YOUNGSTERS struggling to share a joke with their elderly relatives are being told it’s only natural by researchers.
A study by experts at the University of Essex has shown the brain’s ability to correctly recognise emotional cues in voices declines as we age.
Constantina Maltezou-Papastylianou, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology, has discovered the identification of both positive and negative emotions was affected.
Across three experiments researchers found older adults were not as good at detecting emotions as younger adults and this could not be jump-started by electrically stimulating key brain areas.
The study showed that over 65s were less accurate than those in their twenties, and this is speculated to be associated with changes in the brain as we age.
Mrs Maltezou-Papastylianou said: “How we say something and our tone of voice is as important during social interactions as to what we are actually saying.
“This research is another step forward in understanding how we interpret vocal emotion expressions as we age.
“Emotional recognition from voice can impact many aspects of life and it is important to keep this in mind when interacting with others, particularly with older adults.”
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