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.