Emotion recognition is an important skill for individuals to acquire, leading to effective communication and smooth social interactions. While previous research has extensively studied emotion...Show moreEmotion recognition is an important skill for individuals to acquire, leading to effective communication and smooth social interactions. While previous research has extensively studied emotion recognition in childhood, many of these studies are limited by the use of non-authentic expressions produced by actors and assuming a direct correspondence between facial expressions and felt emotions, disregarding individual context. This study aimed to measure children’s emotion recognition using a more naturalistic approach by comparing self-reported and observer-reported emotions in children. In the first phase of the study, children (8 to 12 years old; N = 10) and adults (18 to 40 years old; N = 10) were filmed while watching emotion-inducing videos and self-reported their emotional experiences. In the second phase, a separate group of children (8 to 12 years old; N = 15) rated the expressed emotions of the participants from the first phase of the study. The concordance between self-reported and observer-reported emotions was examined, with a focus on whether concordance differed across emotions and the age of the stimulus actors. The results indicated that children exhibited similar accuracy in recognizing happiness, sadness, fear and disgust. Additionally, children demonstrated an own age bias, which reflects a better emotion recognition accuracy for own-age faces compared to other-age faces. These findings highlight the importance of considering self-reported emotions and the age of the stimulus actors in understanding the development of emotion recognition. Further research should explore the underlying factors that influence emotion recognition in children using a naturalistic approach.Show less
Externalizing behavior in childhood is considered an important predictor for behavioral disorders and antisocial behavior in adolescence and early adulthood. Knowledge of which factors are related...Show moreExternalizing behavior in childhood is considered an important predictor for behavioral disorders and antisocial behavior in adolescence and early adulthood. Knowledge of which factors are related to the presence of externalizing behavior could help create effective interventions for reducing externalizing behavior. Previous research indicated that there is a negative relation between emotion recognition, empathy with externalizing behavior, but the results are inconsistent. The present study aimed to examine whether externalizing behavior could be predicted by emotion recognition and empathy within a sample of children showing externalizing behavior (n = 130). Externalizing behavior was measured with the TRF, nonverbal emotion recognition with the FER, verbal emotion recognition with the ANT prosody task, and cognitive empathy with questions about different emotional video clips. Results showed that non-verbal and verbal recognition of emotions did not correlate significantly with externalizing behavior, except when there was less non-verbal emotion recognition of happy feelings there was slightly more externalizing behavior. Externalizing behavior was not predicted by verbal-, and non-verbal emotion recognition, and cognitive empathy. There also was no partial mediation from verbal- and non-verbal emotion recognition on the relationship between cognitive empathy and externalizing behavior. It seems that children that show less cognitive empathy and correct verbal and non-verbal emotion recognition do not show more externalizing behavior. It is possible that this is different for certain emotions, because children who were slightly better at recognizing the non-verbal emotion happy showed slightly less externalizing behavior. Future research should include the possible effect of age on the relationship between emotion recognition and cognitive empathy with externalizing behavior and the possible difference of externalizing behavior reported by teachers and parents should be taken into account.Show less
Introduction: Children with autism experience difficulties in daily life due to impairments in social functioning and adaptive functioning. These impairments differ from person to person, as autism...Show moreIntroduction: Children with autism experience difficulties in daily life due to impairments in social functioning and adaptive functioning. These impairments differ from person to person, as autism concerns a spectrum of symptoms. As metacognition (the ability to monitor and control one’s own thought processes) is said to be related to executive functioning and social cognition, impairments in metacognition might explain difficulties in daily functioning of autistic children. Therefore, the relationship between metacognition, emotion recognition and the quality of children with ASD-symptoms was examined. Method: 25 boys and 21 girls between the age of 8-16 (M = 10) from primary- and secondary schools in and around Leiden participated