Ricerc@Sapienza

The development of emotional skills and Executive Functions, a term encompassing domain general cognitive processes associated with working memory, inhibitory control, and the flexible shifting of attention, are fundamental steps for the healthy development and maintenance of healthy life. In fact, memorizing emotional stimuli in a preferential way, seems to be one of the human adaptive strategies for supporting development and life.
Scientific evidences have shown the importance of emotion recognition and working memory skills for language development. These skills, often taken for granted in healthy children, are difficult to acquire in children with sensorial deficits like hearing impairment. Studies have investigated the skills of emotion recognition and working memory in children, emphasizing their importance; very few have focused on the evaluation of the neurophysiological correlates of these skills in children with hearing loss. However, no one to date has investigated the relationship between non-verbal emotional stimuli perceived by a dual sensory mode and working memory, in an experimental electroencephalographic (EEG) setting.
The aim of this project is therefore to investigate the neurophysiological and psycho-behavioural characteristics of the impact of audio and video emotional stimuli during a working memory task, in a population of hearing impaired children. The results of this study could bring valuable knowledge to the link between learning and emotion, providing useful tools for intervention in the development of hearing impaired children.