Neural Processing of Emotional Prosody across the Adult Lifespan
Table 2
Behavioral data of prosody recognition.
Young adults (18–35 yrs; )
Middle-aged adults (36–55 yrs; )
Older adults (>55 yrs; )
RT mean ± standard deviation
RT angry (sec)
2.04 ± 0.40
2.43 ± 0.59
2.91 ± 0.61
RT fearful (sec)
2.44 ± 0.36
2.63 ± 0.50
3.21 ± 0.49
RT disgusted (sec)
2.61 ± 0.50
2.81 ± 0.56
3.42 ± 0.55
RT sad (sec)
2.53 ± 0.47
2.90 ± 0.61
3.63 ± 0.80
RT happy (sec)
1.94 ± 0.40
2.11 ± 0.47
2.68 ± 0.53
RT neutral (sec)
1.84 ± 0.41
2.10 ± 0.57
2.99 ± 0.52
RT angry (sec)
2.04 ± 0.40
2.43 ± 0.59
2.91 ± 0.61
Accuracy estimated marginal mean ± standard error
All emotions
0.78 ± 0.02
0.72 ± 0.02
0.56 ± 0.03
Angry
0.84 ± 0.02
0.78 ± 0.02
0.61 ± 0.03
Fearful
0.77 ± 0.02
0.69 ± 0.02
0.57 ± 0.03
Disgusted
0.65 ± 0.03
0.56 ± 0.03
0.33 ± 0.03
Sad
0.57 ± 0.03
0.59 ± 0.03
0.45 ± 0.03
Happy
0.88 ± 0.02
0.79 ± 0.02
0.62 ± 0.03
Neutral
0.89 ± 0.02
0.84 ± 0.02
0.69 ± 0.03
Notes. RT = reaction time, yrs = years of age. Stars () indicate significant difference between groups (), such as older adults had reduced accuracy for angry, sad, disgusted, happy, and neutral prosody than young and middle-aged adults, and significant difference between middle-aged and young adults for happy prosody.
