Effects of aging on recognition and dominance perception in laughter

Abstract

Introduction: Aging is associated with reduced accuracy in recognizing others’ emotions, an ability that is important for maintaining social connectedness in later life. Laughter is a social signal with multiple functions, as it can facilitate social bonding but also convey negative social meanings, for example when directed at someone. In previous research we have shown that younger adults are able to classify spontaneously emitted joyful, schadenfreude, and tickling laughter above chance level, and that these laughter sounds differ according to the perceived dominance. Given evidence that affect recognition generally declines with age, the present study examined whether comparable age effects emerge in the perception of laughter.

Methods: 64 younger adults (mean 25 years, 18–33 years) and 30 older adults (mean age 60 years, 50–77 years) evaluated 117 spontaneously emitted laughter sounds according to the laughter type, i.e., joyful, Schadenfreude, and tickling laughter and according to the perceived sender’s dominance.

Results: Results showed that both age groups classified laughter above chance level. Younger adults showed higher classification rates than older adults for all laughter types, with the largest age effect for Schadenfreude laughter. The dominance ratings showed an age effect only for Schadenfreude, where older adults rated Schadenfreude laughter less dominant than younger adults.

Discussion: Pronounced differences in Schadenfreude perception might be ascribed to difficulties of older adults in perceiving non-literal messages or to cultural differences between age groups.