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Michalek JE, Qtaishat L, von Stumm S, El Kharouf A, Dajani R, Hadfield K, Mareschal I. Maternal Trauma and Psychopathology Symptoms Affect Refugee Children's Mental Health But Not Their Emotion Processing. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 2024:10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0. [PMID: 38430294 DOI: 10.1007/s10802-024-01182-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Refugee children's development may be affected by their parents' war-related trauma exposure and psychopathology symptoms across a range of cognitive and affective domains, but the processes involved in this transmission are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the impact of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and mental health on their children's mental health and attention biases to emotional expressions. In our sample of 324 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads living in Jordan (children's Mage=6.32, SD = 1.18; 50% female), mothers reported on their symptoms of anxiety and depression, and on their children's internalising, externalising, and attention problems. A subset of mothers reported their trauma exposure (n = 133) and PTSD symptoms (n = 124). We examined emotion processing in the dyads using a standard dot-probe task measuring their attention allocation to facial expressions of anger and sadness. Maternal trauma and PTSD symptoms were linked to child internalising and attention problems, while maternal anxiety and depression symptoms were associated with child internalising, externalising, and attention problems. Mothers and children were hypervigilant towards expressions of anger, but surprisingly, mother and child biases were not correlated with each other. The attentional biases to emotional faces were also not linked to psychopathology risk in the dyads. Our findings highlight the importance of refugee mothers' trauma exposure and psychopathology on their children's wellbeing. The results also suggest a dissociation between the mechanisms underlying mental health and those involved in attention to emotional faces, and that intergenerational transmission of mental health problems might involve mechanisms other than attentional processes relating to emotional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia E Michalek
- Youth Resilience Unit, Centre for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
| | | | | | - Amal El Kharouf
- Centre for Women Studies, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Rana Dajani
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
| | - Kristin Hadfield
- Trinity Centre for Global Health, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Isabelle Mareschal
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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2
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Goldstein BL, Grasso DJ, McCarthy KJ, Wakschlag LS, Pine DS, Briggs-Gowan MJ. Intimate Partner Violence Exposure and Childhood Psychopathology: Associations with Discriminating Fearful and Angry Faces in Young Children. JOURNAL OF FAMILY VIOLENCE 2021; 36:967-978. [PMID: 36337752 PMCID: PMC9634668 DOI: 10.1007/s10896-020-00242-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/20/2020] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Childhood exposure to traumatic violence may shape how children respond to threatening faces and increase risk for psychopathology. Maltreated children may exhibit altered processing of threatening faces; however, the effects of witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's discrimination of facial expressions is under-studied. Emotional face processing differentially relates to psychopathology, with some evidence suggesting improved detection of angry faces in children with fear-related anxiety symptoms, whereas externalizing symptoms are associated with poorer detection of fearful faces and perhaps emotional faces broadly. Method In this cross-sectional study, we examined discrimination of threatening emotional faces (angry, fearful) in relation to experiences of probable abuse and witnessing of physical IPV, as well as psychopathology. Children (N = 137, mean age = 5.01 years, SD = 0.81) completed a "face in the crowd task" designed to examine discrimination of angry and fearful faces. Children either searched for an angry face among fearful distractor faces or a fearful face among angry distractors. Probable child abuse, witnessed IPV, and symptoms were assessed in semi-structured maternal interviews. Results Children who witnessed violence showed poorer accuracy when fearful faces were the target; however, effects for probable abuse were non-significant. Greater fear-related anxiety symptoms were associated with poorer accuracy for fearful faces. Externalizing symptoms were associated with poorer overall accuracy. Conclusions Findings suggest that IPV and fear-related anxiety symptoms were associated with difficulty detecting fearful faces when angry distractors were present, consistent with prior research. Implications of violence- and symptom-associated deficits in emotional face processing are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon L Goldstein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT USA
| | - Damion J Grasso
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine Farmington, CT USA
| | - Kimberly J McCarthy
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut School of Medicine Farmington, CT USA
| | - Lauren S Wakschlag
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine & Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD USA
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3
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Porter-Vignola E, Booij L, Bossé-Chartier G, Garel P, Herba CM. Emotional facial expression recognition and depression in adolescent girls: Associations with clinical features. Psychiatry Res 2021; 298:113777. [PMID: 33581380 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Studies have reported that emotional facial expression recognition (EFER) may be altered in individuals with depression. This study examined EFER in adolescent girls with and without depression and further examined associations between relevant clinical features of depression and EFER. Fifty adolescent girls aged 12 to 19 years old meeting criteria for depression or subthreshold levels of symptomatology and 55 adolescent girls with no psychiatric diagnosis completed EFER tasks. Reaction time and accuracy for recognising expressions at high and low intensities, and sensitivity in recognising happiness, sadness, anger and fear were assessed. Data were analysed using linear mixed models. Adolescents with depression were marginally faster than those in the comparison group to recognize sadness, although this trend disappeared once covarying for age and antidepressant use. Amongst adolescents with depression, clinical features were associated with poorer EFER performance. In contrast, anxiety symptoms were linked to better accuracy and heightened sensitivity towards happiness. A better understanding of EFER in adolescent girls with and without depression, and how clinical features might be associated with altered patterns of EFER could help to explain clinical heterogeneity observed in such studies of adolescents with depression. Knowledge of socio-cognitive alterations associated with depression will help to better develop and tailor interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elyse Porter-Vignola
- Psychology Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Research Centre, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada
| | - Linda Booij
- Research Centre, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | | | - Patricia Garel
- Research Centre, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada
| | - Catherine M Herba
- Psychology Department, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Canada; Research Centre, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada.