by performing the Thinking Aloud- task (metacognition) and Morphed Face Emotion Recognition Task, as well as completing the Cantril ladder (quality of life. One parent of each participant completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 to measure ASD-symptoms. Results: ASD-symptoms did not significantly correlate to metacognition (F(1.39) = 1.911, p = .175, R² = .047). Furthermore, metacognitive skills did not significantly predict emotion recognition skills (,F(1.41) = .073, p = .789, R² = .002). Neither metacognition nor emotion recognition was a significant predictor of the quality of life of children (F(2.40) = .683, p = .511, R² = .033). Conclusion: Due to the small sample, the current findings should be interpreted carefully. However, this study underscores the importance of examining the individual strengths and needs of children to promote their personal development and well-being. Future research within a larger sample should further investigate the role of metacognition in relation to the well-being of children in different contexts to better support pupils according to their neurocognitive strengths and weaknesses. This might not only contribute to the well-being of the individual child, but might also be beneficial for society as a whole.Show less
A majority of research in social sciences has been focused on peer preference throughout childhood and adolescence. Different factors have been found to be related to peer preference such as...Show moreA majority of research in social sciences has been focused on peer preference throughout childhood and adolescence. Different factors have been found to be related to peer preference such as emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior. In addition, prior research has shown possible sex differences regarding peer preference and the mechanisms and factors that influence how girls and boys choose which peers they prefer. In the present study participated 135 normally developing preschoolers, aged three to five, from different areas of Portugal, with the aim to investigate the socio-emotional factors that are related to peer preference. In detail, data for peer preference were gathered through the use of peer nomination techniques. Data on emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior- the social-emotional factors in this research- were gathered with parent questionnaires. The results were not as expected, as there were no correlations found between peer preference with empathy and prosocial behavior in the sample. However, a small negative correlation was found between peer preference and emotion recognition. Furthermore, none of the three factors could predict peer preference. Lastly, there were no significant differences between boys and girls regarding the relationship of preference with emotion recognition, empathy, and prosocial behavior. There is a possibility that the results were unexpected as the measuring techniques that were used were inappropriate for the variables that needed to be measured. Additionally, the cognitive and emotional level of preschoolers might not be yet advanced to the degree that is required to demonstrate empathy and prosocial behavior at a level that will influence the formation of peer preference. Still, peer preference during preschool years is of the utmost importance as it influences not only the present developmental level but also the future socio-emotional development of children.Show less
Children diagnosed with a autism spectrum disorder are dealing with social difficulties in everyday life. They tend to have more problems during social interaction than children without autism....Show moreChildren diagnosed with a autism spectrum disorder are dealing with social difficulties in everyday life. They tend to have more problems during social interaction than children without autism. Also, children with autism experience lower levels of social well-being and higher levels of social anxiety. The current study examines whether the severity of social impairments affects the social well-being of children with autism. A total of 48 Dutch children with autism (38 boys, 7 girls), between age 8 and 17 were included in the current study. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) was used to measure the severity of social impairments. To measure the ability to recognize emotions and expressions, the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces-set (KDEF) was used. The Nederlandse Persoonlijkheidsvragenlijst (NPV-J) was used to measure the degree of social anxiety. No significant results were found in the current study, which implies that social impairments has no clear effect on social anxiety.Show less
