Why Is Happy-Sad More Difficult? Focal Emotional Information Impairs Inhibitory Control in Children and Adults

This study compared the relative difficulty of the happy-sad inhibitory control task (say "happy" for the sad face and "sad" for the happy face) against other card tasks that varied by the presence and type (focal vs. peripheral; negative vs. positive) of emotional information in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2015-02, Vol.15 (1), p.61-72
Main Authors: Kramer, Hannah J., Lagattuta, Kristin Hansen, Sayfan, Liat
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aging - psychology
Child
Child, Preschool
Cognition - physiology
Cognitive Control
Cognitive Development
Emotions
Executive Function
Executive Function - physiology
Facial Expression
Female
Games, Experimental
Happiness
Human
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Male
Names
Photic Stimulation
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Sadness
Sex Characteristics
Speech - physiology
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Summary:This study compared the relative difficulty of the happy-sad inhibitory control task (say "happy" for the sad face and "sad" for the happy face) against other card tasks that varied by the presence and type (focal vs. peripheral; negative vs. positive) of emotional information in a sample of 4- to 11-year-olds and adults (N = 264). Participants also completed parallel "name games" (direct labeling). All age groups made more errors and took longer to respond to happy-sad compared to other versions, and the relative difficulty of happy-sad increased with age. The happy-sad name game even posed a greater challenge than some opposite games. These data provide insight into the impact of emotions on cognitive processing across a wide age range.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/emo0000023