ABSTRACT
External feedback plays an important role in adapting to the environment; however, feedback processing in preschoolers has not been fully understood. The present event-related brain potential (ERP) study sought to understand the influence of parental presence with encouragement on feedback processing by focusing on reward positivity (RewP: mean amplitude between 200–350 ms). Five-year-old children (N = 21) completed an animal search task both alone (the alone condition) and with a parent who offered words of encouragement (the with a parent condition). ERPs were recorded while they received negative and positive feedback. We found a larger RewP amplitude in response to positive feedback in the with a parent condition relative to in the alone condition. In addition, differences in RewP between positive and negative feedback were only observed in the with a parent condition. These findings suggest that everyday parental encouragement has the potential to promote differential positive and negative feedback processing possibly by enhancing the reward value of positive feedback.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.