Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children
A negative mood-congruent attention bias has been consistently observed, for example, in clinical studies on major depression. This bias is assumed to be dysfunctional in that it supports maintaining a sad mood, whereas a potentially adaptive role has largely been neglected. Previous experiments inv...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02577/full |
| _version_ | 1818021628721758208 |
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| author | Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Christine Firk Martin Schulte-Rüther Andreas von Leupoldt Kerstin Konrad Kerstin Konrad Lynn Huestegge Lynn Huestegge |
| author_facet | Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Christine Firk Martin Schulte-Rüther Andreas von Leupoldt Kerstin Konrad Kerstin Konrad Lynn Huestegge Lynn Huestegge |
| author_sort | Nicola Grossheinrich |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A negative mood-congruent attention bias has been consistently observed, for example, in clinical studies on major depression. This bias is assumed to be dysfunctional in that it supports maintaining a sad mood, whereas a potentially adaptive role has largely been neglected. Previous experiments involving sad mood induction techniques found a negative mood-congruent attention bias specifically for young individuals, explained by an adaptive need for information transfer in the service of mood regulation. In the present study we investigated the attentional bias in typically developing children (aged 6–12 years) when happy and sad moods were induced. Crucially, we manipulated the age (adult vs. child) of the displayed pairs of facial expressions depicting sadness, anger, fear and happiness. The results indicate that sad children indeed exhibited a mood specific attention bias toward sad facial expressions. Additionally, this bias was more pronounced for adult faces. Results are discussed in the context of an information gain which should be stronger when looking at adult faces due to their more expansive life experience. These findings bear implications for both research methods and future interventions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T08:20:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6b6d6fd7ae64c2f90637812dfcdf7a9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T08:20:35Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6b6d6fd7ae64c2f90637812dfcdf7a92022-12-22T02:04:14ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-12-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.02577417206Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in ChildrenNicola Grossheinrich0Nicola Grossheinrich1Nicola Grossheinrich2Christine Firk3Martin Schulte-Rüther4Andreas von Leupoldt5Kerstin Konrad6Kerstin Konrad7Lynn Huestegge8Lynn Huestegge9Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GermanyNeurophysiological Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, GermanyDepartment of Social Sciences, Institute of Health Research and Social Psychiatry, Catholic University of Applied Sciences of North Rhine – Westphalia, Cologne, GermanyChild Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GermanyTranslational Brain Medicine in Psychiatry and Neurology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JARA Brain Translational Medicine, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Jülich, GermanyHealth Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumChild Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen, Aachen, GermanyJARA-Brain Institute II Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, GermanyInstitute of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyInstitute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, GermanyA negative mood-congruent attention bias has been consistently observed, for example, in clinical studies on major depression. This bias is assumed to be dysfunctional in that it supports maintaining a sad mood, whereas a potentially adaptive role has largely been neglected. Previous experiments involving sad mood induction techniques found a negative mood-congruent attention bias specifically for young individuals, explained by an adaptive need for information transfer in the service of mood regulation. In the present study we investigated the attentional bias in typically developing children (aged 6–12 years) when happy and sad moods were induced. Crucially, we manipulated the age (adult vs. child) of the displayed pairs of facial expressions depicting sadness, anger, fear and happiness. The results indicate that sad children indeed exhibited a mood specific attention bias toward sad facial expressions. Additionally, this bias was more pronounced for adult faces. Results are discussed in the context of an information gain which should be stronger when looking at adult faces due to their more expansive life experience. These findings bear implications for both research methods and future interventions.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02577/fulleye trackingemotion regulationmood inductionattention biasmajor depressionadaptive role |
| spellingShingle | Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Nicola Grossheinrich Christine Firk Martin Schulte-Rüther Andreas von Leupoldt Kerstin Konrad Kerstin Konrad Lynn Huestegge Lynn Huestegge Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children Frontiers in Psychology eye tracking emotion regulation mood induction attention bias major depression adaptive role |
| title | Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children |
| title_full | Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children |
| title_fullStr | Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children |
| title_short | Looking While Unhappy: A Mood-Congruent Attention Bias Toward Sad Adult Faces in Children |
| title_sort | looking while unhappy a mood congruent attention bias toward sad adult faces in children |
| topic | eye tracking emotion regulation mood induction attention bias major depression adaptive role |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02577/full |
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