Behavioral assessment of emotion discrimination, emotion regulation, and cognitive control in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood

Across all subjects, discrimination was better for fear and happy faces than for angry and sad faces.

“Across all subjects, discrimination was better for fear [mean (SD) = 2.61 (1.16); t (relative to angry) = 6.79, p < 10−10; t (relative to sad) = 8.47, p < 10−13] and happy [mean (SD) = 2.70 (0.99); t (relative to angry) = 8.82, p < 10−14; t (relative to sad) = 10.86, p < 10−18], which did not differ from each other (t = 0.91, ns), and worse for angry [mean (SD) = 2.00 (0.92)], and sad [mean (SD) =”

Regardless of age, miss rate was especially low when happy faces were the "go" stimulus relative to when it was the "nogo" stimulus.

“Regardless of age, miss rate was especially low when happy faces were the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.08 (0.07)] relative to when it was the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.15 (0.18); t = 3.97, p < 10−4] and especially high when sad was the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.18 (0.17)] compared to when it was the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.14 (0.15); t = 2.03, p < 0.05], suggesting that subjects are”

There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type and emotion on d-prime.

“There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type by emotion [F(3,282) = 6.18, p < 10−4, ηp2=0.06] and main effects of age group [F(2,94) = 43.17, p < 10−14, ηp2=0.48], gender [F(1,94) = 24.23, p < 0.008, ηp2=0.07], emotion F(3,282) = 48.36, p < 10−25, ηp2=0.34), and stimulus type [F(1,94) = 32.89, p < 10−7, ηp2=0.26].”

There was a main effect of emotion on d-prime.

“There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type by emotion [F(3,282) = 6.18, p < 10−4, ηp2=0.06] and main effects of age group [F(2,94) = 43.17, p < 10−14, ηp2=0.48], gender [F(1,94) = 24.23, p < 0.008, ηp2=0.07], emotion F(3,282) = 48.36, p < 10−25, ηp2=0.34), and stimulus type [F(1,94) = 32.89, p < 10−7, ηp2=0.26].”

Across all subjects, d-prime was lower when emotional faces were "nogo" stimuli compared to when neutral faces were "nogo" stimuli.

“across all subjects, there was a main effect for stimulus type such that d-prime was lower for those conditions when emotional faces were “nogo” stimuli [mean (SD) = 2.10 (0.92)] compared to when neutral faces were “nogo” stimuli [mean (SD) = 2.46 (0.96); t = 5.89, p < 10−8].”

Sad faces had the worst discrimination rate regardless of age.

“Across all subjects, discrimination was better for fear [mean (SD) = 2.61 (1.16); t (relative to angry) = 6.79, p < 10−10; t (relative to sad) = 8.47, p < 10−13] and happy [mean (SD) = 2.70 (0.99); t (relative to angry) = 8.82, p < 10−14; t (relative to sad) = 10.86, p < 10−18], which did not differ from each other (t = 0.91, ns), and worse for angry [mean (SD) = 2.00 (0.92)], and sad [mean (SD) =”

Each age group shows unique patterns of performance.

“Consistent with previous literature, our findings show that emotion discrimination and regulatory abilities (both cognitive control and emotion regulation) improve steadily for each age group, with each age group showing unique patterns of performance.”

Emotion regulation showed greater age-group related improvement relative to cognitive control.

“As can be seen by the age group × stimulus type interaction in Figure 3, emotion regulation (that is, inhibiting a prepotent behavioral response in the context of emotional information) showed greater age-group related improvement relative to cognitive control (that is, inhibiting a prepotent behavioral response in the context of neutral information).”

There was a main effect of age group on d-prime.

“There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type by emotion [F(3,282) = 6.18, p < 10−4, ηp2=0.06] and main effects of age group [F(2,94) = 43.17, p < 10−14, ηp2=0.48], gender [F(1,94) = 24.23, p < 0.008, ηp2=0.07], emotion F(3,282) = 48.36, p < 10−25, ηp2=0.34), and stimulus type [F(1,94) = 32.89, p < 10−7, ηp2=0.26].”

