The development of facedness

Abstract

Thirty-two children of both sexes, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years, were photographed while posing or imitating happiness, sadness or surprise. Full-face photographs which were considered by independent judges to express the intended emotions were submitted to a split-face recombination procedure that created two composites from each face, one from the left side and the other from the right. Independent observers found the left composites to be more expressive than the right in the older group (age 12-13), but not in the younger groups, who evinced no left-right asymmetries. This finding applied similarly to the three emotions, and did not depend on an age-related change in the capacity for emotional expression. Further, left-right asymmetries in facial expression, where present, did not correlate with difference in size between the two halves of the face, and were found for both the upper and lower parts of the face. It is concluded that the advantage of the left hemiface for emotional expression, which is typical of adults, is the result of growth and development. While this facial asymmetry is likely to depend on an hemispheric asymmetry favoring the right side of the brain for the volitional control of the facial musculature, the neural mechanisms of the phenomenon of facedness are still largely obscure.