School of Psychology, Cardiff University, CardiffCF10 3AT, UK.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Northampton, Northampton, UK.
Dev Psychopathol. 2022 Feb;34(1):85-93. doi: 10.1017/S0954579420001091. Epub 2021 Jan 12.
An impairment in recognizing distress is implicated in the development and severity of antisocial behavior. It has been hypothesized that a lack of attention to the eyes plays a role, but supporting evidence is limited. We developed a computerized training to improve emotion recognition in children and examined the role of eye gaze before and after training. Children referred into an intervention program to prevent antisocial outcomes completed an emotion recognition task with concurrent eye tracking. Those with emotion recognition impairments (n = 54, mean age: 8.72 years, 78% male) completed the training, while others (n = 38, mean age: 8.95 years, 84% male) continued with their usual interventions. Emotion recognition and eye gaze were reassessed in all children 8 weeks later. Impaired negative emotion recognition was significantly related to severity of behavioral problems at pretest. Children who completed the training significantly improved in emotion recognition; eye gaze did not contribute to impairment or improvement in emotion recognition. This study confirms the role of emotion recognition in severity of disruptive behavior and shows that a targeted intervention can quickly improve emotion impairments. The training works by improving children's ability to appraise emotional stimuli rather than by influencing their visual attention.
识别痛苦能力受损与反社会行为的发展和严重程度有关。有人假设，对眼睛的关注不足起了一定作用，但支持这一假设的证据有限。我们开发了一种计算机化的培训方法，以提高儿童的情绪识别能力，并在培训前后检查眼神注视的作用。被转介到预防反社会结果的干预计划中的儿童完成了一项情绪识别任务，并进行了眼神跟踪。那些存在情绪识别障碍的儿童（n=54，平均年龄：8.72 岁，78%为男性）完成了培训，而其他儿童（n=38，平均年龄：8.95 岁，84%为男性）继续接受常规干预。所有儿童在 8 周后重新进行情绪识别和眼神跟踪评估。在预测试中，受损的负性情绪识别与行为问题的严重程度显著相关。完成培训的儿童在情绪识别方面显著提高；眼神注视并不能导致或改善情绪识别障碍。这项研究证实了情绪识别在破坏性行为严重程度中的作用，并表明有针对性的干预可以迅速改善情绪障碍。该培训通过提高儿童评估情绪刺激的能力起作用，而不是通过影响他们的视觉注意力。