Cognitive control improves steadily for each age group.

“Consistent with previous literature, our findings show that emotion discrimination and regulatory abilities (both cognitive control and emotion regulation) improve steadily for each age group, with each age group showing unique patterns of performance.”

The stimulus type by age interaction was significant, such that false alarm rate to emotional "nogo" stimuli was largest relative to neutral "nogo" stimuli for children, followed by adolescents, and then adults.

“The stimulus type by age interaction was significant, such that false alarm rate to emotional “nogo” stimuli was largest relative to neutral “nogo” stimuli for children [mean (SD): emotional “nogo” = 0.42 (0.17); neutral “nogo” = 0.29 (0.17); t = 6.92, p < 10−9], followed by adolescents [mean (SD): emotional “nogo” = 0.19 (0.11); neural “nogo” = 0.14 (0.09); t = 2.53, p < 0.02], and then adults [”

Subjects had a higher false alarm rate when any emotional face was the "nogo" stimulus compared to when an emotional face was the "go" stimulus.

“Subjects had a higher false alarm rate when any emotional face was the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.30 (0.19)] compared to when an emotional face was the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.21 (0.17); t = 7.43, p < 10−11).”

There was a main effect of stimulus type on d-prime.

“There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type by emotion [F(3,282) = 6.18, p < 10−4, ηp2=0.06] and main effects of age group [F(2,94) = 43.17, p < 10−14, ηp2=0.48], gender [F(1,94) = 24.23, p < 0.008, ηp2=0.07], emotion F(3,282) = 48.36, p < 10−25, ηp2=0.34), and stimulus type [F(1,94) = 32.89, p < 10−7, ηp2=0.26].”

Adolescent males had a higher speed/accuracy trade-off than children (t=2.70, p<0.015).

“Post hoc t-tests showed that the source of the interaction was due to adolescent males’ higher speed/accuracy trade-off relative to children (t = 2.70, p < 0.015) and adults (t = 2.38, p < 0.03), who did not differ from each other (Figure 4; t = 1.23, ns).”

Regardless of age, reaction times were faster for happy faces when they were the "go" stimulus compared to when they were the "nogo" stimulus.

“Regardless of age, reaction times were faster for happy faces when they were the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 460 ms (83)] compared to when they were the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 493 ms (88); t = 4.72, p < 10−6] and slower when sad faces were the “go” stimulus [mean(SD) = 528 ms (81)] compared to when they were the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 511 ms (105); t = 2.10, p < 0.05].”

Adolescent males had a higher speed/accuracy trade-off than adults (t=2.38, p<0.03).

“Post hoc t-tests showed that the source of the interaction was due to adolescent males’ higher speed/accuracy trade-off relative to children (t = 2.70, p < 0.015) and adults (t = 2.38, p < 0.03), who did not differ from each other (Figure 4; t = 1.23, ns).”

There was a significant quadratic trend for age in speed/accuracy trade-off for male subjects, consistent with an inverted-U shaped curve (p<0.008).

“We tested for the presence of a quadratic trend for age (separately for each gender because age interacted with gender), which was not significant for female subjects, p = 0.68, but was significant for male subjects for an inverted-U shaped curve, p < 0.008, confirming the results from the ANOVA as shown in Figure 4.”

Adolescent males showed a high speed/accuracy trade-off during conditions when emotional faces were the "nogo" stimuli, slowing down response time relative to children and adults to regulate responding.

“Adolescent males showed a high speed/accuracy trade-off during conditions when emotional faces were the “nogo” stimuli, such that relative to children and adults, adolescents slowed down response time to regulate their responding during these conditions.”

Reaction times were slower when sad faces were the "go" stimulus compared to when they were the "nogo" stimulus.

“Regardless of age, reaction times were faster for happy faces when they were the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 460 ms (83)] compared to when they were the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 493 ms (88); t = 4.72, p < 10−6] and slower when sad faces were the “go” stimulus [mean(SD) = 528 ms (81)] compared to when they were the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 511 ms (105); t = 2.10, p < 0.05].”

