Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 26, 2026
Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System ANS Activity in Toddlers - Resting and Developmental Challenges
Published on: February 25, 2016
Neurodevelopmental maturation as a function of irritable temperament: Insights From a Naturalistic Emotional Video
Helmet T Karim1, Susan B Perlman2
1Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Emotion Regulation
Background:
- Limited research exists on neural systems that reduce behavioral reactivity to emotions as children mature.
- Emotion regulation development may interact with temperament-related neurodevelopmental variations, explaining individual differences.
- Understanding these processes is crucial for child development and mental health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate neural systems underlying decreasing behavioral reactivity to emotional stimuli in children compared to adults.
- To examine how age and temperament interact in shaping neural responses to emotional stimuli.
- To explore differences in brain activation patterns during emotional challenges between children and adults.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan children (ages 4-12) and adults viewing positive, negative, and neutral film clips.
- Participants included 30 children (mean age 7.62) and 21 adults (mean age 26.67).
- Temperament was assessed to explore its interaction with age and neural activation.
Main Results:
- Children showed greater activation in subcortical and visual regions (e.g., hippocampus, thalamus) for negative stimuli compared to adults.
- Children exhibited greater activation in subcortical and prefrontal regions (e.g., ACC, OFC) for positive stimuli than adults.
- An age by irritability interaction was found in children: neural activation increased with age in highly irritable children but decreased in less irritable children.
Conclusions:
- Children's developing brains show distinct activation patterns in response to emotional stimuli compared to adults.
- Irritability in children is associated with age-related changes in neural activation, potentially supporting adaptive emotion regulation.
- These findings highlight the importance of considering temperament in the neurodevelopment of emotion regulation.
Abstract:
Few studies have investigated the neural systems involved in decreasing behavioral reactivity to emotional stimuli as children age. It has been suggested that this process may interact with temperament-linked variations in neurodevelopment to better explain individual differences in the maturation of emotion regulation. In this investigation, children ages 4 to 12 (n = 30, mean age = 7.62 years, SD = 1.71 years) and adults (n = 21, mean age = 26.67 years) watched clips from popular children's films containing positive, negative, or neutral emotional content during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to adults, children demonstrated greater activation in subcortical and visual regions (hippocampus, thalamus, visual cortex, fusiform) during negative clips and greater activation of subcortical and prefrontal regions during positive clips (hippocampus, thalamus, caudate, ACC, OFC, superior frontal cortex). In children only, we found an age by temperament interaction in frontal and subcortical regions indicating that activation increased as a function of age in the most irritable children, but decreased as a function of age in the least irritable children. Findings were not present in the temperament domain of fear. Findings replicate and extend the existing irritability literature, indicating that healthy children highest in irritability may develop comparatively greater activation of the lateral prefrontal cortex in order to support adaptive regulation during emotional challenges. These results are discussed within the context of the emerging literature on the utility of complex, multidimensional, and naturalistic stimuli, which present a complementary alternative to understanding ecologically valid and sustained neural responses to emotionally evocative stimuli. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5307-5321, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
More Related Videos
08:09Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
13:08Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
