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When frustration is repeated: behavioral and emotion responses during extinction over time

Angela M Crossman1, Margaret Wolan Sullivan, Daniel M Hitchcock

  • 1Institute for the Study of Child Development, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0019, USA.

Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
|February 4, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Infant learning groups showed distinct emotional and behavioral responses to repeated goal blockage. Repeated extinction led to persistent instrumental responding and anger in one group, while another group

Area of Science:

  • Developmental psychology
  • Infant cognition and emotion

Background:

  • Infants' emotional and behavioral persistence in response to goal blockage is crucial for understanding development.
  • Previous research has not fully elucidated the relationship between learning acquisition and emotional expression during repeated frustration in early infancy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate persistence in instrumental responding and negative facial expressions in 4-month-old infants following repeated goal blockage.
  • To compare these responses between infants who learned a contingency in Session 1 versus those who learned in Session 2.

Main Methods:

  • Fifty-three 4-month-old infants participated in two daily sessions, each including baseline, contingency learning, and extinction phases.
  • Infants were categorized into 'Learning Group 1' (learned in Session 1) and 'Learning Group 2' (learned in Session 2) based on performance criteria.
  • Instrumental responses and facial expressions during extinction were recorded and analyzed for each learning group across sessions.

Main Results:

  • Learning Group 1 exhibited persistent instrumental responding and anger expressions upon repeated extinction, mirroring Learning Group 2's responses only on their learning day (Session 2).
  • Learning Group 2 initially displayed more sadness and blended anger/sadness expressions, which decreased with repeated exposure to the contingency in Session 2.
  • The study identified significant individual differences in emotional and behavioral persistence linked to the timing of learning acquisition.

Conclusions:

  • The timing of learning acquisition influences the persistence of instrumental responding and the expression of negative emotions like anger in infants.
  • Infant emotional responses, such as sadness and anger, are modulated by repeated experiences of goal blockage and contingency learning.
  • Findings suggest a complex interplay between cognitive development (learning) and emotional regulation in early infancy.

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