No other comparisons for speed/accuracy trade-off were significant.

“No other comparisons were significant.”

Miss rate was especially high when sad was the "go" stimulus compared to when it was the "nogo" stimulus.

“Regardless of age, miss rate was especially low when happy faces were the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.08 (0.07)] relative to when it was the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.15 (0.18); t = 3.97, p < 10−4] and especially high when sad was the “go” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.18 (0.17)] compared to when it was the “nogo” stimulus [mean (SD) = 0.14 (0.15); t = 2.03, p < 0.05], suggesting that subjects are”

The quadratic trend for age in speed/accuracy trade-off was not significant for female subjects (p=0.68).

“We tested for the presence of a quadratic trend for age (separately for each gender because age interacted with gender), which was not significant for female subjects, p = 0.68, but was significant for male subjects for an inverted-U shaped curve, p < 0.008, confirming the results from the ANOVA as shown in Figure 4.”

D-prime was overall higher for females than males.

“D-prime was overall higher for females [mean (SD) = 2.42 (0.95)] who had more accurate emotion recognition than males [mean (SD) = 2.14 (0.80)].”

There was a main effect of gender on d-prime.

“There was a two-way interaction between stimulus type by emotion [F(3,282) = 6.18, p < 10−4, ηp2=0.06] and main effects of age group [F(2,94) = 43.17, p < 10−14, ηp2=0.48], gender [F(1,94) = 24.23, p < 0.008, ηp2=0.07], emotion F(3,282) = 48.36, p < 10−25, ηp2=0.34), and stimulus type [F(1,94) = 32.89, p < 10−7, ηp2=0.26].”

There was a significant age group by gender interaction in speed/accuracy trade-off (F(2,98)=3.15, p<0.05, ηp2=0.06).

“There was an interaction with age and gender [F(2,98) = 3.15, p < 0.05, ηp2=0.06].”

Emotion discrimination improves steadily for each age group.

“Consistent with previous literature, our findings show that emotion discrimination and regulatory abilities (both cognitive control and emotion regulation) improve steadily for each age group, with each age group showing unique patterns of performance.”

There was no significant quadratic effect across age groups in d-prime for emotional or neutral "go" conditions.

“There was no significant quadratic effect across age groups in d-prime for emotional (p = 0.17) or neutral (p = 0.42) “go” conditions.”

There was no significant quadratic trend for age for either emotional or neutral "go" conditions on miss rate.

“We tested for the presence of a quadratic trend for age (separately for “go” conditions that were emotional and neutral), which was not significant for either, p = 0.46 and 0.58, respectively.”

Fear and happy faces did not differ in discrimination accuracy.

“Across all subjects, discrimination was better for fear [mean (SD) = 2.61 (1.16); t (relative to angry) = 6.79, p < 10−10; t (relative to sad) = 8.47, p < 10−13] and happy [mean (SD) = 2.70 (0.99); t (relative to angry) = 8.82, p < 10−14; t (relative to sad) = 10.86, p < 10−18], which did not differ from each other (t = 0.91, ns), and worse for angry [mean (SD) = 2.00 (0.92)], and sad [mean (SD) =”

Discrimination increased with age, with children having the lowest d-prime scores, followed by adolescents, and then adults.

“Discrimination increased with age, such that children had the lowest d-prime scores [mean (SD) = 1.74 (0.73); t (relative to adolescents) = 5.08, p < 10−6; t (relative to adults) = 8.52, p < 10−12], followed by adolescents [mean (SD) = 2.64 (0.68); t (relative to adults) = 2.97, p < 0.005] and then adults [mean (SD) = 3.14 (0.50)].”

Emotion regulation improves steadily for each age group.

“Consistent with previous literature, our findings show that emotion discrimination and regulatory abilities (both cognitive control and emotion regulation) improve steadily for each age group, with each age group showing unique patterns of performance.”

Children and adults did not differ in speed/accuracy trade-off (t=1.23, ns).

