The presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., shallow affect, lack of empathy) in children predicts reduced prosocial behavior. Similarly, CU traits relate to emotion recognition deficits, which may be related to deficits in visual attention to the eye region of others. Notably, recognition of others' distress necessarily precedes sympathy, and sympathy is a key predictor in prosocial outcomes. Thus, visual attention and emotion recognition may mediate the relationship between CU traits and deficient prosocial behavior. Elucidating these connections furthers the development of treatment protocols for children with behavioral problems and CU traits. This study seeks to: (1) extend this research to younger children, including girls; (2) measure eye gaze using infrared eye-tracking technology; and (3) test the hypothesis that CU traits are linked to prosocial behavior deficits via reduced eye gaze, which in turn leads to deficits in fear recognition. Children (n = 81, ages 6-9) completed a computerized, eye-tracked emotion recognition task and a standardized prosocial behavior task while parents reported on the children's CU traits. Results partially supported hypotheses, in that CU traits predicted less time focusing on the eye region for fear expressions, and certain dimensions of eye gaze predicted accuracy in recognizing some emotions. However, the full model was not supported for fear or distress expressions. Conversely, there was some evidence that the link between CU traits and deficient prosocial behavior is mediated by reduced recognition for low intensity happy expressions, but only in girls. Theoretical and practical implications for these findings are considered. / Master of Science / Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are defined as experiencing limited emotion and empathy for others. Children with CU traits are less likely to show prosocial behavior, such as sharing or helping others. Similarly, children with CU traits also have more difficulty recognizing emotions compared to peers. This may be related to less attention to the eye region of other’s faces, which conveys emotional information. Notably, accurate recognition of others’ distress is necessary for children to feel concern for others and want to engage in prosocial behavior. Elucidating these connections furthers the development of interventions for children with and CU traits, which often related to behavior problems. This study seeks to: (1) extend this research to younger children, including girls; (2) measure eye gaze using eye-tracking technology; and (3) test the hypothesis that CU traits predict prosocial behavior deficits due to reduced eye gaze and subsequent deficits in fear and distress recognition. While this hypothesis was not fully supported, results did indicate that CU traits predicted less time focusing on the eye region for fear expressions, and certain forms of eye gaze predicted better emotion recognition accuracy for some emotions. Instead, results indicated that eye gaze and recognition of subtle happy expressions played a role linking CU traits and prosocial behavior, but only in girls. Results suggest that CU traits relate to less attention to the eye region and poorer emotion recognition across emotions, and that these mechanisms may operate differently in boys and girls.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78050 |
| Date | 06 December 2016 |
| Creators | Delk, Lauren Annabel |
| Contributors | Psychology, White, Bradley A., Kim-Spoon, Jungmeen, White, Susan W. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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