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4
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Smith AR, Haller SP, Haas SA, Pagliaccio D, Behrens B, Swetlitz C, Bezek JL, Brotman MA, Leibenluft E, Fox NA, Pine DS. Emotional distractors and attentional control in anxious youth: eye tracking and fMRI data. Cogn Emot 2020; 35:110-128. [PMID: 32954946 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2020.1816911] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Attentional control theory suggests that high cognitive demands impair the flexible deployment of attention control in anxious adults, particularly when paired with external threats. Extending this work to pediatric anxiety, we report two studies utilising eye tracking (Study 1) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (Study 2). Both studies use a visual search paradigm to examine anxiety-related differences in the impact of threat on attentional control at varying levels of task difficulty. In Study 1, youth ages 8-18 years (N = 109), completed the paradigm during eye tracking. Results indicated that youth with more severe anxiety took longer to fixate on and identify the target, specifically on difficult trials, compared to youth with less anxiety. However, no anxiety-related effects of emotional distraction (faces) emerged. In Study 2, a separate cohort of 8-18-year-olds (N = 72) completed a similar paradigm during fMRI. Behaviourally, youth with more severe anxiety were slower to respond on searches following non-threatening, compared to threatening, distractors, but this effect did not vary by task difficulty. The same interaction emerged in the neuroimaging analysis in the superior parietal lobule and precentral gyrus-more severe anxiety was associated with greater brain response following non-threatening distractors. Theoretical implications of these inconsistent findings are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley R Smith
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Simone P Haller
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sara A Haas
- Uppsala Child and Baby Lab, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - David Pagliaccio
- Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Brigid Behrens
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Caroline Swetlitz
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jessica L Bezek
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Melissa A Brotman
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- College of Education, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Lázaro E, Amayra I, López-Paz JF, Martínez O, Pérez M, Berrocoso S, García M, Jometón A, Al-Rashaida M, Oliva M, Parada P, Hoffmann H. Instrument for Assessing the Ability to Identify Emotional Facial Expressions in Healthy Children and in Children With ADHD: The FEEL Test. J Atten Disord 2019; 23:563-569. [PMID: 30888306 DOI: 10.1177/1087054716682335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study presents the validation of a computerized assessment tool that studies the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions in children between 8 and 11 years of age: the Facially Expressed Emotion Labeling Test (FEEL Test). METHOD The two tests composing the protocol were applied using a laptop in the following order: the FEEL Test followed by the Deusto-e-Motion 1.0 Test.The sample consisted of a total of 1,189 schoolchildren aged between 8 and 11 years, 594 boys and 594 girls. A clinical sample of 47 children with ADHD also took part in this study. RESULTS The Cronbach's α coefficient for the total scale was .82, showing high levels of reliability. The difficulty index of the items ranged between .4 and .7. The statistical analyses showed a high rate of discrimination between those who obtained low scores compared with those who obtained high scores. The test results reflected differences according to age and gender of participants in many of the variables associated with both response accuracy and response speed. Regarding its predictive validity, the test is able to find statistically significant differences in the total test score among a group of children diagnosed with ADHD and a matched control group. CONCLUSION This article presents the validation of an instrument that assesses the ability to recognize facial expressions in children between 8 and 11 years old and can discriminate and detect differences in gender, age, and possible deficits in social skills within the ADHD.
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Chronaki G, Broyd SJ, Garner M, Benikos N, Thompson MJJ, Sonuga-Barke EJS, Hadwin JA. The Moderating Effect of Self-Reported State and Trait Anxiety on the Late Positive Potential to Emotional Faces in 6-11-Year-Old Children. Front Psychol 2018. [PMID: 29515476 PMCID: PMC5826320 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction: The emergence of anxiety during childhood is accompanied by the development of attentional biases to threat. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these biases are poorly understood. In addition, previous research has not examined whether state and trait anxiety are independently associated with threat-related biases. Methods: We compared ERP waveforms during the processing of emotional faces in a population sample of 58 6-11-year-olds who completed self-reported measures of trait and state anxiety and depression. Results: The results showed that the P1 was larger to angry than neutral faces in the left hemisphere, though early components (P1, N170) were not strongly associated with child anxiety or depression. In contrast, Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitudes to angry (vs. neutral) faces were significantly and positively associated with symptoms of anxiety/depression. In addition, the difference between LPPs for angry (vs. neutral) faces was independently associated with state and trait anxiety symptoms. Discussion: The results showed that neural responses to facial emotion in children with elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression were most evident at later processing stages characterized as evaluative and effortful. The findings support cognitive models of threat perception in anxiety and indicate that trait elements of anxiety and more transitory fluctuations in anxious affect are important in understanding individual variation in the neural response to threat in late childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgia Chronaki
- Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (DCN) Laboratory, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom.,Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.,School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Samantha J Broyd
- School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
| | - Matthew Garner
- School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas Benikos
- Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | | | | | - Julie A Hadwin
- School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
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Blanchette I, Richards A, Cross A. Anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguous facial expressions: The influence of contextual cues. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 60:1101-15. [PMID: 17654394 DOI: 10.1080/17470210600890511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
In 3 experiments, we investigate how anxiety influences interpretation of ambiguous facial expressions of emotion. Specifically, we examine whether anxiety modulates the effect of contextual cues on interpretation. Participants saw ambiguous facial expressions. Simultaneously, positive or negative contextual information appeared on the screen. Participants judged whether each expression was positive or negative. We examined the impact of verbal and visual contextual cues on participants’ judgements. We used 3 different anxiety induction procedures and measured levels of trait anxiety (Experiment 2). Results showed that high state anxiety resulted in greater use of contextual information in the interpretation of the facial expressions. Trait anxiety was associated with mood-congruent effects on interpretation, but not greater use of contextual information.