“Post hoc t-tests showed that the source of the interaction was due to adolescent males’ higher speed/accuracy trade-off relative to children (t = 2.70, p < 0.015) and adults (t = 2.38, p < 0.03), who did not differ from each other (Figure 4; t = 1.23, ns).”

Adolescent males showed a significant trade-off between speed and accuracy when inhibiting pressing to emotional "nogo" stimuli.

“Consistent with these reaction time data, there was an inverted-U shaped curve for speed/accuracy trade-off for conditions when “nogo” stimuli were emotional in the male subjects, suggesting that despite adolescent males responding fast to emotional “go” stimuli, they showed a significant trade-off between speed and accuracy when inhibiting pressing to emotional “nogo” stimuli.”

Adolescents were the group that responded to the emotional "go" stimuli the fastest.

“Adolescents, in contrast, were the group that responded to the emotional “go” stimuli the fastest, as evidenced by the significant quadratic trend.”

There was an inverted-U shaped curve for speed/accuracy trade-off for conditions when "nogo" stimuli were emotional in male subjects.

“Consistent with these reaction time data, there was an inverted-U shaped curve for speed/accuracy trade-off for conditions when “nogo” stimuli were emotional in the male subjects, suggesting that despite adolescent males responding fast to emotional “go” stimuli, they showed a significant trade-off between speed and accuracy when inhibiting pressing to emotional “nogo” stimuli.”

False alarm errors to emotional "nogo" stimuli did not differ by valence of expressions.

“False alarm errors to emotional “nogo” stimuli did not differ by valence of expressions, suggesting that both approach-related information (e.g., happy) and avoid-related information (e.g., fear, angry) were equally effective in disrupting behavioral performance relative to neutral distractors.”

There was a significant quadratic trend for emotional "go" stimuli.

“By traditional ANOVA, reaction time did not change across the three age groups, but there was a significant quadratic trend for emotional “go” stimuli, suggesting that adolescents were responding faster than the other age groups to the emotional stimuli.”

Across emotions, there were gender and age differences in emotion discrimination.

“Across emotions, there were gender and age differences in emotion discrimination.”

Female subjects were overall more accurate than males in discriminating emotions, as indexed by higher d-prime values.

“Female subjects were overall more accurate than males in discriminating emotions as indexed by higher d-prime values, consistent with previous reports of females’ superior ability in facial expression processing (McClure, 2000).”

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Performance was especially poor in children.

“False alarm rate to emotional “nogo” stimuli was worse than to neutral “nogo” stimuli across all subjects, but performance was especially poor in children.”

Regardless of age, certain emotions are more readily discriminated than others.

“Regardless of age, certain emotions are more readily discriminated than others.”

The adolescent group did not show rapid response time for neutral "go" stimuli when emotional faces were the "nogo" stimuli.

“Importantly, the adolescent group did not show this rapid response time for neutral “go” stimuli (when emotional faces were the “nogo” stimuli).”

Emotional "nogo" stimuli resulted in a performance deficit across age groups.

“Although emotional “nogo” stimuli resulted in a performance deficit across age groups, the deficit decreased with increasing age, suggesting that emotion regulation is a slower developing process than general cognitive control.”

The deficit decreased with increasing age.

“Although emotional “nogo” stimuli resulted in a performance deficit across age groups, the deficit decreased with increasing age, suggesting that emotion regulation is a slower developing process than general cognitive control.”

Each age group showed unique patterns of emotion discrimination, cognitive control, and emotion regulation skills, at least as measured in a cross-sectional sample.

“Furthermore, each age group showed unique patterns of emotion discrimination, cognitive control, and emotion regulation skills, at least as measured in a cross-sectional sample.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: Age-group differences in this cross-sectional sample reflect developmental change.

Emotional information interferes with cognitive control, as shown by higher false alarm rates in the context of emotional relative to neutral "nogo" stimuli.

“We provided evidence that emotional information can interfere with cognitive control by showing higher false alarm rates in the context of emotional relative to neutral “nogo” stimuli.”

Cognitive control improved with increasing age group in a linear fashion.

“Cognitive control improved with increasing age group in a linear fashion.”

