title: Early emotion discrimination in 8- to 10-year-old children: magnetoencephalographic correlates.
abstract: Emotional cues motivate attention and modulate event-related potentials as well as magnetic fields in adults. Central components enhanced by emotional content are Early Posterior Negativity (EPN, 150-300 ms) and Late Positive Potential (LPP, >300 ms). Previous electroencephalography studies in children revealed a differentiation of the late component in response to emotional scenes, but failed to detect an EPN effect. Twenty-two children aged 8-10 years saw 200 arousing pleasant and non-arousing neutral pictures in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) design, while event-related magnetic fields were recorded with whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG). Analysis of MEG data based on individual picture ratings yielded LPP-m but also EPN-m effects with topography and latency resembling that of adults. Thus, the mechanism of motivated attention at early processing stages (>150 ms) appears mature in children of this age group.
authors.affiliation: Clinic and Polyclinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Münster University Hospital, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wessing
authors.forename: Tilman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fürniss
authors.forename: Pienie
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zwitserlood
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dobel
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Junghöfer
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation