Children’s appraisals of interparental conflict predict event-related potential components

ABSTRACT

Interparental conflict and neural correlates of children’s emotion processing were examined. Event-related potential (ERP) data were collected from 87 children (9–11 years old) with stimuli depicting interpersonal anger, happiness, and neutrality. Three ERP components were modulated by child-reported measures of conflict, reflecting a progression from early sensory attention to cognitive control to stimulus categorization. Negative conflict predicted larger N1 and N2 amplitudes on happy than on angry trials. Greater self-blame for conflict predicted larger N2 amplitudes across emotions and larger P3 amplitudes on angry than on neutral or happy trials. Results suggest conflict-related experiences shape processing of interpersonal emotion.

Acknowledgment

Thanks to the families whose participation made this study possible. Thanks also to John E. Bates, Brian M. D’Onofrio, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Dennis L. Molfese, Seth D. Pollak, and Aina Puce for their contributions to the conceptualization and design of the study, and to the research assistants who assisted with data collection.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant HD064795.