Fear and happy were recognized as more distinct from neutral faces (higher d-prime values and fast reaction times) for all age groups.

“The emotions of fear and happy were recognized as more distinct from neutral faces as indexed by higher d-prime values and fast reaction times for all age groups, and sad was recognized most poorly, with low accuracy and longest response times.”

For male subjects, adolescent subjects slowed down in the blocks where the "nogo" stimuli were emotional.

“However, for male subjects, performance in the emotion regulation condition required a cost to relative response time in that adolescent subjects slowed down in the blocks where the “nogo” stimuli were emotional.”

False alarm rate to emotional "nogo" stimuli was worse than to neutral "nogo" stimuli across all subjects.

“False alarm rate to emotional “nogo” stimuli was worse than to neutral “nogo” stimuli across all subjects, but performance was especially poor in children.”

When making positive discriminations (pressing for the emotional "go" face), child performance was at par with the adult group.

“When making positive discriminations (pressing for the emotional “go” face), child performance was at par with the adult group.”

Both male and female adolescents are the fastest group to approach emotional information.

“Overall, both male and female adolescents are the fastest group to approach emotional information.”

There was no quadratic effect for conditions when neutral faces were the "go" stimuli (when emotional faces were the "nogo" stimuli).

“However, there was no quadratic effect for those conditions when neutral faces were the “go” stimuli (when emotional faces were the “nogo” stimuli) suggesting that adolescents were faster when approaching emotional information.”

Photographs of faces expressing various emotions create a similar performance deficit to iconic drawings of happy and sad faces in a "day/night" task.

“A similar result was found in a recent study using a “day/night” task with iconic drawings of happy and sad faces (Lagattuta et al., in press), and our results showed that photographs of faces, expressing various emotions, create a similar performance deficit.”

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By traditional ANOVA, reaction time did not change across the three age groups.

“By traditional ANOVA, reaction time did not change across the three age groups, but there was a significant quadratic trend for emotional “go” stimuli, suggesting that adolescents were responding faster than the other age groups to the emotional stimuli.”

The go/nogo task shows reliable and robust behavioral effects across multiple age groups.

“The go/nogo task shows reliable and robust behavioral effects across multiple age groups (Casey et al., 1997; Durston et al., 2002, 2006) making it an attractive neuropsychological tool, and in this paper we have modified the traditional go/nogo task to examine cognitive control when emotional information is present and when it is absent.”

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Children make more false alarm errors (demonstrate weaker cognitive control) relative to adults in traditional go/nogo paradigms.

“Traditional go/nogo paradigms, the type of task used in the current study, have been used across multiple age groups and show that children make more false alarm errors (i.e., demonstrate weaker cognitive control) relative to adults.”

Emotion regulation is constructed from basic cognitive control and emotion discrimination skills.

“The findings suggest that emotion regulation is constructed from basic cognition control and emotion discrimination skills.”

Cognitive control processes are poor at younger ages.

“These studies have all shown that cognitive control processes are poor at younger ages, but because of potential ceiling effects in adult samples (Lagattuta et al., in press), it is most useful to employ tasks that can be used across multiple age groups.”

The development of cognitive control extends into late adolescence and early adulthood.

“Previous work has shown that the development of cognitive control extends into late adolescence and early adulthood (Casey et al., 1997; Durston et al., 2002).”

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The ability to discriminate basic emotions continues to develop throughout childhood and adolescence.

“Facial expressions are a rich source of emotional information, and evidence from infant research suggests that the ability to discriminate basic emotions emerges quite early, within the first year of life (Nelson and Dolgin, 1985; Flom and Bahrick, 2007), although this ability continues to develop throughout childhood and adolescence (Lenti et al., 1999; Thomas et al., 2007).”

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Emotional information can impair cognitive control processes.

“We found support for the hypothesis that (1) emotional information can impair cognitive control processes, and (2) that there would be unique age-group related improvements in the skills of cognitive control, emotion regulation, and emotion discrimination.”

Age-related improvements in basic emotion discrimination continue to be observed through early adulthood.

