AGE-DIFFERENCES AMONG WOMEN IN THE FUNCTIONAL ASYMMETRY FOR BIAS IN FACIAL AFFECT PERCEPTION

The effects of age, affect valence, and cerebral asymmetry on emotiona l response bias and response time in the discrimination of affective f acial stimuli were examined. Subjects were 11 college-aged and 11 elde rly women, all of whom were right-handed. The subjects were required t o identify the affect depicted in Ekman and Friesen's (1978) stimuli o f angry, happy, and neutral faces by using a forced-choice reaction ti me paradigm with only ''angry'' or ''happy'' response alternatives sig nified by the respective response manipulanda. The stimuli were presen ted to the left and right visual fields tachistoscopically. The result s showed faster affect identification by the younger women, a faster l earning rate for positive affect than for negative affect, and no sign ificantly faster identification of affect with right hemisphere (LVF) presentation. The younger and elderly women differed in the forced ide ntification of neutral stimuli, revealing a heightened LVF positive af fective bias among the elderly women. The results lend support to the hypothesis of a relative right-hemisphere decline with age.