Workshop - Development of emotion in children and adolescents

13.09.2016 14:00 – 17:45

We are pleased to inform you that a “Workshop on the development of emotion” will be held on Tuesday, September 13th at 14:00 to 17:45 in the framework of our Swiss Doctoral School in Affective Sciences – Workshops.


Chair:

- Prof. David Sander (University of Geneva)


Presentations:


- Prof. Fabrice Clément (University of Neuchâtel)

The role of expressed emotions in relevance detection

The human species is known for its social learning dependency: without cultural transmission, not only planes and ice-cream would not exist, but any single human existence would be seriously jeopardized. Until now, many researchers have insisted on the role of explicit ostension in this learning process: a “teacher” is intentionally orienting her action toward a learner in order to transmit information that are judged as valuable. However, children (and adults too) often learn about relevant features in their environment by observing third parties that are not engaged in an intersubjective interaction with them. If this form of social appraisal, that we called “observational learning” (Clément & Dukes, Emotion Review, in press), constitutes a powerful form of social learning, it is because individuals use others’ affective expressions (like interest, awe, disgust, contempt, etc.) as a proxy for detecting the relevance of objects, persons or events that have not yet been subjectively appraised. In the case of interest, this crucial ability seems to emerge at the end of the first year of life.


- Prof. Martin Debbané (University of Geneva)

Mirroring and the development of emotion identification and regulation


- Dr. Andrea Samson (University of Geneva)

The Role of Emotion Dysregulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Possible Avenues for Interventions

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is characterized by severe deficits in social interaction and communication and increased restricted and repetitive behaviors. However, emotional disturbances and associated comorbidities are of high prevalence in this population and are one of the main reasons why parents of children with ASD reach out for help. This talk will give an overview on emotional difficulties in ASD with a particular focus on emotion regulation. Studies using a multi-method approach will be presented that focused on the pattern of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, its consequences on problematic behaviors, and its neural correlates. The findings will be discussed in light of a new psycho-educative emotion regulation training that aims at increasing positive emotions, decreasing negative emotions, and reducing problematic behaviors in adolescents with ASD.


- Dr. Marie Schaer (University of Geneva)

Measuring the development of social cognition in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders

Clinical research in the last decade has shown that early and intensive interventions dramatically decrease the social deficits and learning difficulties faced by children affected with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The first three years of life may indeed represent a “window of opportunity”, when therapeutic interventions yield the most optimal long-term benefits. However, very little is known about early brain development in children with autism: when do the trajectories of brain development start to diverge between healthy children and those who will be later diagnosed with autism? What are the mechanisms by which early intensive intervention affects the brain development? As the autism spectrum is highly heterogeneous, can we distinguish different subgroups that will respond differently to treatment? Detailed information on the timing and nature of the neurodevelopmental disruption is critically required to improve therapeutic interventions for children affected with autism. To address these questions, we started recruiting a cohort of toddlers with autism in Geneva. We examine the trajectories of social, cognitive and cerebral development of children with ASD in the first years following diagnosis, to better understand how interventions can positively influence these trajectories. Our research protocol includes standardized behavioral and neurodevelopmental assessments, high- density EEG, epigenetics, as well as innovative eye-tracking paradigms. In this presentation, I will summarize the results obtained so far using these techniques in the Geneva cohort with a particular emphasis on the development of social cognition.


Lieu

Bâtiment: Campus Biotech

Room 144.165

Organisé par

Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives (CISA)

entrée libre

Classement

Catégorie: Séminaire

Plus d'infos

Contact: missing email