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Sex differences in the relationship between children's emotional expression discrimination and their developing
Dawn Watling1, Victoria J Bourne
1a Royal Holloway, University of London , Surrey , United Kingdom.
Developmental Neuropsychology
|October 22, 2013
Summary
Facial emotion processing becomes more right-lateralized in children. Stronger lateralization correlated with better emotion discrimination, especially in boys, suggesting developmental sex differences in brain lateralization and emotional skills.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Brain lateralization for facial emotion processing shifts towards the right hemisphere during childhood.
- Existing research lacks clarity on sex-based developmental trajectories of this lateralization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in right hemisphere lateralization for emotion discrimination in children.
- To explore potential sex differences in the development of brain lateralization for emotional processing.
Main Methods:
- Studied 185 children aged 6-10 years.
- Assessed patterns of lateralization for emotion discrimination tasks.
- Analyzed the relationship between lateralization strength, age, sex, and discrimination accuracy.
Main Results:
- Right hemisphere lateralization for emotion processing strengthened with age in children.
- Right hemisphere dominance for emotion discrimination emerged around age 8.
- Greater lateralization correlated with higher accuracy in emotion discrimination, a finding significant in boys but not girls.
Conclusions:
- Childhood development shows increasing right hemisphere lateralization for facial emotion processing.
- The link between lateralization strength and emotion discrimination accuracy differs between sexes.
- These findings highlight developmental sex differences in the relationship between brain lateralization and emotional competence.
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