Exploring the integration of emotional, cognitive and physiological processing in preschool
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/ri202349Keywords:
Positive Emotional Valence, Well-Being, Stroop-Like Task, Heart Rate, Individual DifferencesAbstract
Introduction: in recent decades, great importance has been given to the joint study of emotional, cognitive, and physiological processes. Emotions play an important role in allowing the regulation and adaptation of people to the environment, which is key to mental and physical health and well-being. However, little research analyzes the integration of these processes in preschoolers. The present study analyzes the emotional, cognitive, and physiological processing of 4- and 5-year-old girls and boys.
Methods: forty-two 4- and 5-year-old children participated and were administered a Stroop-type task under a neutral or positive condition to analyze the effect of emotional valence on performance and heart rate.
Results: an increase in heart rate was found during the Stroop-like task in both conditions. A decrease in heart rate was also observed in the positive condition of the task in the girl group and the 5-year-old group. Finally, heart rate variability correlated inversely with reaction time in the neutral condition.
Discussion: the results show that cognitive demand increases heart rate beyond task valence and that positive valence decreases heart rate as a function of age and gender. These findings emphasize integrating individual characteristics when studying emotional, cognitive, and physiological processing during development and considering biopsychosocial health.
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