Developmental Differences in Cognitive Control of Socio-Affective Processing

We examined developmental differences in cognitive control in the context of distracting communicative cues varying in socio-affective significance. Adults and children (6-13 years) performed a Stroop-type task that required manual responses to a target word (LEFT/RIGHT) in the context of to-be-igno...

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Published in:	Developmental neuropsychology 2007-01, Vol.32 (3), p.787-807
Main Authors:	Barnes, Kelly Anne, Kaplan, Lauren A., Vaidya, Chandan J.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult Age Factors Analysis of Variance Attention - physiology Biological and medical sciences Child Child development Child Development - physiology Children & youth Cognition - physiology Cognitive ability Developmental psychology Emotions Emotions - physiology Female Fixation, Ocular - physiology Functional Laterality Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Humans Information Male Neuropsychological Tests Neuropsychology Photic Stimulation - methods Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Reaction Time - physiology Social Perception
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Summary:	We examined developmental differences in cognitive control in the context of distracting communicative cues varying in socio-affective significance. Adults and children (6-13 years) performed a Stroop-type task that required manual responses to a target word (LEFT/RIGHT) in the context of to-be-ignored spatial cues that were symbolic (arrow pointing left or right), social (left/right averted eye gaze in faces), or socio-emotional (happy, angry and fearful faces with left/right averted eye gaze). On the basis of the finding that accuracy was lower in the context of spatially incongruent than congruent cues, it was concluded that spatial direction, cued by both arrows and eye gaze, interfered with response selection. Interference did not differ between adults and children indicating that cognitive control of spatial attention directed by symbolic and social information is mature by 6 years. Interference from averted eye gaze was insensitive to the valence of facial emotion in adults and in children between 6-9 but not 10-13 years. Older children showed more interference from averted eye gaze in angry faces than younger children or adults. Thus, cognitive control of socio-affective processing differs in the preadolescent years relative to earlier in late childhood and adulthood.
ISSN:	8756-5641 1532-6942