The Moderating Effect Of Masking Type On Attention Bias Of Emotional Information In Children A Developmental Perspective Study

Attention bias refers to the phenomenon that individuals are highly sensitive to certain stimuli in the environment and selective attention was accompanied.Primary school is the critical period of cognitive development and attention to emotional information is important for the cognitive development of children.The attention bias to negative stimuli may lead to anxiety,and attention bias to positive stimuli may play an important role in stress regulation and mental health.Visual masking refers to the phenomenon that the appearance of an object(masking stimulus)leads to a decrease in the visibility of another object(target stimulus)in the vicinity of space or time.It have shown that adding masking after the presentation of the stimulus can disturb the further processing of the previous stimulus.Therefore,the purpose of this study aims to explore the characteristics of children's attention bias to different types of emotional information and the moderating effect of the masking types on children's attention bias to emotional information from the perspective of development.In experiment 1,the dot probe paradigm was used and the emotional type of the pictures and the location of the dot were manipulated to investigate the developmental characteristics of emotional attention bias in children who were 8-year-old,10-year-old and 12-year-old.The results showed that the reaction time was significantly longer under the inconsistency condition than consistency condition for both positive and negative emotional pictures.Further analysis was conducted with the attention bias score,it was found that the attention bias to positive emotional pictures of 8-year-old group was manifested as attention vigilance-delayed disengagement,attention bias to negative emotional pictures was manifested as delayed disengagement.No attention bias was observed in 10-year-old group.The attention bias towards positive emotional pictures of 12-year-old children was manifested as delayed disengagement,while to negative emotional pictures was to attentional avoidance.In experiment 2,the masking pictures were manipulated which present after the emotional pictures to investigate the moderating effect of the masking on attention bias in children who were 8-year-old,10-year-old and 12-year-old.The results showed that the reaction time of 8-year-old group was longest;the reaction time of masking condition was significantly longer than no masking condition whether the emotional pictures were positive or negative,whether the trial was consistent or inconsistent;no interaction between emotional types and consistency was found.In experiment 3,the types of masking pictures were further manipulated to investigate the mechanism of energy masking and information masking in moderating attention bias to emotional information in children who were 8-year-old.The results showed that the main effect of masking type was significant and the reaction time under information masking was the longest;the interaction between masking type and probe location was significant,the reaction time under information masking was significantly longer than energy masking and no masking and the reaction time under energy masking was significantly longer than no masking in both consistent and inconsistent condition;no interaction between emotional types and consistency was found.Under the conditions of the experiment,the following conclusions were drawn:(1)There were attention bias to both positive and negative emotional pictures in children.(2)There were age differences in children's attention bias patterns,and 10 years old may be the transitional period of children's emotional attention development.(3)The masking type can modulate the development of emotional attention bias.