“Previous work has shown age-related changes in basic emotion discrimination tasks (McClure, 2000; Herba and Phillips, 2004; Herba et al., 2006; Thomas et al., 2007), where age-related improvements continue to be observed through early adulthood.”

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The patterns of behavior from the Emotional Go/Nogo task provide normative benchmark data across a wide range of emotions that can be used for future behavioral and neuroimaging studies.

“The patterns of behavior from the Emotional Go/Nogo task provide normative benchmark data across a wide range of emotions that can be used for future behavioral and neuroimaging studies that examine the developmental construction of emotion regulatory processes.”

The Emotional Go/Nogo task can identify unique developmental patterns for emotion discrimination, emotion regulation, and cognitive control across positive and negative emotions and age groups.

“The current study tested 100 children, adolescents, and adults on an Emotional Go/Nogo task, illustrating the ability of this paradigm to identify the unique developmental patterns for each of these three processes in the context of both positive (happy) and negative emotions (fear, sad, and anger), across three different age groups.”

The age-group related change in performance was due to changes in cognitive control.

“The age-related change in mean false alarm rate but not mean miss rate suggests that the age-group related change in performance was due to changes in cognitive control.”

Adolescents were responding faster than the other age groups to emotional stimuli.

“By traditional ANOVA, reaction time did not change across the three age groups, but there was a significant quadratic trend for emotional “go” stimuli, suggesting that adolescents were responding faster than the other age groups to the emotional stimuli.”

In contrast to the current study, the previous study did not find that emotional conditions interacted with age group (no developmental change in the size of the performance deficit).

“In contrast to the current study, this study did not find that emotional conditions interacted with age group (i.e., there was no developmental change in the size of the performance deficit).”

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Children were impaired when their emotion discrimination relied on inhibiting a response (correctly inhibiting "nogo" responding).

“The lack of age-group related change in miss rates despite age-group related change in d-prime scores suggests that children are able to positively discriminate emotions quite early, but that children were impaired when their emotion discrimination relied on inhibiting a response (correctly inhibiting “nogo” responding).”

Cognitive control improved linearly for each increasing age group.

“There was a significant age-group related decrease in false alarm rate from childhood to adolescence and from adolescence to adulthood suggesting a linear improvement in cognitive control for each increasing age group.”

The lack of an interaction between age group, emotion, and stimulus type suggests that this type of emotion regulation does not undergo age-related change that can be measured by this version of the task.

“However, the lack of an interaction between age group, emotion, and stimulus type suggests that this type of emotion regulation does not undergo age-related change that can be measured by this version of the task.”

All subjects were able to positively discriminate each named expression via button presses.

“The miss rate was low (i.e., the hit rate was high) and did not differ for the three age groups, suggesting that all subjects were able to positively discriminate (via button presses) each named expression.”

Improvements in facial expression perception are observed into early adulthood.

“Children were less accurate at emotion recognition than adolescents who were less accurate than adults, and the linear age-group related change in d-prime suggests that the ability to discriminate emotions gradually, but consistently improves with age, a replication of previous finding showing age-related changes in emotion discrimination across these ages (Lenti et al., 1999; McClure, 2000; Herba”

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Cognitive control is a late developing process with improvement well into adulthood.

“This finding replicates findings from previous studies showing that cognitive control is a late developing process with improvement well into adulthood (Bunge et al., 2002; Durston et al., 2002; Somerville and Casey, 2010).”

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Both approach-related information (e.g., happy) and avoid-related information (e.g., fear, angry) were equally effective in disrupting behavioral performance relative to neutral distractors.

“False alarm errors to emotional “nogo” stimuli did not differ by valence of expressions, suggesting that both approach-related information (e.g., happy) and avoid-related information (e.g., fear, angry) were equally effective in disrupting behavioral performance relative to neutral distractors.”

The results add support for this neurobiological model of developmental change.

“Although our results await confirmation from longitudinal designs, they are important behavioral data that add support for this neurobiological model of developmental change.”

Adolescent males employed a strategy of slowing down response time when faced with emotional "nogo" stimuli to exhibit more mature behavioral performance in accuracy.

