Cognitive control under distressing emotional stimulation in adolescents with conduct disorder

Euler, Felix; Sterzer, Philipp; Stadler, Christina

doi:10.1002/ab.21508

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 116 publications

(99 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We based our assumption on the specific characteristics of reactive aggression. Reactive-aggressive individuals are characterized by impaired emotion regulation [46] and reduced cognitive control under emotional stimulation [47]. Our results support a recent study showing that proactive but not reactive aggression is negatively associated with feelings of guilt in children [36].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Distinct profiles of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents: associations with cognitive and affective empathy

Euler

Steinlin

Stadler

2017

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

Self Cite

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundAggression comprises a heterogeneous set of behavioral patterns that aim to harm and hurt others. Empathy represents a potential mechanism that inhibits aggressive conduct and enhances prosocial behavior. Nevertheless, research results on the relationship between empathy and aggression are mixed. Subtypes of aggressive behavior, such as reactive and proactive aggression might be differently related to empathy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the interrelations of cognitive and affective empathy with reactive and proactive aggression.MethodsWe recruited a sample of 177 (33% female, M age 15.6) adolescents from socio-educational and juvenile justice institutions and a community sample of 77 (36% female, M age 13.1) adolescents from secondary schools. Using bivariate correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis, we firstly investigated associations between cognitive and affective empathy and reactive and proactive aggression. Subsequently, we performed cluster analysis to identify clusters of adolescents with meaningful profiles of aggressive behavior and compared derived clusters on measures of empathy. We applied the Basic Empathy Scale and the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire.ResultsBivariate analysis and hierarchical regression analysis showed that cognitive and affective empathy were negatively associated with proactive aggression, but not with reactive aggression. Cluster-analysis revealed three clusters of adolescents with distinct aggression profiles: a cluster with elevated scores on reactive and proactive aggression, a clusters with high scores on reactive aggression only, and a low aggression cluster. Cluster comparisons revealed that the reactive-proactive aggression cluster showed significantly lower scores on cognitive and affective empathy than both other clusters. Results further indicated that within the reactive-proactive aggression cluster, girls did not differ significantly from boys in empathy.ConclusionsThe present study extends previously published findings, and possibly explains conflicting results in prior research. Our results indicated that cognitive and affective empathy are reduced in adolescents with high levels of reactive and proactive aggression. Our study may contribute to the development of tailored clinical interventions for different aggression clusters.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Distinct profiles of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents: associations with cognitive and affective empathy

Euler

Steinlin

Stadler

2017

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

Self Cite

110

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rubin and colleagues () reported, after observing parent–child interactions among children at ages 2 and 4, externalizing problems appeared to be correlated with poor emotion regulation skills (Rubin et al, ). Moreover, Frick et al () found that children with conduct problems displayed greater emotional and behavioral dysregulation on a variety of measures of impulsivity–hyperactivity and increased anxiety, and Euler, Sterzer, and Stadler () elegantly showed the effect of distressing emotional stimulation on cognitive control in adolescents with CD. Euler and colleagues assessed Stroop interference under neutral and distressing emotional stimulation in clients with CD and age‐matched controls.…”

Section: Emotion Processing Reactivity and Regulation: Behavioral Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Distressing emotional stimulation led to impaired Stroop performance in CD clients compared to healthy controls, whereas the groups performed similarly under neutral emotional stimulation. The authors concluded that executive functions are impaired when CD clients are concurrently exposed to negative stimuli (Euler et al, ). This last study provides information about how the emotional deficits observed in DBD populations may influence their cognitive processes (e.g., executive functions).…”

Section: Emotion Processing Reactivity and Regulation: Behavioral Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Neurobiological, Neuroimaging, and Neuropsychological Studies of Children and Adolescents with Disruptive Behavior Disorders

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this article is to review findings from the neurobiological, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological literature that have contributed to our understanding of the etiology and development of disruptive behavior disorders, with particular reference to conduct disorder. This review focuses on neurobiological systems such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and neuroimaging evidence linking disruptive behavior disorders to changes in brain functioning or structure. Overall, this research suggests that brain areas involved in emotional processing and regulation are particularly compromised in children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorder, which fits with evidence obtained from neuropsychological studies. This review highlights the importance of neuroscientific research in characterizing reliable brain‐based functional and structural biomarkers that may contribute to an increased understanding of, and the development of new treatments for, antisocial and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents.

show abstract

“…A further motivation for this study was the characterization of the neural correlates representing the effect of emotions on cognition in young adults as a basis for future studies in children and adolescents with social disorders (e.g., disruptive behavior disorders). This is of particular interest since behavioral studies have already demonstrated altered emotion–cognition interactions in disruptive behavior disorders (Euler et al, 2014 ). Nevertheless, the neural correlates in these clinical populations are still unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Neural Correlates of Emotion–Cognition Interaction Using an Affective Stroop Task

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The human brain has the capacity to integrate various sources of information and continuously adapts our behavior according to situational needs in order to allow a healthy functioning. Emotion–cognition interactions are a key example for such integrative processing. However, the neuronal correlates investigating the effects of emotion on cognition remain to be explored and replication studies are needed. Previous neuroimaging studies have indicated an involvement of emotion and cognition related brain structures including parietal and prefrontal cortices and limbic brain regions. Here, we employed whole brain event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an affective number Stroop task and aimed at replicating previous findings using an adaptation of an existing task design in 30 healthy young adults. The Stroop task is an indicator of cognitive control and enables the quantification of interference in relation to variations in cognitive load. By the use of emotional primes (negative/neutral) prior to Stroop task performance, an emotional variation is added as well. Behavioral in-scanner data showed that negative primes delayed and disrupted cognitive processing. Trials with high cognitive demand furthermore negatively influenced cognitive control mechanisms. Neuronally, the emotional primes consistently activated emotion-related brain regions (e.g., amygdala, insula, and prefrontal brain regions) while Stroop task performance lead to activations in cognition networks of the brain (prefrontal cortices, superior temporal lobe, and insula). When assessing the effect of emotion on cognition, increased cognitive demand led to decreases in neural activation in response to emotional stimuli (negative > neutral) within prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and insular cortex. Overall, these results suggest that emotional primes significantly impact cognitive performance and increasing cognitive demand leads to reduced neuronal activation in emotion related brain regions, and therefore support previous findings investigating emotion–cognition interaction in healthy adults. Moreover, emotion and cognition seem to be tightly related to each other, as indicated by shared neural networks involved in both of these processes. Emotion processing, cognitive control, and their interaction are crucial for healthy functioning and a lack thereof is related to psychiatric disorders such as, disruptive behavior disorders. Future studies may investigate the neural characteristics of children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders.

show abstract

Cognitive control under distressing emotional stimulation in adolescents with conduct disorder

Cited by 22 publications

References 116 publications

Distinct profiles of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents: associations with cognitive and affective empathy

Distinct profiles of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescents: associations with cognitive and affective empathy

Neurobiological, Neuroimaging, and Neuropsychological Studies of Children and Adolescents with Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Investigating the Neural Correlates of Emotion–Cognition Interaction Using an Affective Stroop Task

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About