Keywords
Aging
Emotion
How to Cite
Abstract
In the aging process, changes in perception and cognition may lead to losses in the recognition of facial emotions. In this study, we carried out, according to PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review of recent studies that evaluated the perception and facial emotion recognition in the elderly without pathologies. Searches occurred in the electronic databases: MEDLINE, PsycoINFO and Web of Science, being selected 22 articles published between 2009 and 2016. In general, we found that elderly show a decline in emotion recognition, mainly for negative emotions. These results can be explained by the structural theory as well as by theory of the socioemotional selectivity. The results have important implications inasmuch as they indicate the relevance of cognitive assessment and use of more ecological stimuli in emotion recognition tasks in elderly
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