Relations between Cognitive Control and Emotion in Typically Developing Children

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate relations between aspects of cognitive control and emotion in typically developing children, 7 to 9 years of age. This was investigated by examining performance on n-back working memory tasks that varied according to the level of cognitive control and emotion (e.g., faces, reward value) processing required. Relations between n-back performance and parental questionnaires of behavior were also examined. Participants & Methods: Participants included 77 typically developing children, 7 to 9 years of age. Each participant completed two novel n-back tasks. The first task involved working memory (0-back, 1-back, and 2-back levels) for emotional faces (neutral, happy, sad). The second task involved working memory (0-back, 1-back, and 2-back levels) for number stimuli with differing levels of reward (two tokens, six tokens). Matrix Reasoning was also completed as a screening measure of cognitive function. Parents completed a Child History questionnaire, the BRIEF, Conners 3 AI-Parent, and the Emotion Questionnaire.