Beyond Negative Bias: Disrupted Positive Valence Processing and Asynchronous Hot–Cool Development in Youth Internalizing Symptoms
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective. Adolescent internalizing symptoms are traditionally attributed to negatively biased processing, leaving the developmental trajectory of positive-valence processing unclear. Using the hot–cool executive function framework, we examined whether hot (emotion-laden) and cool (cognitive control) systems diverge across development and differentially predict symptom severity. Method. A community sample of 1,042 Chinese students (elementary: n = 300, Mage = 10.3 years; middle: n = 434, Mage = 13.2; high: n = 308, Mage = 15.6; 606 boys) completed four computerized tasks assessing inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, attentional bias, and emotional-word processing. Symptoms were indexed by developmentally appropriate measures (Children’s Depression Inventoryand Social Anxiety Scale for Children; Depression Anxiety Stress Scales–21). A clinical reference group comprised 43 hospitalized adolescents (Mage = 14.5 years). Results. Cool executive functions matured linearly across school levels (ps < .001), whereas hot attentional bias showed no developmental change (p = .579). In childhood, elevated symptoms were associated with broad-based deficits in speed and accuracy; by early adolescence this narrowed onto crisis-word stimuli (rs up to .219). Cognitive indices explained an additional 12.1% of variance beyond demographics (p < .001). Clinically referred youth showed a reversal of the positive-word advantage (+111 ms vs. −35 ms in community controls; p < .001, r = .162), indicating a breakdown in appetitive processing. Conclusions. Hot and cool cognition mature asynchronously, cool control improving while hot valence processing stagnates. Crisis-word hypervigilance and blunted positive?valence processing are partly dissociable risk indicators with distinct severity profiles, informing age-sensitive screening for youth internalizing problems.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212451800