The ability to detect one’s own physiological state has been defined as interoception, and can vary greatly among individuals. In case of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), misattribution of internal...Show moreThe ability to detect one’s own physiological state has been defined as interoception, and can vary greatly among individuals. In case of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), misattribution of internal cues has been commonly observed, often resulting in an overestimation of bodily arousal. Additionally, when experiencing social anxiety, individuals were found to process social information, such as emotional expressions, with a bias towards threat. The anxiety of possible negative evaluation within this mental health condition may elicit a persistent fear or avoidance of social situations. As research on interrelations between social anxiety, interoception and emotional processing appeared to be sparse, this online study aimed to explore possible relationships in a non-clinical population. Participants (N = 98) performed an emotion recognition task and filled out several self-report questionnaires including those addressing their subjective beliefs regarding interoceptive abilities (accuracy and attention) and trait levels of social anxiety. Unexpectedly, hypotheses regarding positive relationships between interoceptive abilities and social anxiety, as well as social anxiety and emotion intensity could not be confirmed. A significant relationship between social anxiety, interoceptive attention and emotion accuracy was also not observed. As previous research did suggest the presence of a relationship between the aforementioned variables, our study may not have been sensitive enough. For future research, it is advised to make use of a larger sample size, which overcomes limitations of the obligated conduct of online research. Ultimately, a better understanding of interrelations between social anxiety, emotion recognition and interoception can contribute to improve tailoring of interventions concerning individuals with SAD.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
closed access
Pregnancy leads to volumetric reductions in brain regions involved in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. These volumetric reductions appear to be an expression of the woman’s brain preparing itself for...Show morePregnancy leads to volumetric reductions in brain regions involved in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. These volumetric reductions appear to be an expression of the woman’s brain preparing itself for motherhood and caregiving. Yet, how pregnancy affects ToM abilities is still largely unknown. The present study investigated how pregnancy affects ToM in primiparous women (i.e., woman who is bearing a first offspring) and whether these changes are predictive of maternal sensitivity. ToM abilities, as assessed through total accuracy scores on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET), were not enhanced at post-pregnancy, compared to pre-pregnancy (H1). Neither did we observe a stronger enhancement in RMET child format performance compared to RMET-adult performance over the course of pregnancy (H2). Moreover, changes in ToM abilities across pregnancy was not a significant predictor of maternal sensitivity at one year postpartum (H3). In conclusion, ToM abilities, as assessed via RMET, did not change over de course of pregnancy. We speculated that the incongruence between our hypotheses and results could potentially be attributed to suboptimal operationalization of ToM abilities. For future studies it may be relevant to include ToM measures that focus more directly on the affective aspect of ToM.Show less
An Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication. Lacks of Theory of Mind, empathy and...Show moreAn Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication. Lacks of Theory of Mind, empathy and emotion recognition have been invoked as an explanatory mechanism for the impairments in the social cognition in an ASD. There is a need for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms for a better diagnosis and treatment of women with an ASD, because they are good in hiding the characteristics of an ASD. The current study compares different aspects of social cognition between women with a high functioning ASD and typical developed (TD) women through a comparison between women with and without an ASD. This comparison is based on their performance of social cognition tasks and through a comparison between women with an ASD mutually based on their reflectivity. A total of 31 women with an ASD and 30 TD women participated in this study. The prosody task of the ANT was used for recognition of basic emotions. For the visual emotion recognition the Facial Expression Recognition task was used. The informant list of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used to get the various aspects of empathy in daily life. The Dewey Social Story test was used for an impression of perspective taking and understanding of usual and unusual social situations. Results show that women with an ASD have more difficulty with perspective taking and in understanding of other people’s mental states. Although women with an ASD perform similar to TD women in recognizing the basic emotions, women with an ASD perform worse when these emotions are showed with low intensity. Women with an ASD are also slower in recognizing all basic