Comprensión de emociones en adultos con síndrome de down

Abstract

An exploratory and descriptive research was conducted from a cognitive developmental perspective in order to examine the understanding of emotions in 11 adults with Down syndrome and a verbal mental age of 4 years old. The instrument used was an adaptation of the test to assess the nine components of understanding of emotions proposed by Pons, Harris, & De Rosnay (2004). The analysis of the results revealed the functioning of each component, and the relationship among them. Finally, subjects were able to identify with greater ease, "sad", "happy", "angry" and "scared”; emotions related to ease to talk about negative emotions experienced in past situations, the understanding of emotions that generate most meaningful facial expressions; and had difficulty understanding the relationship between an external cause and an emotion.