Kunz Miriam, Mylius Veit, Schepelmann Karsten, Lautenbacher Stefan
Physiological Psychology, Otto-Friedrich University Bamberg, Germany.
J Psychosom Res. 2008 Mar;64(3):311-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.09.010.
Old age has traditionally been viewed as being associated with a decline in emotional expressivity. Interestingly, empirical evidence based on analyses of facial expressions contradicts this traditionally view and points to absence of (or only very slight) age-related changes in emotional expressivity. However, this research on emotional expressivity in older persons has neglected one important emotionally colored state-expression of pain. In order to close this gap, we aimed to investigate the influence of age on the facial expression of pain.
Forty young (mean age, 24.1 years) and 61 elderly (mean age, 72.3 years) subjects were investigated for their facial (Facial Action Coding System) and subjective responses to noxious mechanical and electrical stimuli of various intensities.
Young and elderly subjects did not differ with respect to the frequency of facial responses during noxious mechanical and electrical stimulations. Moreover, age had no significant impact on the pain specificity of these facial responses. Furthermore, we found no significant age differences in self-report ratings of pressure and electrical pain, thus indicating that both age groups experienced comparable amounts of pain intensities.
These findings suggest that the facial expression of pain, like facial expressions of other affective states, remains unchanged in older persons. Consequently, elderly individuals seem to communicate pain through their facial expression as validly as younger individuals do.
传统观点认为，老年与情绪表达能力下降有关。有趣的是，基于面部表情分析的实证证据与这一传统观点相矛盾，表明情绪表达能力不存在（或只有非常轻微的）与年龄相关的变化。然而，这项关于老年人情绪表达能力的研究忽略了一种重要的带有情感色彩的疼痛状态表达。为了填补这一空白，我们旨在研究年龄对疼痛面部表情的影响。
对40名年轻受试者（平均年龄24.1岁）和61名老年受试者（平均年龄72.3岁）进行了研究，观察他们对不同强度的有害机械和电刺激的面部反应（面部动作编码系统）和主观反应。
在有害机械和电刺激过程中，年轻和老年受试者的面部反应频率没有差异。此外，年龄对这些面部反应的疼痛特异性没有显著影响。此外，我们发现压力和电痛的自我报告评分在年龄上没有显著差异，这表明两个年龄组经历的疼痛强度相当。
这些发现表明，与其他情感状态的面部表情一样，老年人疼痛的面部表情没有变化。因此，老年人似乎能像年轻人一样有效地通过面部表情传达疼痛。
