Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 21, 2026
13:08
Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
Individual differences in children's performance during an emotional Stroop task: a behavioral and
Koraly Pérez-Edgar1, Nathan A Fox
1Department of Human Development, Child Development Laboratory, University of Maryland, 3304 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Brain and Cognition
|June 19, 2003
Summary
Children showing interference on the emotional Stroop task displayed more emotional and social maladjustment. Event-related potentials revealed negative words taxed attentional resources more than positive words.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The emotional Stroop task measures attentional bias towards emotional stimuli.
- Previous research suggests individual differences in emotional processing relate to adjustment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between emotional Stroop performance and long-term emotional and social adjustment in children.
- To explore the neural correlates of emotional word processing using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- Two studies involving 11-year-old children completing the emotional Stroop task.
- Children were categorized into interference or facilitation groups based on task performance.
- Cognitive, emotional, and social measures were collected at ages 4, 7, and 11.
- Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the task in Study 2.
Main Results:
- Children in the interference group exhibited greater emotional and social maladjustment over time compared to the facilitation group.
- ERP data confirmed Stroop effects and indicated differential processing of negative versus positive words.
- Negative words appeared to require more attentional and processing resources than positive words.
Conclusions:
- Emotional Stroop task performance can predict later emotional and social adjustment difficulties.
- Neural processing of negative emotional stimuli may be more resource-intensive, highlighting potential vulnerabilities.