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Rechenberg K, Whittemore R, Grey M. Anxiety in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes. J Pediatr Nurs 2017; 32:64-71. [PMID: 27663096 PMCID: PMC5743322 DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2016.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 08/24/2016] [Accepted: 08/25/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
PROBLEM Mental health conditions are prevalent in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms are highly correlated and are two of the most prevalent mental health conditions in youth in the general population. The detrimental effect of depressive symptoms in youth with T1D has been well documented, but the effects of anxiety symptoms are not well understood. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Studies were included if they were published between 1990 and 2015, and evaluated anxiety symptoms in a population of youth with T1D. SAMPLE A total of 20 studies were identified from a sample of 338 papers. RESULTS Anxiety symptoms were prevalent in youth with T1D. Anxiety symptoms were associated with higher glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, poorer self-management and coping behaviors, depressive symptoms, fear of hypoglycemia, and lower blood glucose monitoring frequency. State anxiety and trait anxiety symptoms affected health outcomes differently. Girls were at a higher risk of anxiety symptoms than boys. CONCLUSIONS Anxiety symptoms in youth with T1D have detrimental effects on health outcomes, including self-management, quality of life, and HbA1c. IMPLICATIONS Future research should aim to improve our current screening and treatment practices.
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Abstract
The rapid detection of emotional signals from facial expressions is fundamental for human social interaction. The personality factor of neuroticism modulates the processing of various types of emotional facial expressions; however, its effect on the detection of emotional facial expressions remains unclear. In this study, participants with high- and low-neuroticism scores performed a visual search task to detect normal expressions of anger and happiness, and their anti-expressions within a crowd of neutral expressions. Anti-expressions contained an amount of visual changes equivalent to those found in normal expressions compared to neutral expressions, but they were usually recognized as neutral expressions. Subjective emotional ratings in response to each facial expression stimulus were also obtained. Participants with high-neuroticism showed an overall delay in the detection of target facial expressions compared to participants with low-neuroticism. Additionally, the high-neuroticism group showed higher levels of arousal to facial expressions compared to the low-neuroticism group. These data suggest that neuroticism modulates the detection of emotional facial expressions in healthy participants; high levels of neuroticism delay overall detection of facial expressions and enhance emotional arousal in response to facial expressions.
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Basanovic J, MacLeod C. Does anxiety-linked attentional bias to threatening information reflect bias in the setting of attentional goals, or bias in the execution of attentional goals? Cogn Emot 2016; 31:538-551. [PMID: 26823009 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1138931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Heightened anxiety vulnerability is characterised by an attentional bias that favours the processing of negative information. However, this anxiety-linked attentional bias is amenable to two quite different explanations. One possibility is that it reflects anxiety-linked bias in the setting of attentional goals that favours setting the goal of attending towards negative information over the alternative goal of attending away from such information. Another possibility is that it reflects anxiety-linked bias in the execution of attentional goals that enhances the execution of the former attentional goal compared to the latter. The present study introduces a novel methodology designed to discriminate the validity of these competing hypotheses, by examining anxiety-linked attentional bias under two conditions. One condition left attentional goals unconstrained. The other condition imposed the attentional goal of either attending towards more negative or more benign emotional stimuli. The finding that anxiety-linked attentional bias was observed only under the former condition supported the hypothesis that anxiety is characterised by a bias favouring the setting attentional goals involving vigilance rather than avoidance of negative information, while giving no support to the hypothesis that anxiety is characterised by a bias reflecting enhanced execution of the former attentional goal compared to the latter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Basanovic
- a Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychology , University of Western Australia , Crawley , WA , Australia
| | - Colin MacLeod
- a Elizabeth Rutherford Memorial Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychology , University of Western Australia , Crawley , WA , Australia.,b Department of Psychology , Babeş-Bolyai University , Cluj-Napoca , Romania
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11
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Cole CE, Zapp DJ, Fettig NB, Pérez-Edgar K. Impact of attention biases to threat and effortful control on individual variations in negative affect and social withdrawal in very young children. J Exp Child Psychol 2015; 141:210-21. [PMID: 26477597 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/14/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Early temperamental sensitivity may form the basis for the later development of socioemotional maladjustment. In particular, temperamental negative affect places children at risk for the development of anxiety. However, not all children who show negative affect go on to develop anxiety or extreme social withdrawal. Recent research indicates that reactive control, in the form of attention to threat, may serve as a bridge between early temperament and the development of later social difficulties. In addition, variation in effortful control may also modulate this trajectory. Children (mean age=5.57 years) were assessed for attention bias to threatening and pleasant faces using a dot-probe paradigm. Attention bias to threatening (but not happy) faces moderated the direct positive relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Children with threat biases showed a significant link between negative affect and social withdrawal, whereas children who avoided threat did not. In contrast, effortful control did not moderate the relation between negative affect and social withdrawal. Rather, there was a direct negative relation between effortful control and social withdrawal. The findings from this short report indicate that the relations among temperament, attention bias, and social withdrawal appears early in life and point to early emerging specificity in reactive and regulatory functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire E Cole
