Our brains read faces differently as we get older

Let’s say you’re talking to someone whose face isn’t giving you clear signals. They might be smiling, but their eyes look tense. Are they being friendly or hiding frustration?

If you’re younger, your brain may lean toward caution, or maybe even suspicion. But if you’re older, your brain will likely create a more positive interpretation.

A new study suggests that age might shape how we interpret uncertain emotional expressions. Older adults tend to see the upside in blurry emotional signals, while younger folks are more likely to see a threat.

This difference isn’t just about being wise or mellow with age. It has to do with how a tiny part of the brain works – a part that handles stress, alertness, and emotional control.

The brain’s tiny stress switch

Deep in your brainstem sits something called the locus coeruleus – Latin for “blue spot.” It’s only about half an inch tall and a few millimeters wide, but it plays a big role.

The locus coeruleus kicks into gear when you need to focus, snap out of daydreaming, or react to danger.

This blue spot pumps out norepinephrine, a chemical that helps you stay alert. It’s basically your brain’s internal alarm. Low activity? You feel sluggish. Moderate activity? You’re sharp and focused. But too much? You might feel jittery or anxious.

Researchers from NTNU’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway set out to understand how this tiny brain structure behaves when people of different ages try to interpret other people’s emotions – especially when those emotions are hard to read.

Studying how the brain reads faces

The team studied 144 adults split into two age groups. One group was 21 to 30 years old. The other was 67 to 75. Each group was evenly split between men and women.

The participants looked at a series of faces that ranged from clearly happy, to clearly angry, to somewhere in between – the kind of faces that don’t give away what the person is really feeling.

“We saw that the participants took longer to interpret the ambiguous expressions, while the older participants interpreted these as happy to a greater extent,” said researcher Maryam Ziaei.

The team scanned brain activity during the tests. The younger group’s locus coeruleus was quieter during confusing expressions.

But the older group showed more activity in that area, along with stronger links to a brain region called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. That part of the brain helps control attention, memory, and emotional responses.

“It may be that the younger we are, the more we tend to interpret these ambiguous signals negatively, as if they pose a threat. In people with good mental health, this will change with age,” Ziaei said.

Mental well-being makes a difference

Before the experiment, participants answered a detailed mental health survey. It covered anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, and empathy.

The goal was to create a full profile of each person’s emotional state. The results showed a link between brain activity and how people felt overall.

“We also see a correlation between how much this connection between the LC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated, and how well the person feels,” said Ziaei.

“We found that the older participants who had increased activity in the connection between the locus coeruleus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex also had better well-being.”

This connection suggests that older adults who feel better mentally may be using their brain’s stress system more effectively when faced with confusing social signals.

Possible defense against brain aging

Our ability to read emotions accurately can fade with age. So can memory and attention. But the findings from this study suggest the brain might be working behind the scenes to adjust for those changes.

The locus coeruleus could be stepping up to help older people stay emotionally balanced – even when their other cognitive systems slow down.

This is especially interesting because the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. If scientists can better understand this brain pathway, they might one day be able to treat emotional struggles in aging and even in certain brain diseases.

“If we can make changes here, either with stimulation, with medication or with exercise, we may be able to affect the function of this part of the brain. Not only in people with illness, but for people as a whole,” said Ziaei.

“What we want to understand here is the connection between our ability to process social information, and how it is related to feeling good mentally.”

The full study was published in the journal JNeurosci.

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