Physically abused children show heightened perceptual and attentional sensitivity to angry facial expressions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2–r3 · q2

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Relative to non-maltreated children, physically abused children have heightened perceptual and physiological sensitivity to angry facial expressions, more readily categorize morphed faces as angry, and require less perceptual information to identify faces as angry. → Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak 2020 q2 i? Physically abused children respond more quickly to angry faces in a Go/No-Go paradigm and show delayed disengagement from angry faces serving as invalid cues in a selective attention paradigm. → Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak 2020 (2)

Evidence¶

Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak 2020¶

Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak. (2020). Early life stress and development: potential mechanisms for adverse outcomes. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-020-09337-y

q2 · i? · review · r3

Narrative review synthesis of behavioral studies of physically abused children. The review reports that, "Relative to non-maltreated children, children who experience physical abuse have heightened perceptual and physiological sensitivity to angry facial expressions," including categorizing morphed faces as angry with less perceptual information. No effect sizes are printed.

"Relative to non-maltreated children, children who experience physical abuse have heightened perceptual and physiological sensitivity to angry facial expressions [124, 125] and are more likely to perceive emotional situa- tions as demonstrating anger as early as preschool age [41]."

Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak 2020 (2)¶

Karen E. Smith and Seth D. Pollak. (2020). Early life stress and development: potential mechanisms for adverse outcomes. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-020-09337-y

q2 · i? · review · r2

Narrative review synthesis of cognitive-task studies in physically abused children. The review reports abused children "respond more quickly to angry faces during a Go/No-Go paradigm" and show delayed disengagement from angry faces in a selective attention paradigm. No effect sizes are printed.

"They respond more quickly to angry faces during a Go/No-Go paradigm [22] and seem to require greater cognitive resources to disengage their atten- tion from angry faces, showing delayed disengagement when angry faces served as invalid cues in a selective atten- tion paradigm [127]."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Maltreated and neglected children show less accurate facial emotion identification, difficulty with positive emotions, and higher rumination — related