Comparison Of The Effects Of Different Face Emotional Valences On Conflict Control In Adolescents And Adults

Adolescence is a special period in which risk-taking and sensation-seeking behaviors increase compared to other stages.The dual-system model and the triadic model attribute that to they are highly sensitive to emotional stimulia and have a relatively immature cognitive control system.Conflict control is an important component of cognitive ability.From the perspective of conflict control,this study will understand the conflict control of adolescents and adults under facial emotional valence,so as to verify dual-system model and the triadic model.Based on the dual competition model and the triadic model,the purpose of study 1 was to examine the differences in behavior between adolescents and adults in stimulus-stimulus(S-S)conflict tasks and stimulus-response(S-R)conflict task,so as to select tasks that adolescents were relatively immature compared with adults for further study.Adolescents(n=33)and adults(n=36)completed one of two conflict control task: a Emotion-Stroop task(S-S),and another group of adolescents(n=29)and adults(n=37)completed a Emotion-simon task(S-R).The results showed that there were significant differences between adolescents and adults in the behavior of S-R conflict task,which verified the hypothesis.Study 2 examined how emotional valences influenced cognitive performance in adolescents and adults under varying task-relatedness of emotion in the S-R conflict task(Simon task).Adolescents and adults who had completed the Emotion-Simon task in study 1 finished Sex-Simon task.In the emotion-relevant condition participants(Emotion-Simon task)were asked to attend to the emotional expression of an angry or happy,whereas in the emotion-irrelevant condition(Sex-Simon task)participants were asked to attend to the gender of the face.The results showed reaction time was shorter for happy targets in both age groups.The difference in S-R conflict task between adolescents and adults is mainly due to positive emotions.Task-relatedness of emotion did not modulate the effect of emotions on conflict control in behavioral performance.Findings are discussed in relation to the dual competition model and dissociation of emotional conflict effects with positive or negative target and cognitive development.