Emotional regulation in children is a previously untouched topic, but recently is being looked at with the concept of cognitive reappraisal. To put it bluntly, cognitive reappraisal is the shift in perception you may have towards a situation. For example; you may be shown an image of a really mean looking dog. Initially, you may have a negative response to the image, and your brain would keep track of said response. After telling you the dog is actually quite friendly, and just has a funny face, your perception of the situation will shift. This is what you would call a cognitive reappraisal; your brain is re-evaluating a situation based on your perception of it. So, the theory is children in two groups, (younger: 8-11, older: 12-15) should be able to re-evaluate their memories and modify their emotions accordingly.
Late Positive Potential (LPP), is the energy that appears within the brain during negative situations and perception. LPP is what’s measured when testing for cognitive reappraisal (LPP modification is what occurs during cognitive reappraisal), and is already shown to slowly decrease with age; adults having significantly lower LPP than children. The current experiment measured LPP for cognitive reappraisal in three main steps. First, the children were shown a negative image. Next they were told a story about the image, the stories were either negative or neutral (LPP modification should occur after neutral story). Finally, they were shown the negative image again. The rates of LPP were measured throughout the process and compared for any significant differences. Comparisons were made between the two age groups, negative stories vs. neutral studies, and boys vs. girls.
Results for this experiment did not show an overall significant cognitive reappraisal (LLP modification. However, it did significantly occur in just one of the experimental groups. Firstly, there was no differences between genders; both male and female levels of LLP were relatively the same. However, younger children had a higher rate of LLP than older children, but only older children experienced LLP modification. What this indicates is that younger children have a stronger reaction to negative stimulation, and as the brain develops this reaction slowly eases into a more manageable level. Older children have more brain development, and are capable of reappraising a current or previous experience (holding info in working memory, retrieve memory, and monitor the changes caused by the appraisal).
To put it simply; younger children have been shown to have stronger responses to negative situations, and it’s much more difficult for them to change perception of said situation after already registering it as negative. They’re emotions and perception of a negative stimuli are less likely to change even when given another plausible explanation. As children develop mentally, their reactions to negative stimuli are not as strong (LLP levels decrease), but are able to change depending on altering perceptions of said stimuli. The emotional regulation in older children becomes more complicated, and controlled as their brain develops.
Cauwenberge, V. V., Leeuwen, K. V., Hoppenbrouwers, K., & Wiersema, J. R. (2017). Developmental changes in neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal: An ERP study using the late positive potential. Neuropsychologia, 95, 94-100. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.12.015
