Family psychological factors in relation to children's asthma status and behavioral adjustment at age 4

The objectives of this study were to determine whether family psychosocial factors influenced asthma development by age 4, and whether family factors and early wheezing illness were associated with behavioral adjustment at age 4. Participants were 98 children enrolled in an intervention study at 9-24 months and followed to age 4. Baseline evaluations assessed infants' respiratory illness severity, family psychosocial characteristics, and parental risk factors for asthma development. Active asthma categorization at age 4 utilized both parent report and objective data. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Caregiver single-parent status, a composite of baseline family stresses, and early wheezing illness severity were associated with active asthma at age 4. The contribution of prenatal smoke exposure and early hospitalization to active asthma varied with racial/ethnic group membership. Maternal mental health and family stresses predicted CBCL scores at age 4, whereas early illness severity and hospitalization were unrelated to CBCL scores. CBCL scores were not elevated for children with active asthma at age 4. Family factors consistent with a negative emotional environment were associated with both active asthma and adjustment problems at age 4, suggesting that both outcomes may be influenced by a common factor.     

Infant shy temperament predicts preschoolers Theory of Mind

The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the relation between infant temperament at 18 months and early Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities at 3 years of age. Temperament was assessed with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ) and ToM by assessing children's understanding of divergent desires and beliefs, and of knowledge access. Our results are in line with a social-emotional reactivity perspective postulating more sophisticated ToM abilities for children with less reactive more observant temperament. Children with shy temperament at 18 months and at 3 years were better in reasoning about others’ mental states at age 3. Language, siblings and parental education had no effect on ToM. Findings indicate that temperament is related to ToM earlier in development than previously found, and that this relation is thus not unique to false-belief understanding.     

不同注意条件下动态面孔表情识别的ERP研究

利用ERP技术对16名被试在不同注意负荷下对动态表情识别的脑时程特点进行了考察,结果发现：N170成分不受注意负荷和表情效价影响;低注意负荷条件下动态表情加工早期负性表情诱发的EPN成分（early posterior negativity）显著大于中性、正性表情,后期高级分析阶段正、负性表情均诱发明显的LPP成分（late positive potentials）,且负性较正性表情诱发更大的LPP成分;而在高注意负荷条件下并未发现表情识别诱发明显的EPN或LPP成分。这些结果说明,动态表情识别明显受到注意资源调节,只有在注意资源不断增加时表情加工才会出现注意偏向效应,尤以负性表情的加工优势最为凸显且持久,正性表情相对微弱和短暂。     

Sensory Over-Responsivity in Elementary School: Prevalence and Social-Emotional Correlates

Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) towards tactile and auditory input can impact children’s participation in academic and social activities; however the prevalence of SOR behaviors and their relation to social-emotional problems and competence has not been rigorously studied. This study investigated SOR in a representative sample of elementary school-aged children (n = 925, 50% boys, ages 7–11 years) who were followed from infancy. Sixteen percent of parents reported that at least four tactile or auditory sensations bothered their children. Being bothered by certain sensations was common while others were relatively rare. Parents of children with versus without elevated SOR in school-age reported higher frequencies of early and co-occurring internalizing, externalizing, and dysregulation problems, and lower levels of concurrent adaptive social behaviors. Early identification of elevated SOR and assessment of concurrent social-emotional status are important to minimize their impact on social adaptive behaviors at school age.     

Effects of anxiety and attention control on processing pictorial and linguistic emotional information

This study investigated the role of executive attention control in modulating selective processing of emotional information in anxiety. It was hypothesized that the combination of high anxiety and poor attention control would be associated with greater difficulty in ignoring task-irrelevant threat-related information. The study included both faces and words as stimuli. Cognitive interference effects were assessed using two emotional Stroop tasks: one with angry, fearful, happy and neutral faces, and one with threat-related, positive, and neutral words. An objective measure of attention control was obtained from the Attention network task. There were four participant groups with high/low trait anxiety and high/low attention control. Results indicated that the combination of high anxiety and poor attention control was associated with greater cognitive interference by emotional faces (including angry faces), compared to neutral faces. This interference effect was not evident in participants with high anxiety and high attentional control, or in low-anxious individuals. There was no evidence of associations between anxiety, attention control, and the interference effect of emotional words. Results indicate that high anxiety and poor attention control together predict enhanced processing of emotionally salient information, such as angry facial expressions. Implications for models of emotion processing are discussed.     

