On the relation between ratings of the emotional state and expressive variables of gesture and verbal activities in old-aged people.

Methods to assess emotional reactions in old-aged people are predominantly confined to physiological or biochemical variables. In an experiment the authors examined whether variables of gesture and verbal activity are indicators of emotional states. Ninety-six old-aged women took part in the experiment which had two experimental and two control conditions. Subjective variables, physiological variables, and variables of expression were assessed. The results show that emotional reactions are expressed in variables of verbal activity but not in variables of gesture.