India, June 22 -- A new study from Binghamton University suggests that depression may affect how children pay attention to emotional facial expressions, such as happy or sad faces. Researchers also found that these patterns vary depending on whether a child has a family history of depression.
During the study, scientists followed 242 children and their mothers for two years, conducting assessments every six months. During each visit, the children were shown pairs of faces on a screen. One face had a neutral expression, while the other showed an emotion such as happiness, sadness, or anger. Eye-tracking technology was used to measure which faces attracted the children's attention and how long they looked at them.
The results showed that ch...