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
| | - Daniel J Zapp
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Nicole B Fettig
- Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Koraly Pérez-Edgar
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA
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Reynolds G, Field AP, Askew C. Effect of vicarious fear learning on children's heart rate responses and attentional bias for novel animals. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014; 14:995-1006. [PMID: 25151521 PMCID: PMC4170822 DOI: 10.1037/a0037225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Research with children has shown that vicarious learning can result in changes to 2 of Lang’s (1968) 3 anxiety response systems: subjective report and behavioral avoidance. The current study extended this research by exploring the effect of vicarious learning on physiological responses (Lang’s final response system) and attentional bias. The study used Askew and Field’s (2007) vicarious learning procedure and demonstrated fear-related increases in children’s cognitive, behavioral, and physiological responses. Cognitive and behavioral changes were retested 1 week and 1 month later, and remained elevated. In addition, a visual search task demonstrated that fear-related vicarious learning creates an attentional bias for novel animals, which is moderated by increases in fear beliefs during learning. The findings demonstrate that vicarious learning leads to lasting changes in all 3 of Lang’s anxiety response systems and is sufficient to create attentional bias to threat in children.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Chris Askew
- Department of Psychology, Kingston University
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13
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Visu-Petra L, Stanciu O, Benga O, Miclea M, Cheie L. Longitudinal and concurrent links between memory span, anxiety symptoms, and subsequent executive functioning in young children. Front Psychol 2014; 5:443. [PMID: 24904462 PMCID: PMC4032945 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2014] [Accepted: 04/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Visu-Petra
- Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai UniversityCluj-Napoca, Romania
- *Correspondence: Laura Visu-Petra, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Republicii Str. No 37, Cluj-Napoca 400015, Romania e-mail:
| | - Oana Stanciu
- Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, University of GhentGhent, Belgium
| | - Oana Benga
- Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai UniversityCluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Mircea Miclea
- Department of Psychology, Applied Cognitive Psychology Center, Babeş-Bolyai UniversityCluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Lavinia Cheie
- Developmental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai UniversityCluj-Napoca, Romania
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Cummings AJ, Rennels JL. How Mood and Task Complexity Affect Children's Recognition of Others' Emotions. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2014; 23:80-99. [PMID: 24489442 DOI: 10.1111/sode.12038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies examined how mood affects children's accuracy in matching emotional expressions and labels (label-based tasks). This study was the first to assess how induced mood (positive, neutral, or negative) influenced 5- to 8-year-olds' accuracy and reaction time using both context-based tasks, which required inferring a character's emotion from a vignette, and label-based tasks. Both tasks required choosing one of four facial expressions to respond. Children responded more accurately to label-based questions relative to context-based questions at 5 to 7 years of age, but showed no differences at 8 years of age, and when the emotional expression being identified was happiness, sadness, or surprise, but not disgust. For the context-based questions, children were more accurate at inferring sad and disgusted emotions compared to happy and surprised emotions. Induced positive mood facilitated 5-year-olds' processing (decreased reaction time) in both tasks compared to induced negative and neutral moods. Results demonstrate how task type and children's mood influence children's emotion processing at different ages.
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Brown HM, Eley TC, Broeren S, Macleod C, Rinck M, Hadwin JA, Lester KJ. Psychometric properties of reaction time based experimental paradigms measuring anxiety-related information-processing biases in children. J Anxiety Disord 2014; 28:97-107. [PMID: 24486916 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2013] [Revised: 10/29/2013] [Accepted: 11/16/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Theoretical frameworks highlight the importance of threat-related information-processing biases for understanding the emergence of anxiety in childhood. The psychometric properties of several tasks measuring these biases and their associations with anxiety were examined in an unselected sample of 9-year-old children (N=155). In each task, threat bias was assessed using bias scores reflecting task performance on threat versus non-threat conditions. Reliability was assessed using split-half and test-retest correlations of mean reaction times (RTs), accuracy and bias indices. Convergence between measures was also examined. Mean RTs showed substantial split-half and test-retest correlations. Bias score reliability coefficients were near zero and non-significant, suggesting poor reliability in children of this age. Additionally, associations between bias scores and anxiety were weak and inconsistent and performance between tasks showed little convergence. Bias scores from RT based paradigms in the current study lacked adequate psychometric properties for measuring individual differences in anxiety-related information-processing in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- H M Brown
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, United Kingdom
| | - T C Eley
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, United Kingdom
| | - S Broeren
- Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - C Macleod
- Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, University of Western Australia, Australia
| | - M Rinck
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - J A Hadwin
- Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - K J Lester
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, United Kingdom.
