EMOTIONAL AND SEMANTIC PRIMING AS A MEASURE OF INFORMATION-PROCESSINGIN YOUNG-PEOPLE WITH SCHOOL REFUSAL - A RESEARCH NOTE

We investigated semantic and emotional priming of lexical decision-mak ing in 20 school refusers and 20 attenders aged 11-16 years, matched f or sex and reading ability. We hypothesised that: semantic and emotion al priming would be demonstrable in both samples; and that the school refusers would show emotional priming of school-related words to avers ive primes. Both samples showed semantic priming; emotional priming wa s shown by the attenders and 11 school refusers without a history of d epression. School-refusing children did not show emotional priming for school-related words. Nine school-refusing children with either curre nt or past depression showed a general reduction in their priming. The se results show that both semantic and emotional priming can be detect ed in this age-range. They do not support school refusal being typical ly associated with anxiety about school. The reduction in priming in t hose with a depressive history is similar to inhibition in information processing in depressed adults. Priming is therefore sensitive to at least some psychiatrically relevant states or traits in this age-range . It is concluded that priming could be a useful measure of informatio n processing in this age-group, and further research is warranted.