Effects of Emotion Recognition Training on Social and Emotional Functioning
This SNSF-funded project examines whether learning to recognize other people’s emotions more accurately has benefits that extend beyond improved test performance. We investigate whether training changes where people look when interpreting emotions, how strongly they respond to others’ feelings, and how they behave in social interactions. In a recent Registered Report, we test these questions in a randomized training study using realistic emotional videos and eye-tracking, comparing emotion-recognition training with an active control training. Further studies will examine whether these effects also transfer to meaningful professional interactions, including empathic communication with patients.
Collaborators: Evgenia Mekhtieva, Elisabeth Germanier, Kai Schnabel, Mollie Ruben, Nayla Sokhn, Roberto Caldara
Publications
Sommer, N. R., Sokhn, N., Caldara, R., & Schlegel, K. (2026). Registered Report Stage I: A Registered Report on transfer effects of emotion recognition training: Impacts on visual attention and emotional reactivity in healthy adults. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 226, 113414.