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Lau JYF, Hilbert K, Goodman R, Gregory AM, Pine DS, Viding EM, Eley TC. Investigating the genetic and environmental bases of biases in threat recognition and avoidance in children with anxiety problems. BIOLOGY OF MOOD & ANXIETY DISORDERS 2012; 2:12. [PMID: 22788754 PMCID: PMC3487968 DOI: 10.1186/2045-5380-2-12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2011] [Accepted: 05/21/2012] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Background Adults with anxiety show biased categorization and avoidance of threats. Such biases may emerge through complex interplay between genetics and environments, occurring early in life. Research on threat biases in children has focuses on a restricted range of biases, with insufficient focus on genetic and environmental origins. Here, we explore differences between children with and without anxiety problems in under-studied areas of threat bias. We focused both on associations with anxious phenotype and the underlying gene-environmental correlates for two specific processes: the categorisation of threat faces and avoidance learning. Method Two-hundred and fifty 10-year old MZ and DZ twin pairs (500 individuals) completed tasks assessing accuracy in the labelling of threatening facial expressions and in the acquisition of avoidant responses to a card associated with a masked threatening face. To assess whether participants met criteria for an anxiety disorder, parents of twins completed a self-guided computerized version of the Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA). Comparison of MZ and DZ twin correlations using model-fitting were used to compute estimates of genetic, shared and non-shared environmental effects. Results Of the 500 twins assessed, 25 (5%) met diagnostic criteria for a current anxiety disorder. Children with anxiety disorders were more accurate in their ability to recognize disgust faces than those without anxiety disorders, but were commensurate on identifying other threatening face emotions (angry, fearful, sad). Children with anxiety disorders but also more strongly avoided selecting a conditioned stimulus than non-anxious children. While recognition of socially threatening faces was moderately heritable, avoidant responses were heavily influenced by the non-shared environment. Conclusion These data add to other findings on threat biases in anxious children. Specifically, we found biases in the labelling of some negative-valence faces and in the acquisition of avoidant responses. While non-shared environmental effects explained all of the variance on threat avoidance, some of this may be due to measurement error.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Y F Lau
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK.
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Benoit KE, McNally RJ, Rapee RM, Gamble AL, Wiseman AL. Processing of Emotional Faces in Children and Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE 2012. [DOI: 10.1375/bech.24.4.183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
AbstractThe purpose of this study was to test whether children and adolescents with anxiety disorders exhibit selective processing of threatening facial expressions in a pictorial version of the emotional Stroop paradigm. Participants named the colours of filters covering images of adults and children displaying either a neutral facial expression or one displaying the emotions of anger, disgust, or happiness. A delay in naming the colour of a filter implies attentional capture by the facial expression. Anxious participants, relative to control participants, exhibited slower colour naming overall, implying greater proneness to distraction by social cues. Children exhibited longer colour-naming latencies as compared to adolescents, perhaps because young children have a limited ability to inhibit attention to distracting stimuli. Adult faces were associated with slower colour naming than were child faces, irrespective of facial expressions in both groups, possibly because adults provide especially salient cues for children and adolescents. Inconsistent with prediction, participants with anxiety disorders were not slower than healthy controls at naming the colours of filters covering threatening expressions (i.e., anger and disgust) relative to filters covering faces depicting happy or neutral expressions.
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Hadwin JA, Donnelly N, Richards A, French CC, Patel U. Childhood anxiety and attention to emotion faces in a modified stroop task. BRITISH JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2010; 27:487-94. [DOI: 10.1348/026151008x315503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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19
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Waters AM, Lipp OV, Randhawa RS. Visual search with animal fear-relevant stimuli: A tale of two procedures. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2010. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-010-9191-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Stirling LJ, Eley TC, Clark DM. Preliminary Evidence for an Association Between Social Anxiety Symptoms and Avoidance of Negative Faces in School-Age Children. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY 2010; 35:431-9. [PMID: 16836481 DOI: 10.1207/s15374424jccp3503_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
Attentional biases with regard to emotional facial expressions are associated with social anxiety in adults. We investigated whether similar relations exist in children. Seventy-nine 8- to 11-year-olds completed a probe detection task. On a given trial, 1 of 3 pairs of faces was presented: negative-neutral, negative-positive, and positive-neutral. The strongest association was between social anxiety symptoms and avoidance of negative faces from negative-neutral trials (r = - .32), with all other correlations less than half that size. This association was largely due to avoidance of angry and fearful expressions. These results provide preliminary evidence that anxiety is associated with attentional biases in children as in adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucy J Stirling
- Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Camberwell, London, England
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Visu-Petra L, Ţincaş I, Cheie L, Benga O. Anxiety and visual-spatial memory updating in young children: An investigation using emotional facial expressions. Cogn Emot 2010. [DOI: 10.1080/02699930903387546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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22
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Tottenham N, Hare TA, Quinn BT, McCarry TW, Nurse M, Gilhooly T, Millner A, Galvan A, Davidson MC, Eigsti IM, Thomas KM, Freed PJ, Booma ES, Gunnar MR, Altemus M, Aronson J, Casey BJ. Prolonged institutional rearing is associated with atypically large amygdala volume and difficulties in emotion regulation. Dev Sci 2010; 13:46-61. [PMID: 20121862 PMCID: PMC2817950 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00852.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 523] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Early adversity, for example poor caregiving, can have profound effects on emotional development. Orphanage rearing, even in the best circumstances, lies outside of the bounds of a species-typical caregiving environment. The long-term effects of this early adversity on the neurobiological development associated with socio-emotional behaviors are not well understood. Seventy-eight children, who include those who have experienced orphanage care and a comparison group, were assessed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure volumes of whole brain and limbic structures (e.g. amygdala, hippocampus). Emotion regulation was assessed with an emotional go-nogo paradigm, and anxiety and internalizing behaviors were assessed using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, the Child Behavior Checklist, and a structured clinical interview. Late adoption was associated with larger corrected amygdala volumes, poorer emotion regulation, and increased anxiety. Although more than 50% of the children who experienced orphanage rearing met criteria for a psychiatric disorder, with a third having an anxiety disorder, the group differences observed in amygdala volume were not driven by the presence of an anxiety disorder. The findings are consistent with previous reports describing negative effects of prolonged orphanage care on emotional behavior and with animal models that show long-term changes in the amygdala and emotional behavior following early postnatal stress. These changes in limbic circuitry may underlie residual emotional and social problems experienced by children who have been internationally adopted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nim Tottenham
- Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, USA.
