The Childhood Maltreatment Modulates the Impact of Negative Emotional Stimuli on Conflict Resolution.

Xianxin Meng,Ling Zhang,Shuling Gao,Tao Suo,Hong Li,Wenwen Liu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00845

Abstract

It has been reported that negative emotional stimuli could facilitate conflict resolution. However, it remains unclear about whether and how the impact of negative emotional stimuli on conflict resolution varies depending on childhood maltreatment. To clarify this issue, seventy-nine subjects were required to perform an arrow Eriksen Flanker Task which was presented in the center of emotional pictures. The present study found a significant interaction effect of childhood maltreatment and emotion on executive attention scores in reaction times (RTs) that reflect conflict resolution speed. For subjects in high childhood maltreatment, negative pictures elicited smaller executive attention scores in RTs than neutral and positive pictures, while neutral and positive pictures elicited similar executive attention scores in RTs. By contrast, for subjects in low childhood maltreatment, executive attention scores in RTs were similar across three conditions. These results suggest that the speed of conflict resolution is enhanced in high, instead of low, childhood maltreatment in situations of negative stimuli. This finding extends our understanding of the interaction among emotion, childhood maltreatment and conflict resolution.

Highlights

Child maltreatment is a global phenomenon affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world (Stoltenborgh et al, 2015; Viola et al, 2016)
It has been reported that negative emotional stimuli could facilitate conflict resolution. It remains unclear about whether and how the impact of negative emotional stimuli on conflict resolution varies depending on childhood maltreatment
Using an arrow Flanker Task, this study aims to investigate whether the impact of emotion on conflict resolution varies depending on childhood maltreatment

Summary

Introduction

Child maltreatment is a global phenomenon affecting the lives of millions of children all over the world (Stoltenborgh et al, 2015; Viola et al, 2016). It is imperative to Negative Emotion Impacts Conflict Resolution understand the mechanisms underlying the association between childhood maltreatment and later psychopathology to break the continuity between the two. Existing research has demonstrated that childhood maltreatment influences attention bias to negative signals (Pine et al, 2005; Shackman et al, 2007). Individuals with childhood maltreatment tend to have difficulties in disengagement of attention from threatening events (Pollak and Tolley-Schell, 2003). In a selective attention paradigm using emotional faces as cues, Pollak and Tolley-Schell (2003) found that physically abused children demonstrated delayed disengagement when angry faces served as invalid cues, suggesting the influence of childhood maltreatment on individual’s selective attention to threat-related signals. The enhanced attention to threat further facilitates both the development and maintenance of emotional disorders (Li et al, 2008; Yuan et al, 2009, 2014, 2015; Meng et al, 2015, 2016)

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