emotions. The results of the comparison within the ASD-group based on their reflectivity shows that women with a good reflectivity are better in recognizing basic emotions when emotions are showed with high intensity. Furthermore, there are no noticeable differences in the comparison between women with good and poor reflectivity within the ASD-group. The two components, in which women with an ASD perform worse compared to women without ASD, can possibly play an important role in the social interactions, which are often based on high speed unconscious activities. More research is needed for a better understanding of the relationship between the Theory of Mind and the reflectivity and of the relationship between the different explanatory models of the impairments in social interaction and communication.Show less
There is limited knowledge about the specific role of cognitive functions in the compliance of toddlers. The aim of this study was to provide an insight in the relation between compliance of...Show moreThere is limited knowledge about the specific role of cognitive functions in the compliance of toddlers. The aim of this study was to provide an insight in the relation between compliance of toddlers and their cognitive functions. The relationships between emotion recognition, executive functioning and compliance were measured in a population-based cohort study (n =280). Compliance was assessed with the ´don’t task´ when the toddlers were 36 months old. The behavior was coded using a system that differentiated between six dimensions. Emotion recognition was assessed at 36 months in a computerized emotion-labeling task. At 48 months the executive functioning of the toddlers was assessed by using the specific version of the ‘Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-P)’ for children between 3 and 5 years old. Parents have completed this questionnaire. It was expected that both emotion recognition and executive functioning were related to compliance. It was also hypothesized that emotion recognition moderated the relation between compliance and executive functioning. There was no significant relation between compliance and emotion recognition. In addition, there was no difference in the accuracy of recognition of positive and negative emotions. There was a significant relation between compliance and executive functioning. Not all subscales of executive functioning were related to compliance. The only subscales related to compliance were inhibition, working memory and planning and organization. Emotion recognition did not moderate the relationship between executive functioning and compliance. The findings of this study suggest that there are certain cognitive functions of toddlers that are related to their compliance. Future research should also focus on other cognitive functions, for example on ‘Theory of Mind’. In addition, there should be more research to validate the results of this study.Show less
This study addressed the relationship between emotion recognition and Theory of Mind (ToM) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Emotion recognition was measured with the Eprime Emotion...Show moreThis study addressed the relationship between emotion recognition and Theory of Mind (ToM) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Emotion recognition was measured with the Eprime Emotion Recognition. ToM was measured with the Social Cognitive Skills Test. The ASD-group consisted of 28 children between 9 – 16,9 years old (M = 11,8). The control group consisted of 85 children between the age of 9 – 14,2 (M = 10,6). Significant correlations were found between sadness and ToM in both groups. A possible explanation is that emotions have shared brain structures, but also their ‘own’ pathways, with the exception of sadness. It might be that sadness mostly uses shared brain structures, which also play a considerable role in ToM.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2014-08-16T00:00:00Z
The aim of this study was to expand the knowledge about the specific social-emotional difficulties within Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY) by measuring attention to social cues, emotion recognition...Show moreThe aim of this study was to expand the knowledge about the specific social-emotional difficulties within Klinefelter syndrome (47, XXY) by measuring attention to social cues, emotion recognition skills, empathy and emotional arousal. 