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Emotional faces in neutral crowds: Detecting displays of anger, happiness, and sadness on schematic and photographic images of faces. MOTIVATION AND EMOTION 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s11031-009-9136-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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White LK, Helfinstein SM, Reeb-Sutherland BC, Degnan KA, Fox NA. Role of attention in the regulation of fear and anxiety. Dev Neurosci 2009; 31:309-17. [PMID: 19546568 PMCID: PMC5079098 DOI: 10.1159/000216542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2009] [Accepted: 01/03/2009] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotion regulation makes use of specific aspects of attention and executive functions that are critical for the development of adaptive social functioning, and perturbations in these processes can result in maladaptive behavior and psychopathology. Both involuntary and voluntary attention processes have been examined at both the behavioral and the neural levels and are implicated in the maintenance of fearful or anxious behaviors. However, relatively little is known about how these attention processes come to influence emotional behavior across development. The current review summarizes the extant literature on the links between voluntary and involuntary attention processes and the role that these attention processes have in the etiology, maintenance, and regulation of anxious behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Nathan A. Fox
- Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park, Md., USA
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25
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Doi H, Ueda K, Shinohara K. Neural correlates of the stare-in-the-crowd effect. Neuropsychologia 2009; 47:1053-60. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2008] [Revised: 10/15/2008] [Accepted: 11/06/2008] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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26
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27
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Waters AM, Lipp O, Spence SH. Visual search for animal fear-relevant stimuli in children. AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2008. [DOI: 10.1080/00049530701549346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Ottmar Lipp
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland
| | - Susan H. Spence
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Telzer EH, Mogg K, Bradley BP, Mai X, Ernst M, Pine DS, Monk CS. Relationship between trait anxiety, prefrontal cortex, and attention bias to angry faces in children and adolescents. Biol Psychol 2008; 79:216-22. [PMID: 18599179 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2008.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2007] [Revised: 05/12/2008] [Accepted: 05/13/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a visual-probe task that assesses attention to threat, we investigated the cognitive and neurophysiological correlates of trait anxiety in youth. During fMRI acquisition, 16 healthy children and adolescents viewed angry-neutral face pairs and responded to a probe that was on the same (angry-congruent) or opposite (angry-incongruent) side as the angry face. Attention bias scores were calculated by subtracting participants' mean reaction time for angry-congruent trials from angry-incongruent trials. Trait anxiety was positively associated with attention bias towards angry faces. Neurophysiologically, trait anxiety was positively associated with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation on a contrast of trials that reflect the attention bias for angry faces (i.e. angry-incongruent versus angry-congruent trials). Trait anxiety was also positively associated with right ventrolateral PFC activation on trials with face stimuli (vesus baseline), irrespective of their emotional content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva H Telzer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Perez-Olivas G, Stevenson J, Hadwin JA. Do anxiety-related attentional biases mediate the link between maternal over involvement and separation anxiety in children? Cogn Emot 2008. [DOI: 10.1080/02699930801886656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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30
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Creswell C, Woolgar M, Cooper P, Giannakakis A, Schofield E, Young AW, Murray L. Processing of faces and emotional expressions in infants at risk of social phobia. Cogn Emot 2008. [DOI: 10.1080/02699930701872392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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31
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Baseline and affective startle modulation by angry and neutral faces in 4–8-year-old anxious and non-anxious children. Biol Psychol 2008; 78:10-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2007] [Revised: 12/02/2007] [Accepted: 12/08/2007] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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Lau JYF, Pine DS. Elucidating risk mechanisms of gene-environment interactions on pediatric anxiety: integrating findings from neuroscience. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2008; 258:97-106. [PMID: 18343966 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-007-0788-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Recent findings of gene-environment interaction on child and adolescent anxiety generate interest in mechanisms through which genetic risks are expressed. Current findings from neuroscience suggest avenues for exploring putative mechanisms. Specifically recent documentations of abnormality in brain function among anxious adolescents may reflect the end-result of gene expression. In turn these inherited predispositions may increase the likelihood of psychopathology in the presence of stress. The aim of the current article is to consider putative mechanisms reflecting genetic sensitivity to the environment (G x E). Thus we review data implicating biased processing of threat information and anomalies in brain circuitry in the expression of pediatric anxiety. These data suggest that links across development among genes, brain, psychological processes, and behavior are far from established. Accordingly, the article proposes strategies for examining these links. Exploring these relationships during development is crucial, given that these early life processes may potentially shape longer-term patterns of emotional behavior, and therefore life-long trajectories of anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Y F Lau
- Mood and Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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33
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Waters AM, Lipp OV. The influence of animal fear on attentional capture by fear-relevant animal stimuli in children. Behav Res Ther 2007; 46:114-21. [PMID: 18093573 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2007.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2007] [Revised: 10/26/2007] [Accepted: 11/05/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
