Do Children with High Callous-Unemotional Traits Have Attentional Deficits to Emotional Stimuli? Evidence from a Multi-Method and Multi-Informant Study
2024 — Multi-method CU assessment and emotional attention
Finding
High- and low-CU groups did not differ in emotion-recognition accuracy regardless of CU assessment method. Eye/mouth allocation differences did emerge, but their breadth depended on whether CU/LPE was defined using questionnaire versus clinical assessment.
Why it matters
The study directly exposes construct-operationalization sensitivity. It constrains a simple chain in which high CU necessarily implies poor emotion recognition because of reduced eye attention.
Inference boundary
The findings do not show that changing gaze would necessarily change CU traits or conduct problems.