14 participants with Klinefelter syndrome (age range 16-56) and 14 control participants (age range 22-60) were included. All participants watched four video clips designed to evoke empathy, and filled out a questionnaire about their own and the main character’s emotions after each video. Furthermore, they completed an emotion recognition task consisting of 80 pictures of faces with a neutral, happy, scared or angry expression. During both tasks eye movements and fixations were measured. Electrocardiogram and skin conductance measurements were done at baseline, during the video clips and during the emotion recognition task. Participants with Klinefelter syndrome had equal emotion recognition scores compared to the control group, but empathy scores were lower for the Klinefelter group. Participants with Klinefelter spent less time fixating on eyes and more time fixating outside the face during the emotion recognition task. No group differences in overall fixation times were found during the videos, but longer fixations on eyes and mouths and shorter on objects predicted better empathy scores. Psychophysiological responses differed between groups during the empathy videos: participants with Klinefelter showed somewhat stronger skin conductance reactions than controls. The current results can contribute to the development of interventions for Klinefelter syndrome. Moreover, the results can give insight into the role of the X-chromosome in the relation between (social) attention processes and social-cognitive functioning.Show less
De ontwikkeling van bètaleren bij kinderen krijgt op het moment veel aandacht, omdat het voor de maatschappij belangrijk is dat jonge kinderen interesse hebben voor natuur en techniek. Daarmee...Show moreDe ontwikkeling van bètaleren bij kinderen krijgt op het moment veel aandacht, omdat het voor de maatschappij belangrijk is dat jonge kinderen interesse hebben voor natuur en techniek. Daarmee wordt de kans verhoogd dat ze later in hun leven een bètagerelateerd beroep zullen kiezen. Daarnaast ontwikkelen jonge kinderen vaardigheden die zij nodig zullen hebben om zich optimaal te kunnen ontwikkelen in alle domeinen van hun functioneren. Daarom moet duidelijk worden op welke ontwikkelingsgebieden kinderen stimulering nodig hebben om deze ontwikkeling te optimaliseren. In het basisonderwijs wordt de sociale en cognitieve ontwikkeling van kinderen gestimuleerd om hen daarmee voor te bereiden op de toekomst. Vooralsnog blijkt bètaonderwijs veelal geen grote plaats in het onderwijsprogramma te hebben, terwijl bètaberoepen belangrijk zijn voor de maatschappij. Aangezien de sociale ontwikkeling bijdraagt aan het leerproces is het belangrijk om te onderzoeken hoe sociale ontwikkeling in relatie staat tot het bètaleren. Hierdoor wordt bekend of kinderen kunnen groeien in hun sociale ontwikkeling en in het bètaleren wanneer de aandacht voor deze gebieden gecombineerd wordt. In dit onderzoek is daarom de relatie tussen de ontwikkeling van sociale cognitie en bètaleren van 160 vier- tot achtjarige kinderen (gemiddelde leeftijd = 5.90 jaar, 47.5% jongens) uit West- en Zuid-Nederland onderzocht. Bètaleren werd gerelateerd aan de sociale cognitie emotieherkenning en aan sociale vaardigheden. Bij de kinderen is een emotieherkenningstaak (Identification of Facial Emotions, IFE) en een taak voor kwantitatief redeneren (subtest Kwantiteit uit de Revisie Amsterdamse Kinder Intelligentietest, RAKIT) afgenomen als maat voor hun bètavaardigheden. De ouders hebben een vragenlijst over de sociale vaardigheden van hun kind ingevuld (Social Skills Rating System, SSRS). De belangrijkste bevinding was dat sociale cognitie en bètaleren positief aan elkaar gerelateerd zijn. Daarnaast werd een significante relatie (r = 0.38) gevonden tussen sociale vaardigheden en bètaleren. Naast de huidige stimulering van de sociale ontwikkeling lijkt het daarom van belang om daarbij ook het bètaleren bij jonge kinderen te stimuleren, zodat groei op deze gebieden elkaar wederzijds versterkt. Een sociale en uitdagende omgeving speelt daarbij waarschijnlijk een belangrijke rol.Show less
De kleuterleeftijd is een periode waarin vaardigheden worden ontwikkeld die essentieel zijn voor later academisch en sociaal succes. Het doel van dit onderzoek is om inzicht te krijgen in deze...Show moreDe kleuterleeftijd is een periode waarin vaardigheden worden ontwikkeld die essentieel zijn voor later academisch en sociaal succes. Het doel van dit onderzoek is om inzicht te krijgen in deze periode van de ontwikkeling. Zwakke emotieherkenning en zwakke executieve functies zijn risicofactoren voor de ontwikkeling van kinderen. Deze correleren met een veelheid aan gedragsproblemen en stoornissen. Ook de schoolrijpheid lijkt beïnvloed te worden door sociale competentie en executieve functies. Is er dan een relatie tussen emotieherkenning en executieve functies en hebben deze invloed op de cito-scores van kleuters? Om deze vragen te beantwoorden zijn 152 kinderen in de leeftijd van 4 tot en met 7 jaar onderzocht. Emotieherkenning en executieve functies zijn gemeten met behulp van de Amsterdamse Neuropsychologische Taken. Uit de resultaten blijkt dat executieve functies correleren met emotieherkenning, maar dat de relatie zwak is. In dit onderzoek wordt de mogelijkheid van een exponentieel verband bediscussieerd. De cito-scores van kinderen zijn vergeleken met de resultaten op de taken die emotieherkenning, werkgeheugen, inhibitie en mentale flexibiliteit meten. Kinderen die goed presteren op deze taken hadden over het algemeen hogere cito-scores. Een mogelijke verklaring is dat kinderen die deze vaardigheden goed beheersen meer mogelijkheden hebben om te profiteren van onderwijs en daardoor betere schoolprestaties halen.Show less