“In other words, to exhibit more mature behavioral performance in accuracy, adolescent males employed the potentially fragile strategy of slowing down response time when faced with emotional “nogo” stimuli.”

These distinct trajectories present an adolescent-limited imbalance in neural systems such that during adolescence, activity of emotional systems operate without fully mature regulatory control processes.

“These distinct trajectories present an adolescent-limited imbalance in neural systems such that during adolescence, activity of emotional systems operate without fully mature regulatory control processes.”

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Relative to adulthood, adolescence may be a period when individuals are at elevated risk for behavioral errors under emotional conditions.

“Thus, relative to adulthood, adolescence may be a period when individuals are at elevated risk for behavioral errors under emotional conditions.”

Emotional information during adolescence has the potential to interrupt regulatory ability if the adolescent does not slow down response time.

“The improvement in false alarms to emotional information that adolescents seem to show, at least for males, can only occur when subjects increased reaction time suggesting that emotional information during adolescence has the potential to interrupt regulatory ability if the adolescent does not slow down response time.”

Adolescents were faster when approaching emotional information.

“However, there was no quadratic effect for those conditions when neutral faces were the “go” stimuli (when emotional faces were the “nogo” stimuli) suggesting that adolescents were faster when approaching emotional information.”

In these data, emotion discrimination was not a contributing factor to emotion regulation.

“While children also had the lowest d-prime scores for emotion discrimination (as described above) presenting the possibility that poor emotion discrimination increased false alarm errors, both the low miss rate in the child group and the fewer number of false alarms to neutral “nogo” stimuli decrease the likelihood that, in these data, emotion discrimination was a contributing factor to emotion”

There are certain conditions under which children's ability to make simple emotional discriminations based on facial information is more impaired than in others.

“Thus, there are certain conditions under which children's ability to make simple emotional discriminations based on facial information is more impaired than in others.”

The findings lend support for a dual-system model of emotion regulation.

“Our findings lend support for a dual-system model of emotion regulation (Casey et al., 2008; Steinberg et al., 2008), which posits that subcortical regions and associated emotion processing systems develop before (reaching a peak in adolescence) prefrontal cortical regions that support regulatory functions, making adolescent emotion regulation weaker than adults (Somerville and Casey, 2010).”

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The ability to discriminate emotions gradually but consistently improves with age.

“Children were less accurate at emotion recognition than adolescents who were less accurate than adults, and the linear age-group related change in d-prime suggests that the ability to discriminate emotions gradually, but consistently improves with age, a replication of previous finding showing age-related changes in emotion discrimination across these ages (Lenti et al., 1999; McClure, 2000; Herba”

There were unique age-group related improvements in the skills of cognitive control, emotion regulation, and emotion discrimination.

“We found support for the hypothesis that (1) emotional information can impair cognitive control processes, and (2) that there would be unique age-group related improvements in the skills of cognitive control, emotion regulation, and emotion discrimination.”

Adolescent males seem to be highly sensitive to the emotional information provided in the "nogo" stimuli, which forces them to either slow down or make regulatory errors.

“Therefore, adolescent males seem to be highly sensitive to the emotional information provided in the “nogo” stimuli which forces them to either slow down or make regulatory errors.”

Emotion regulation is a slower developing process than general cognitive control.

“Although emotional “nogo” stimuli resulted in a performance deficit across age groups, the deficit decreased with increasing age, suggesting that emotion regulation is a slower developing process than general cognitive control.”

Children are able to positively discriminate emotions quite early.

“The lack of age-group related change in miss rates despite age-group related change in d-prime scores suggests that children are able to positively discriminate emotions quite early, but that children were impaired when their emotion discrimination relied on inhibiting a response (correctly inhibiting “nogo” responding).”

Adolescents tend to accelerate responding in emotional contexts.

“This speed to emotional stimuli is consistent with previous findings that adolescents tend to accelerate responding in emotional contexts (Steinberg et al., 2008).”

• cites Steinberg et al., 2008Not checked yet

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