title: Emotional reactions in children: verbal, physiological, and behavioral responses to affective pictures.
abstract: Many studies have shown a consistent pattern in adults' responses to affective pictures and there is growing evidence of gender differences, as well. Little is known, though, about children's verbal, behavioral, and physiological responses to affective pictures. Two experiments investigated children's responses to pictures. In Experiment 1, children, adolescents, and adults viewed pictures varying in affective content and rated them for pleasure, arousal, and dominance. Results indicated that children and adolescents rated the pictures similarly to adults. In Experiment 2, physiological responses, self-report, and viewing time were measured while children viewed affective pictures. As with adults, children's responses reflected the affective content of the pictures. Gender differences in affective evaluations, corrugator activity, skin conductance, startle modulation, and viewing time indicated that girls were generally more reactive to unpleasant materials.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610-0165, USA.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: McManis
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Cuthbert
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Lang
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation