The brain development of young children was significantly altered by the pandemic, affecting their ability to process emotional responses to others, according to a new study.
Research published in the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience found that young children tested during the pandemic displayed measurable differences in how their brains were able to process emotional expressions by other people. In particular, these children took longer to respond to happy faces, suggesting a significantly reduced familiarity with and understanding of them.
The researchers were interested in whether the social restrictions of the pandemic affected early brain development, when socialisation with others is crucial for the formation of proper mental structures. In particular, they wanted to know if reduced in-person interaction, and the covering of faces with masks, altered the emotional understanding of young children.
“There have been several studies suggesting that input is crucial for the early development of processing emotional faces. This, however, has mainly been studied in extreme cases such as neglect, or in more indirect ways such a relating parental traits to children’s face processing,” explained study author Carlijn van den Boome.
To investigate this subject, the researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain activity in nearly 1000 children aged 5 months, 10 months, or 3 years. Some of the children were tested before the pandemic, while others were tested between March 2020 and April 2022.
Children were shown a series of faces expressing a range of different emotions as well as non-human objects, and their responses were recorded using EEG.
Although the researchers found no meaningful differences in the speed with which the children responded to faces, they discovered a significant difference in patterns of brain activity when responding to emotional expressions. Children tested during the pandemic displayed signs of an inability to distinguish between happy, fearful and neutral faces.
“Even though we expected effects of the policies on emotional face processing, it was surprising to see that these were so clear, and present in all tested age-groups,” van den Boomen told PsyPost.
“Particularly the 3-year-olds likely did process emotional expressions before the pandemic (as they learned this in their first year, which was pre-pandemic). It was surprising, and as a parent somewhat unsettling, to find that even these children were so severely affected.”
The researchers warn that the findings could have far-reaching effects for individual development and broader social effects in the coming years.
At present, it’s unclear whether the children deprived of social interaction, and therefore social understanding, during the pandemic have now “caught up” and learned to differentiate between emotions, or whether the effects are longer-lasting or even permanent. Further research will be conducted to investigate this.