ABSTRACT
The study of emotion has been given an enormous boost by the investigations of Ekman (1972, Ekman and Friesen, 1975), Izard (1971, 1977) and their colleagues indicating that between seven to nine discrete emotions have distinct facial features, which can be identified with high reliability across widely varying races and cultures. These findings have been cited as evidence that the emotions so identified are universal in the human species (Ekman & Oster, 1979; Izard, 1977); although the validity of this hypothesis continues to be debated, the work of Ekman and Izard has also served to stimulate renewed interest in the ontogeny of emotions. If facial expressions of emotions are innate, should not the facial patterns of discrete affects described for adults also be seen in infants? If so, at what age do they first appear? Even more importantly, when in development is there evidence that specific facial expressions reflect meaningful emotional experience or communication?
