All ETDs from UAB

Advisory Committee Chair

Ingrid M Hopkins

Advisory Committee Members

Fred Biasini

Olivio Clay

Kristi Guest

Scott Snyder

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

2012

Degree Name by School

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) College of Arts and Sciences

Abstract

The preschool years are an important time for cognitive and social development. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are often subject to difficulties in social-emotional competence. Head Start programs have a goal of improving social-emotional development of children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Social skills interventions teach fundamental social skills. FaceSayTM, a computer-based intervention teaches skills such as eye gaze and face processing with a goal of improving face and emotion recognition. FaceSayTM performance was not predictive of post intervention face and emotion recognition. Based on the results, cognitive scores predicted increased face recognition scores post intervention; however, the assignment to FaceSayTM was the greatest predictor when compared to pre intervention scores and cognitive ability. Cognitive scores were the best predictor of emotion recognition, but game assignment was not a significant predictor of emotion recognition. Children playing FaceSayTM did not show a greater ability to draw the human face as compared to children playing the control games. However, children who performed better on FaceSayTM showed a greater ability to draw human faces.

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