NCJ Number
234602
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2011 Pages: 249-266
Date Published
April 2011
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study measured event-related potentials (ERPs) - small fluctuations in brain voltage recorded from scalp electrodes - in order to determine whether having pre-existing ERPs (specifically the N400 and a related N300 ERPs) can distinguish between parents who do and do not react violently to ambiguous stimuli of children's behavior.
Abstract
ERP data obtained from individuals at low (n=13) and high risk (n=12) for child physical abuse were analyzed during a display of non-child pictures (primes) and congruent and incongruent word descriptors (targets). The expected larger N400 waves were evident for both risk groups, indicating that all participants responded in a similar manner to the non-child picture, congruent/incongruent word presentation; however, when ambiguous child-picture primes were used with positive and negative word descriptors, low-risk individuals showed greater N400 and N300 responses to negative compared with positive word descriptors; whereas, high-risk individuals showed no ERP differences with respect to positive and negative word descriptors. These findings suggest that low-risk individuals have greater accessibility to pre-existing positive (compared to negative) child-related schemata, which may reduce the likelihood of negative child-related evaluations. In contrast, high-risk individuals have pre-existing positive and negative child-related schemata that are equally accessible; therefore, high-risk individuals apparently have greater accessibility to negative child-related schemata compared to low-risk individuals. This may increase the likelihood of negative child-related evaluations and attributions that have been linked to the risk for child physical abuse. 1 figure, 1 table, and appended photos used in the study and associated positive and negative words, as well as ERP measurements