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The interplay between cognitive control and emotional processing in children and adolescents
Jutta Kray1, Hannah Ritter1, Lena Müller1
1Saarland University, D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|February 5, 2020
Summary
Cognitive control in adolescents is impacted by emotional faces, with response inhibition hindered by angry and happy expressions, while happy faces improve response initiation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Adolescence is a critical period for the development of cognitive control and emotional processing.
- Dual-system models suggest heightened sensitivity to emotional stimuli during mid-adolescence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how emotional facial expressions influence cognitive control (response inhibition and initiation) in adolescents.
- To compare the effects of emotional versus non-emotional facial features on cognitive control across different age groups.
Main Methods:
- A Go/No-go task was administered to 187 participants aged 9–18 years.
- Two versions of the task were used: an emotional task (happy/angry faces) and a gender task (male/female faces).
Main Results:
- Both response inhibition and initiation improved linearly with age.
- Response inhibition was impaired by happy and angry faces, particularly in mid- to late-adolescents.
- Response initiation was facilitated by happy faces (happy effect), enhancing accuracy and speed, especially in late adolescents.
Conclusions:
- Findings support dual-system models, indicating increased sensitivity to emotional facial features from mid-adolescence onwards.
- Cognitive control is modulated by emotional salience, with distinct effects for inhibition and initiation.
- Gender as a non-emotional feature did not similarly impact cognitive control in younger participants compared to emotional stimuli.
Keywords:
AdolescenceCognitive controlEmotional processingGender categorizationGo/No-go taskResponse inhibitionMore Related Videos
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