AFFECTIVE FACIAL EXPRESSION IN INFANTS WITH FOCAL BRAIN-DAMAGE

Children are fluent affective communicators by their first birthday. T he development of affective facial expression in infants with focal br ain damage thus provides a promising context in which to investigate t he developing neural substrates of emotions. We examined both positive ,and negative affective expression in 12 infants (6-24 months) with pr e- or perinatal unilateral focal brain damage (6RHD and 6LHD) and thei r age- and gender-matched controls. Infants were videotaped in free an d semi-structured tasks. Interactions were microanalytically coded, in cluding the use of FAGS. Both normal and babies with posterior LHD exh ibited the full range of appropriate affective expressions. In contras t, infants with posterior RHD showed marked affective impairment to po sitive, but not to negative simulation.