title: Why is happy-sad more difficult? Focal emotional information impairs inhibitory control in children and adults.
abstract: This study compared the relative difficulty of the happy-sad inhibitory control task (say "happy" for the sad face and "sad" for the happy face) against other card tasks that varied by the presence and type (focal vs. peripheral; negative vs. positive) of emotional information in a sample of 4- to 11-year-olds and adults (N = 264). Participants also completed parallel "name games" (direct labeling). All age groups made more errors and took longer to respond to happy-sad compared to other versions, and the relative difficulty of happy-sad increased with age. The happy-sad name game even posed a greater challenge than some opposite games. These data provide insight into the impact of emotions on cognitive processing across a wide age range.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Hannah J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Kristin Hansen
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lagattuta
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis.
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sayfan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009275:Names; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology