Peer-reviewed article

Working memory training reduces neural responses to negative stimuli during distraction in emotion regulation in 6-7-year-old children: Evidence from event-related potentials.

Yan Hong, Zhaonian Hu, Renlai Zhou · 22 Aug 2026

Abstract

Working memory training has recently emerged as a promising approach for enhancing emotion regulation, yet its effects on neural processes underlying emotional regulation during childhood remain poorly understood. The present study examined whether WMT influences children's ability to regulate negative emotions through distraction and investigated associated changes in brain activity. Seventy-eight children aged 6-7 years were randomly assigned to a running memory span training group, a working memory animal span training group, or a control group. All training protocols consisted of 16-20 sessions over approximately four weeks. Event-related potentials were recorded before and after training while children viewed emotional pictures and were instructed to focus on non-emotional features of the images. Children in the working memory animal span training group showed a significant reduction in the mean amplitude of the late positive potential when viewing negative pictures under the distraction instruction after training. Exploratory source localization further suggested reduced estimated activation in prefrontal-related regions. These results indicate that working memory training can alter brain activity associated with negative emotional distraction in children, although the effects varied depending on the specific training task. This finding provides preliminary evidence that targeted cognitive training may influence neural processes supporting emotion regulation during early childhood.