[The role of experience in the neurology of facial expression of emotions].

Introduction: Facial expression of emotion has an important social function that facilitates interaction between people. This process has a neurological basis, which is not isolated from the context, or the experience of the interaction between people in that context. Yet, to date, the impact that experience has on the perception of emotions is not completely understood.

Aims: To discuss the role of experience in the recognition of facial expression of emotions and to analyze the biases towards emotional perception.

Development: The maturation of the structures that support the ability to recognize emotion goes through a sensitive period during adolescence, where experience may have greater impact on emotional recognition. Experiences of abuse, neglect, war, and stress generate a bias towards expressions of anger and sadness. Similarly, positive experiences generate a bias towards the expression of happiness.

Conclusions: Only when people are able to use the facial expression of emotions as a channel for understanding an expression, will they be able to interact appropriately with their environment. This environment, in turn, will lead to experiences that modulate this capacity. Therefore, it is a self-regulatory process that can be directed through the implementation of intervention programs on emotional aspects.