Cradling side preference is associated with lateralized processing of baby facial expressions in females

Women’s cradling side preference has been related to contralateral hemispheric specialization of processing emotional signals; but not of processing baby’s facial expression. Therefore, 46 nulliparous female volunteers were characterized as left or non-left holders (HG) during a doll holding task. During a signal detection task they were then asked to detect the emotional baby faces in a series of baby portraits with neutral and emotional facial expressions, presented either to the left or the right visual field (VFP). ANOVA revealed a significant HG × VFP interaction on response bias data (p < .05). Response bias was lowest when emotional baby faces were presented in the visual field of cradling side preference, suggesting that women’s cradling side preference may have evolved to save cognitive resources during monitoring emotional baby face signals.     

Empathy and emotion recognition in semantic dementia: A case report

Recent studies have demonstrated that patients suffering from frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) show impairments in empathy and emotional processing. In this study, we examined two different aspects of these abilities in a patient with semantic dementia (SD), a variant of FTLD. The first aspect was the assessment of the cognitive and emotional components of empathy through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The second was the naming and comprehension of emotions using the Ekman 60 Faces Test. The patient’s emotion word knowledge was spared and the emotional aspects of empathy preserved. Conversely, the patient performed below average for all of the basic emotions when an emotion word had to be matched with a picture. When picture-to-picture matching was tested, however, the patient was able to recognize happiness. This case is a good example of a dissociation of covert and overt emotional functioning in SD. Results are discussed in terms of the impaired empathic behavior and emotional functioning in FTLD.     

Une base de l’émotionalité (valence,arousal, catégories) de 1286 mots français selon l’âge (EMA)

Introduction/aim

Several studies have shown that the effects of word emotionality on its processing depend on both its valence and its arousal. Such effects also varied with age. However, in French, there is no norm providing both valence and arousal estimates for words not directly referring to an emotion. That was the aim of this study. Moreover, the base of word emotionality according to age (EMA) we propose here provides categorization for each word in basic emotional subcategories.

Recognition and evaluation of emotional prosody in individuals with generalized social phobia: a pilot study

Studies using facial emotional expressions as stimuli partially support the assumption of biased processing of social signals in social phobia. This pilot study explored for the first time whether individuals with social phobia display a processing bias towards emotional prosody. Fifteen individuals with generalized social phobia and fifteen healthy controls (HC) matched for gender, age, and education completed a recognition test consisting of meaningless utterances spoken in a neutral, angry, sad, fearful, disgusted or happy tone of voice. Participants also evaluated the stimuli with regard to valence and arousal. While these ratings did not differ significantly between groups, analysis of the recognition test revealed enhanced identification of sad and fearful voices and decreased identification of happy voices in individuals with social phobia compared with HC. The two groups did not differ in their processing of neutral, disgust, and anger prosody.     

Predictors of Satisfaction with Obstetric Care in High-risk Pregnancy: The Importance of Patient–Provider Relationship

The study set out to examine the predictive effects of patients’ emotional distress and their relationships with their health care providers on satisfaction with obstetric services in high-risk pregnancies. Participants were 104 pregnant women with a history of recurrent losses, fetal demise, previous or current fetal genetic abnormality, advanced maternal age, or obstetric or medical complications of the present pregnancy. Self-report measures of emotional distress and the quality of their relationships with their medical provider were administered. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the predictive effect of these variables on satisfaction with services. Provision of information, constructive communication, and good relationships predicted elevated satisfaction with health services. Provision of information also buffered against the adverse effect of emotional distress on satisfaction with health services. These findings elucidate the central role of provider–patient interaction, particularly as it is related to provision of information, in high-risk pregnancy.