Induction émotionnelle positive et production d’inférences : étude chez des enfants de 9 à 11 ans

Introduction

The presented research explored the impact of positive emotions on inferences production during reading comprehension in children of 9 to 11 years old.

Objective

Experiment 1 was designed to assess the validity of the emotional induction method used. The aim of Experiments 2 and 3 was to evaluate the influence of reader's positive emotional state on inferences production.

Method

The experiments consisted of inducing a positive emotion by a knitting session (versus neutral) then proposing a reading/comprehension task of narrative text in which the strength of the context underlying an inference was manipulated. Inferential abilities were assessed at two distinct stages of reading: when inferred concepts were activated during reading (Experiment 2) and after inferential processes were completed (Experiment 3).

Results

While the results indicate a beneficial impact of positive emotions on children's’ inferential abilities, they also show that it is not systematic. It depends on how the properties of textual material and the complexity of the task interact.

Conclusion

This study confirmed the importance of taking into account students’ emotional state during school activities.