The present study demonstrated that pictures of fear-relevant animals, snakes and spiders, presented among backgrounds of other animal stimuli captured attention and interfered in the detection of a neutral target to the same extent in a large sample of unselected children (N=81). Moreover, detection of a neutral target animal was slowed more in the presence of a feared fear-relevant distracter, e.g., a snake for snake fearful children, than in the presence of a not feared fear-relevant distracter, e.g., a spider for snake fearful children. These results indicate attentional capture by phylogenetically fear-relevant animal stimuli in children and the selective enhancement of this effect by fear of these animals. These findings are consistent with current models of preferential processing of phylogenetically prepared threat stimuli and with cognitive models of anxiety that propose an enhancing effect of fear in the processing of fear-related stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison M Waters
- School of Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
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Empirical evidence of cognitive vulnerability for depression among children and adolescents: a cognitive science and developmental perspective. Clin Psychol Rev 2007; 28:759-82. [PMID: 18068882 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2007.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 157] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2007] [Revised: 10/23/2007] [Accepted: 10/29/2007] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
We summarize and integrate research on cognitive vulnerability to depression among children and adolescents. We first review prospective longitudinal studies of the most researched cognitive vulnerability factors (attributional style, dysfunctional attitudes, and self-perception) and depression among youth. We next review research on information processing biases in youth. We propose that the integration of these two literatures will result in a more adequate test of cognitive vulnerability models. Last, we outline a program of research addressing methodological, statistical, and scientific limitations in the cognitive vulnerability literature.
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Herba CM, de Bruin E, Althaus M, Verheij F, Ferdinand RF. Face and emotion recognition in MCDD versus PDD-NOS. J Autism Dev Disord 2007; 38:706-18. [PMID: 17721812 PMCID: PMC2268724 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-007-0438-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2006] [Accepted: 08/01/2007] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that Multiple Complex Developmental Disorder (MCDD) children differ from PDD-NOS and autistic children on a symptom level and on psychophysiological functioning. Children with MCDD (n = 21) and PDD-NOS (n = 62) were compared on two facets of social-cognitive functioning: identification of neutral faces and facial expressions. Few significant group differences emerged. Children with PDD-NOS demonstrated a more attention-demanding strategy of face processing, and processed neutral faces more similarly to complex patterns whereas children with MCDD showed an advantage for face recognition compared to complex patterns. Results further suggested that any disadvantage in face recognition was related more to the autistic features of the PDD-NOS group rather than characteristics specific to MCDD. No significant group differences emerged for identifying facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine M Herba
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Center-Sophia Children's Hospital Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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Pillay SS, Rogowska J, Gruber SA, Simpson N, Yurgelun-Todd DA. Recognition of happy facial affect in panic disorder: an fMRI study. J Anxiety Disord 2007; 21:381-93. [PMID: 16860973 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2005] [Revised: 03/29/2006] [Accepted: 04/10/2006] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study investigated activation of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala during the presentation of happy facial affect images in patients with panic disorder (PD) as measured by blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHODS Eight patients with PD and eight sex-matched controls were recruited for the study. Scanning was performed on a general electric (GE) Signa 1.5T scanner retrofitted with a whole body echo planar coil. Using a quadrature head coil, echo planar images and high-resolution MR images were acquired. RESULTS After covarying for age, examination of group differences revealed greater ACC activation bilaterally in patients with PD compared to controls in response to happy faces. However, there were no differences in amygdala activation between the groups. These findings contrasted with regional brain activation in response to neutral faces where there were was also greater bilateral ACC activation in the PD group, but only 44 ACC voxels showed significant increases as opposed to 509 voxels for the happy condition. There were no between group differences in activation in the amygdala. CONCLUSION This is the first fMRI study to our knowledge that demonstrates ACC abnormalities in response to happy facial affect recognition in PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srinivasan S Pillay
- Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478, United States.
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Richards A, French CC, Nash G, Hadwin JA, Donnelly N. A comparison of selective attention and facial processing biases in typically developing children who are high and low in self-reported trait anxiety. Dev Psychopathol 2007; 19:481-95. [PMID: 17459180 DOI: 10.1017/s095457940707023x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between children's anxiety and cognitive biases was examined in two tasks. A group of 50 children aged 10 to 11 years (mean = 11 years, SD = 3.71 months) was given two tasks. The first tested children's selective attention (SA) to threat in an emotional Stroop task. The second explored facial processing biases using morphed angry-neutral and happy-neutral emotional expressions that varied in intensity. Faces with varying levels of emotion (25% emotion-75% neutral, 50% emotion-50% neutral, 100% emotion-0% neutral [prototype] and 150% emotion-0% neutral [caricature]) were judged as being angry or happy. Results support previous work highlighting a link between anxiety and SA to threat. In addition, increased anxiety in late childhood is associated with decreased ability to discriminate facial expression. Finally, lack of discrimination in the emotional expression task was related to lack of inhibition to threat in the Stroop task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Richards
- School of Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.
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Lewis MD, Todd RM, Honsberger MJM. Event-related potential measures of emotion regulation in early childhood. Neuroreport 2007; 18:61-5. [PMID: 17259862 DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0b013e328010a216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Emotion regulation in adults may be mediated by frontal cortical activities that adjust attention in response to challenging emotions. We examined event-related potentials across emotional conditions to assess normative patterns and individual differences in cortical mechanisms of emotion regulation in 4-6-year-olds. The children viewed pictures of angry, neutral, and happy faces during a Go/No-go task. Angry faces generated the greatest (frontocentral) N2 amplitudes and fastest N2 latencies, and happy faces produced the smallest amplitudes and slowest latencies. Frontal electrodes showed larger N2s to angry faces in the Go condition. The P3b was also largest for angry faces. More fearful children showed faster latency N2s to angry faces. These results are interpreted in terms of early-developing mechanisms for regulating anxiety and processing emotional information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc D Lewis
- Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Ladouceur CD, Dahl RE, Williamson DE, Birmaher B, Axelson DA, Ryan ND, Casey BJ. Processing emotional facial expressions influences performance on a Go/NoGo task in pediatric anxiety and depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2006; 47:1107-15. [PMID: 17076749 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01640.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study investigated whether processing emotionally salient information such as emotional facial expressions influences the performance on a cognitive control task in pediatric anxiety and depression. METHODS The sample included 68 participants between 8 and 16 years of age selected into three diagnostic groups: Anxiety Disorder (ANX, n = 23), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD, n = 19), and Low-Risk Normal Control (LRNC, n = 26). Participants completed an Emotional Go/NoGo task in which participants must either respond to (Go trials) or not respond to (NoGo trials) specific facial expressions (angry, fearful, sad, happy, neutral). In order to manipulate the level of cognitive control needed to perform the task, the probability of occurrence of the Go trials was varied across 3 probability conditions (low, moderate, high). RESULTS Analyses showed that the MDD group had significantly faster reaction times to sad face Go trials embedded in neutral face NoGo trials in the moderate probability condition and that the ANX group had significantly slower reaction times to neutral face Go trials embedded in angry face NoGo trials in the low probability condition. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that processing emotional facial expressions influences the performance on a cognitive control task in children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and major depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecile D Ladouceur
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
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Herba CM, Landau S, Russell T, Ecker C, Phillips ML. The development of emotion-processing in children: effects of age, emotion, and intensity. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2006; 47:1098-106. [PMID: 17076748 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01652.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 179] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study examined the effects of age and two novel factors (intensity and emotion category) on healthy children's developing emotion-processing from 4 to 15 years using two matching paradigms. METHODS An explicit emotion-matching task was employed in which children matched the emotion of a target individual, and an implicit task whereby participants ignored the emotive facial stimulus and matched identity. Four intensities (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) for each of five emotion categories (sad, anger, happy, fear, and disgust) were included and provided a novel avenue of emotion-processing exploration. RESULTS Increasing age significantly improved children's performance on both tasks, particularly for fear and disgust. Age was not associated with more subtle processing (i.e., lower intensity of expression). When explicitly matching emotion expressions, increasing intensity was associated with improved performance. When matching identities (implicit emotion-matching), emotion category and intensity influenced task performance. Sex effects were minimal. CONCLUSIONS In children, age, facial expression intensity and emotion category are important for predicting accuracy on emotion-processing tasks. Emotion category and expression intensity differentially affect performance on explicit and implicit emotion-processing tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine M Herba
- Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, KCL, UK.
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Blanchette I. Snakes, spiders, guns, and syringes: how specific are evolutionary constraints on the detection of threatening stimuli? Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2006; 59:1484-504. [PMID: 16846972 DOI: 10.1080/02724980543000204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
In three experiments, the efficiency in detecting fear-relevant and fear-irrelevant visual stimuli are compared. A visual search paradigm is used where participants are presented with matrices of different sizes (4 objects/9 objects) and must determine whether all objects are taken from the same category or whether there is a discrepant one. Results from all experiments were consistent with the threat-superiority effect. Participants were quicker when the target was threatening than when it was not. Other indicators confirmed that the detection of threatening targets involves more efficient processes (reduced slopes, absence of position effects). A crucial aspect of these experiments was the comparison of evolutionary-relevant (snakes, spiders, etc.) and modern (guns, syringes, etc.) threats. The threat-superiority effect was repeatedly found for both types of target. Stronger effects were sometimes observed for modern than for evolutionary-relevant threats. The implications for evolutionary explanations of the effect of fear on visual attention are discussed.
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Hadwin JA, Garner M, Perez-Olivas G. The development of information processing biases in childhood anxiety: a review and exploration of its origins in parenting. Clin Psychol Rev 2006; 26:876-94. [PMID: 16524655 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2005.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2005] [Revised: 09/23/2005] [Accepted: 09/25/2005] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore parenting as one potential route through which information processing biases for threat develop in children. It reviews information processing biases in childhood anxiety in the context of theoretical models and empirical research in the adult anxiety literature. Specifically, it considers how adult models have been used and adapted to develop a theoretical framework with which to investigate information processing biases in children. The paper then considers research which specifically aims to understand the relationship between parenting and the development of information processing biases in children. It concludes that a clearer theoretical framework is required to understand the significance of information biases in childhood anxiety, as well as their origins in parenting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Hadwin
- Developmental Brain-Behaviour Unit, School of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
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