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.

AI-based chatbot micro-intervention for parents: Meaningful engagement, learning, and efficacy.

Introduction: Mental health issues have been on the rise among children and adolescents, and digital parenting programs have shown promising outcomes. However, there is limited research on the potential efficacy of utilizing chatbots to promote parental skills. This study aimed to understand whether parents learn from a parenting chatbot micro intervention, to assess the overall efficacy of the intervention, and to explore the user characteristics of the participants, including parental busyness, assumptions about parenting, and qualitative engagement with the chatbot. Methods: A sample of 170 parents with at least one child between 2-11 years old were recruited. A randomized control trial was conducted. Participants in the experimental group accessed a 15-min intervention that taught how to utilize positive attention and praise to promote positive behaviors in their children, while the control group remained on a waiting list. Results: Results showed that participants engaged with a brief AI-based chatbot intervention and were able to learn effective praising skills. Although scores moved in the expected direction, there were no significant differences by condition in the praising knowledge reported by parents, perceived changes in disruptive behaviors, or parenting self-efficacy, from pre-intervention to 24-hour follow-up. Discussion: The results provided insight to understand how parents engaged with the chatbot and suggests that, in general, brief, self-guided, digital interventions can promote learning in parents. It is possible that a higher dose of intervention may be needed to obtain a therapeutic change in parents. Further research implications on chatbots for parenting skills are discussed.