that older adults are ‘missing the point’, while older adults may feel unsure or misinterpreted when communication is very short or lacking tone.
“In everyday, real-life conversations, though, older adults often do just as well as, or even better than, young people at understanding how someone feels. When there’s tone of voice, body language, and context to rely on, older adults’ life experience helps them make sense of emotions more accurately. This means that interactions between age groups usually work best when there’s a bit more detail and context. Talking things through, giving background, or using richer communication like phone calls or face-to-face chats can help both younger and older people understand each other more easily.”