Recognition of facial emotional expressions from moving and static displays by individuals with mental retardation.

Moving and static videotaped and photographic displays of posed emotional expressions were presented to 12 adults with mental retardation and 12 without mental retardation to investigate the role of movement in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Participants chose the corresponding emotion portrayed by the displays from among six written and pictorial labels of the emotions. Results indicated that individuals with mental retardation were significantly poorer at identifying anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. Both groups performed significantly better on the moving as opposed to the static videotaped displays of the emotions sad and angry. Visual-perceptual limitations are likely contributors to the poorer performance of the group with mental retardation in recognizing moving and static facial expressions of emotion.