Ladouceur Cecile D, Dahl Ronald E, Williamson Douglas E, Birmaher Boris, Axelson David A, Ryan Neal D, Casey B J
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;47(11):1107-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01640.x.
This study investigated whether processing emotionally salient information such as emotional facial expressions influences the performance on a cognitive control task in pediatric anxiety and depression.
The sample included 68 participants between 8 and 16 years of age selected into three diagnostic groups: Anxiety Disorder (ANX, n = 23), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD, n = 19), and Low-Risk Normal Control (LRNC, n = 26). Participants completed an Emotional Go/NoGo task in which participants must either respond to (Go trials) or not respond to (NoGo trials) specific facial expressions (angry, fearful, sad, happy, neutral). In order to manipulate the level of cognitive control needed to perform the task, the probability of occurrence of the Go trials was varied across 3 probability conditions (low, moderate, high).
Analyses showed that the MDD group had significantly faster reaction times to sad face Go trials embedded in neutral face NoGo trials in the moderate probability condition and that the ANX group had significantly slower reaction times to neutral face Go trials embedded in angry face NoGo trials in the low probability condition.
These data demonstrate that processing emotional facial expressions influences the performance on a cognitive control task in children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and major depression.
本研究调查了处理情绪显著信息（如情绪性面部表情）是否会影响患有儿童焦虑症和抑郁症的个体在认知控制任务中的表现。
样本包括68名8至16岁的参与者，分为三个诊断组：焦虑症（ANX，n = 23）、重度抑郁症（MDD，n = 19）和低风险正常对照组（LRNC，n = 26）。参与者完成一项情绪性Go/NoGo任务，即参与者必须对特定面部表情（愤怒、恐惧、悲伤、快乐、中性）做出反应（Go试验）或不做出反应（NoGo试验）。为了操纵执行任务所需的认知控制水平，Go试验的出现概率在3种概率条件（低、中、高）下变化。
分析表明，在中等概率条件下，MDD组对嵌入中性面孔NoGo试验中的悲伤面孔Go试验的反应时间显著更快；在低概率条件下，ANX组对嵌入愤怒面孔NoGo试验中的中性面孔Go试验的反应时间显著更慢。
这些数据表明，处理情绪性面部表情会影响被诊断患有焦虑症和重度抑郁症的儿童和青少年在认知控制任务中的表现。
