Multilevel analysis of positive emotional induction: Which is the role of gender and valence on cognitive control processes?

How emotions are processed affects people's cognition and behavior. One of the most used measures to study the physiological component of emotions is heart rate (HR), where greater HR variation (range) implies greater emotional processing. Several investigations established the importance of gender modulation of these processes due to the different cultural treatment given to emotions among genders. However, very heterogeneous results are reported today, and few studies incorporated these parameters when investigating emotion modulation of cognitive processes according to individual factors. The present work consists of two studies. In a pilot study, 97 young adults, through the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), ranged the valence and arousal to select two positive and neutral videos. The second study analyses the role of gender and valence in the variation of subjective (SAM) and physiological (HR) indicators of emotional processing associated with performance in two cognitive tasks (Stroop and Tower of London) under two different emotional conditions. Participants were 60 adults, who were randomly assigned to positive or neutral video visualization, and their HR was registered. There was a tendency for women to have higher HR during positive videos than in neutral. While the subjective reports indicated variances in the appraisal of the videos, the heart rate did not exhibit differences across the experimental conditions. Few studies integrate emotional and cognitive components, and include physiological and subjective measures of emotional processing. These findings illustrate the importance of including various measures of emotional and cognitive processing.

Cognitive and emotional processing in tasks with emotional valence: Analysis of age and gender role on child development variations.

Cognitive control consists of high-level cognitive processes regulating thoughts and actions during goal-directed behavior and problem-solving. This study analyzes the performance of 4- to 8-year-old children in Stroop-like and ToL tasks using stimuli with different emotional valence. Significant differences were found in the performance in the congruent block of the Stroop-like task, where 5-year-old children presented a higher performance in the neutral condition. Also, a significant difference was only found in the incongruent block (with higher demand for inhibition), which indicates that girls performed better than boys in both task conditions. Variations in the Stroop-like task performance were found in preschoolers but not in older children, especially in girls than in boys. Specifically, these variations were found between age groups with at least two years of difference. No statistically significant differences were found in performance nor planning time in ToL between the age and gender groups in any of the task conditions. The findings highlight the need to analyze the interaction between cognitive and emotional processing, individual differences, and task demands.

Individual Differences in Emotional Appraisal during Development: Analysis of the Role of Age, Gender, and Appraisal Accuracy.

Emotional appraisal is the process by which different responses are generated from subjective assessments of different stimuli. Children and adults can react differently to the same stimulus. Emotional appraisal is crucial to define emotional processing and its consequent response rather than the properties of the stimulus itself. Age and gender modulate emotional appraisal during development. This study analyzed emotional appraisal in children aged 4 to 8-years-old. The children's emotional appraisal responses and the appraisal accuracy to images with positive, negative, and neutral valence be compared between the different age groups, and according to the gender of the participants. About the appraisal accuracy, the comparisons indicated significant differences for positive and negative images according to the age of the participants, with no differences in the appraisal accuracy of neutral images. Differences in appraisal accuracy for negative images were observed between the 4-years-old group compared to the 7- and 8-years-old group, as well as in 5-years-old participants compared to 7-years-old. Significant differences were found for the positive and negative images between girls and boys, but no differences were found for neutral images. Girls had more appraisals accuracy for positive and negative images. This work highlights the importance of analyzing individual differences associated with emotional processing at different stages of development. This interrogates research findings in which emotional appraisal is carried out considering the valence assigned by adults and highlights the need for a methodological approach that includes individual differences in the appraisal of stimuli used during development.

Individual and socioenvironmental differences in autobiographical emotional appraisal of preschoolers.

Emotions are essential processes for integrating events into autobiographical memory. Different children react differently to the same event. The process through which these different responses are generated from subjective evaluations of an event is called emotional appraisal. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the variations in the emotional appraisal of autobiographical events of 4- and 5-year-old children from homes with different socioenvironmental conditions. We compared preschoolers' emotional appraisal responses with those of their families. The emotional accuracy of the preschoolers was found to differ according to the different socioenvironmental conditions of their homes. Greater appraisal accuracy was observed in the favorable condition, and it was greater for emotional events than for neutral events. Appraisal accuracy also differed with age, with 5-year-olds showing greater appraisal accuracy than 4-year-olds. Therefore, the emotional appraisal of these events may also be affected by age and valence when attributing emotions to personal experiences.

Valoración emocional de imágenes y temperamento en preescolares: papel de la edad y la valencia / Emotional appraisal of images and temperament in preschoolers: Role of age and valence

Resumen La valoración es una etapa crucial del procesamiento emocional que prepara para la acción. Durante este proceso se generan distintas respuestas a partir de la evaluación de aspectos emocionales de los estímulos. Estas variaciones pueden deberse a la influencia de características individuales. La literatura señala al temperamento como uno de los factores asociados a las diferencias en la valoración emocional y el afrontamiento. Este trabajo analiza la relación entre la valoración emocional de estímulos visuales y características temperamentales obtenidas por medio del Cuestionario de Conducta Infantil (CBQ). Para esto, 198 preescolares de cuatro y cinco años valoraron 15 imágenes (negativas, neutras y positivas) y se analizaron estas valoraciones en función de las características temperamentales. Se encontró mayor cantidad de valoraciones negativas a los cuatro años que a los cinco (p = .056, η² parcial = .031), y de valoraciones positivas en el grupo con puntaje alto de esfuerzo de control en comparación con el de puntaje bajo (p = .020, η² parcial = .029). Esto sugiere una asociación entre la valoración emocional, la edad y el esfuerzo de control. Este resultado podría deberse a que las niñas y los niños estuvieran desviando su atención de los aspectos negativos de los estímulos.

Abstract Emotional appraisal is a crucial stage of emotional processing that prepares for action (coping). During this process different responses are generated from the evaluation of emotional aspects of the stimuli. These variations may be due to the influence of individual characteristics. The literature points to temperament as one of the factors associated with differences in emotional appraisal and coping. This paper analyzes the relationship between the emotional appraisal of visual stimuli and temperamental characteristics, obtained through the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ). For this purpose, 198 preschoolers aged 4 and 5 assigned of three possible emotional expressions to 15 images (negative, neutral and positive) and then compared the number of appraisals according to temperamental characteristics. Higher number of negative appraisals were found in the 4-year group compared to the 5-year group (p = .056, η² partial = .031), and of positive appraisals in the group with high effortful control score compared to the low score group (p = .020, η² partial = .029), suggesting an association between emotional assessment, age and effortful control. This result could be due to the fact that children were diverting they attention from the negative aspects of stimuli.

Role of Emotional Appraisal in Episodic Memory in a Sample of Argentinean Preschoolers.

Emotional processing and episodic memory are closely related throughout childhood development. With respect to emotional episodic memory, available evidence shows that the consolidation of information is accompanied by an arousal that generates longer duration and persistence of the memory representations. In the case of early stages of development (i.e., first 5 years), it is less clear how these associations emerge and are modulated by individual and environmental factors. In this study, 116 4- to 5-years old Argentinean children from different socio-environmental contexts (i.e., favorable or unfavorable living conditions at home), performed a task of visual emotional memory in which they observed a set of 15 images with variable emotional valences (negative, neutral, and positive). The child's task was to appraise each image using one of the following three possible valences: (a) drawings of faces with smiles (positive valence), (b) drawings of faces with tears and round mouth with edges down (negative valence), or (c) drawings of faces with horizontal mouth (neutral valence). Five years-old children exhibited greater accuracy appraisal. Individual differences in emotional accuracy appraisal allowed us to observe different performances in free recall of negative visual images. Accuracy appraisal did not vary between children with respect to gender, living conditions at home, or language ability. Seven to ten days after the emotional appraisal children were asked to tell the experimenter all the images they remembered (variables of interest: free recall of negative, positive, or neutral images). Results showed individual (age) differences. Specifically, 5-years-old children evoked more images than 4-years-old children. These findings contribute to the understanding of emotional memory in early developmental stages and raise the need to include emotional appraisal in the assessment of episodic memory.

Papel de las claves contextuales y dinámicas en el procesamiento emocional de niñas y niños preescolares / Role of contextual and dynamic keys in the emotional processing of preschoolers

Dentro del procesamiento emocional, la valoración emocional es el proceso mediante el cual se generan diferentes respuestas ante un mismo estímulo. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la valoración de estímulos visuales, ampliando las claves contextuales y dinámicas mediante la utilización de videos con diferente contenido emocional en niñas y niños preescolares. Se realizó un estudio sincrónico de carácter exploratorio en el cual se evaluaron 35 niñas y niños de 5 años en una tarea de valoración emocional. La utilización de videos infantiles permitió la expresión de discrepancias en las respuestas de valoración, y la comparación entre la valoración que otorgaban las niñas y los niños, y la que tenían los videos. La variabilidad de las respuestas de valoración señala la importancia de considerar estas variaciones en el abordaje metodológico que se realice, ya que son un componente clave en el procesamiento emocional durante el desarrollo infantil

Within emotional processing, emotional appraisal is the process by which different responses to the same stimulus are generated. The aim of this paper is to analyze the emotional appraisal of visual stimuli, broadening the contextual and dynamic keys by using videos with different emotional content in preschool children. An exploratory synchronous study was conducted, in which 35 girls and boys aged 5 were evaluated for an emotional appraisal task. The use of children's videos allowed for the expression of discrepancies in the appraisal responses, and the comparison between the valuation of children and that of the videos. The variability of the appraisal responses points to the importance of considering these variations in the methodological approach to be carried out, as they are a key component in the emotional processing during childhood development