Does it matter if we approach or withdraw when reading? A comparison of fear-related words and anger-related words

Abstract

The main aim of the present research was to explore the role of affective features beyond valence and arousal (i.e., the approach-withdrawal dimension) in visual word processing. For this purpose, fear-related words and anger-related words were compared in three tasks: a lexical decision task (LDT), a valence decision task (VDT) and an approach-distancing decision task (ADDT). Although these two types of words did not differ in the first two tasks, faster ‘distancing’ responses were given to anger-related words than to fear-related words in the ADDT. As long as these two types of words were matched in valence and arousal (among other variables), these results illustrate the need to consider other emotional dimensions (in this case, the approach-withdrawal dimension) beyond the two-dimensional perspective in order to account for the emotional effects in visual words processing and to describe how the affective space is organized. In addition, the results suggest a task-dependence effect: differential effects of fear and anger only emerged when participants were explicitly focused on the approach-withdrawal dimension. These findings are discussed in relation to motivationally-based mechanisms.