COGNITIVE PROCESSING BIAS OF CHILDREN IN A REAL-LIFE STRESS SITUATIONAND A NEUTRAL SITUATION

The aim of this study was to investigate whether nonclinically anxious children, like anxious adults, favor the processing of threatening or concern-related information. Two experiments, using an emotional Stro op task, were carried out in high anxious and low anxious children age d 8 to 9 to examine whether a medical stressor elicited a processing b ias. Results indicated that, independently of the presence of the medi cal stressor, all children give high priority to the processing of inf ormation related to physical harm. Moreover, like anxious adults in ot her studies, high anxious children showed a processing bias for genera lly threatening information. This bias was absent in the vicinity of a n acute stressor and it was only significant in girls. However, unlike low anxious adults, low anxious girls also showed this processing bia s. These results are interpreted in terms of cognitive developmental d ifferences in the ability to inhibit the processing of meaningful info rmation. (C) 1997 Academic Press