Relating individual differences in internalizing symptoms to emotional attention set-shifting in children

Oana Mocan, Oana Stanciu, Laura Visu-Petra

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

A growing body of evidence points to links between internalizing symptoms and various executive functioning deficits, and especially to inhibition and set-shifting difficulties. However, there is limited developmental research regarding the impact of internalizing symptoms on the shifting function, particularly during middle childhood. The current study investigated attention shifting in a sample of 108 early school age children (7-11 years) using a task-switching paradigm which required participants to alternate between emotional and nonemotional judgments. Results indicated that higher levels of internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression) had a detrimental effect on performance efficiency (measured by response times) but not on response accuracy. This effect was only observed on emotional (and not on nonemotional) repetition trials and did not affect switching trials; moreover, it was only present when feedback was presented to participants. The findings partially support the predictions of the Attentional Control Theory in a developmental sample and suggest that individual differences in internalizing symptoms play a role in children's ability to flexibly alternate between emotional judgments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)509-526
Number of pages18
JournalAnxiety, Stress and Coping
Volume27
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • anxiety
  • attentional control
  • children
  • depression
  • emotional attention set-shifting
  • internalizing

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