Fig 1.
An example of a stimulus sequence presented to adults (first row) and children (second row). Participants were asked to rate valence (left column), arousal (middle column) and discrete emotions (right column) of the dog and human faces. Adults answered the questions by pressing the number buttons 1–7 on the keyboard and children selected the SAM figure from the scale by pointing it at the screen. For discrete emotions children answered by choosing between angry, happy, or normal/neutral and giving their answer verbally. There was no time limit in answering the questions, and once participant had answered the question, the following question was displayed. After answering all questions, next dog/human facial image was displayed. The dog image was purchased from 123RF with a license to publish this image in electronic and printed documents and reports. The SAM figures were reprinted from Bradley & Lang [58] with permission from Elsevier.
Fig 2.
Emotion ratings for dog image categories (Happy Dog, Aggressive Dog, Neutral Dog) between age groups.
Ratings are displayed separately for participants with experience of living in the same household with a dog (with dog experience) or without such experiences (no dog experience). Value 0 means that participants have answered incorrectly when asked what kind of emotion there is in the image and value 1 that they have answered correctly. Statistically significant differences between the participant groups are represented by asterisks (**p<0.01 and *p<0.05).
Table 1.
The differences in recognition of discrete emotions (scale 0–1) between human categories and between dog categories in 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults (Paired t-tests t- and p-values, and Cohen’s d effect sizes).
Fig 3.
Valence ratings for different image categories (Happy Human, Happy Dog, Aggressive Human, Aggressive Dog, Neutral Human, Neutral Dog) between age groups.
Statistically significant differences are represented by asterisks (***p<0.001, **p<0.01 and *p<0.05).
Table 2.
The differences in valence ratings (scale 1–7) between human categories and between dog categories in 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults.
Fig 4.
Arousal ratings for different image categories (Happy Human, Happy Dog, Aggressive Human, Aggressive Dog, Neutral Human, Neutral Dog) between age groups.
Statistically significant differences are represented by asterisks (***p<0.001, **p<0.01 and *p<0.05).
Table 3.
The differences in arousal ratings (scale 1–7) between human categories and between dog categories in 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults.