Affective Perception Research Articles

The perception of pain, discriminative touch and affective touch in patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often characterized by self-injurious behaviors, with one-half to two-third of these patients reporting hypalgesic or analgesic phenomena during self-harming. Research on pain perception in BPD suggested abnormal processing of nociception either within the sensory-discriminative and/or motivational-affective systems of pain. Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether pain insensitivity could be generalized to other somatosensory submodalities. To investigate this question, 30 BPD patients and 30 matched healthy controls were enrolled in the current study and underwent a somatosensory battery composed of well-established psychophysical test assessing all the principal submodalities of somatosensation, namely pain perception (i.e., warm, cold and mechanical), discriminative touch (i.e., tactile acuity and tactile sensitivity) as well as affective touch. Results showed abnormal warm detection threshold, warm pain threshold, mechanical pain perception, and tactile sensitivity in BPD patients, but no differences emerged neither for tactile acuity nor for cold pain thresholds, cold tolerance, or for affective touch perception. Findings point to a deficit in nociception, as well as in tactile sensitivity in BPD individuals, and were discussed in relation to BPD clinical features including self-injurious behaviors.

Social isolation in COVID-19: a comparative study between Korea and Vietnam

Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation has become a pressing issue worldwide, deeply affecting individuals’ mental and physical well-being. This study introduces a theoretical model to understand the factors influencing social isolation in the context of this global health crisis. We employed a survey methodology, collecting data from Korean and Vietnamese university students through a Google survey form. The theoretical model was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM), and multi-group analysis (MGA) was used to assess differences between the Korean and Vietnamese student groups. The investigation centered on affective risk perception, cognitive risk perception, social distancing attitude, social distancing intention, and demographic factors like age and gender. Our findings revealed that affective and cognitive risk perceptions have significant positive impacts on attitudes toward social distancing. Furthermore, attitudes towards social distancing were found to significantly influence social distancing intentions. Interestingly, social distancing intention was found to have a significant positive correlation with social isolation. Lastly, demographic factors such as gender and age were found to be significant factors influencing social isolation. Specifically, gender had a positive association, while age showed a negative correlation with social isolation. Moreover, our MGA results showed that the relationship between social distancing intention and social isolation significantly differed between the Korean and Vietnamese student groups, indicating potential cultural or societal influences on this relationship. Such understanding could inform policies and strategies aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of social isolation in the wake of global health crises.

Evacuate or social distance? Modeling the influence of threat perceptions on hurricane evacuation in a dual-threat environment.

This study investigates how different risk predictors influenced households' evacuation decisions during a dual-threat event (Hurricane Laura and COVID-19 pandemic). The Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) literature indicates that perceived threat variables are the most influential variables that drive evacuation decisions. This study applies the PADM to investigate a dual-threat disaster that has conflicting protective action recommendations. Given the novelty, scale, span, impact, and messaging around COVID-19, it is crucial to see how hurricanes along the Gulf Coast-a hazard addressed seasonally by residents with mostly consistent protective action messaging-produce different reactions in residents in this pandemic context. Household survey data were collected during early 2021 using a disproportionate stratified sampling procedure to include households located in mandatory and voluntary evacuation areas across the coastal counties in Texas and parishes in Louisiana that were affected by Hurricane Laura. Structural equation modeling was used to identify the relationships between perceived threats and evacuation decisions. The findings suggest affective risk perceptions strongly affected cognitive risk perceptions (CRPs). Notably, hurricane and COVID-19 CRPs are significant predictors of hurricane evacuation decisions in different ways. Hurricane CRPs encourage evacuation, but COVID-19 CRPs hinder evacuation decisions.

Tactile localization on stretched skin.

The ability to localize touch on the skin is an important aspect of tactile perception. As our limbs move, the skin stretches flexibly, and research has found that signals specifying stretch affect perception of limb posture. Skin stretch also distorts the relative spatial position of different locations on the skin, posing potential problems for tactile localization. Here, we investigated the effects of skin stretch using an established test of tactile localization on the hand. Twenty participants completed a tactile localization task in no-stretch and stretched conditions, respectively, after giving informed consent. The current study found a clear distal and radial bias in both the no-stretch condition and the stretched condition. Indeed, the distal bias was even larger in the stretched condition than at baseline. Critically, however, this change in distal bias was entirely accounted for by changes in the actual location of stimulus as a result of skin stretch, with no corresponding change in the judged location. Thus, the somatosensory system appears to disregard stretch when calculating the location of tactile stimuli. These results mirror recent findings showing that tactile distance perception also fails to take skin stretch into account. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Information on sodium reduction modifies how much sodium chloride level can be reduced without affecting the sensory acceptance of salty crackers

AbstractThe information present on packages of low‐sodium food can affect the different segment consumers' sensory and affective perceptions. The objective of the study was to investigate to which extent the package information on the reduction of sodium can reduce acceptance (compromised acceptance threshold—CAT) or cause rejection (hedonic rejection threshold—HRT) in different segments of salty crackers consumers. Consumers were segmented into little, medium, and great health concerns (GHC) using the Health Consciousness Scale, but only the two last groups were studied. Three trials were conducted: blind trial, with no information about the product; trial “Love your life!,” with package bringing information about sodium reduction, traffic light alerts and additional information “Love your life!”; and the trial “Great flavor,” with package similar to the previous trial, but with the additional information “Great flavor.” The hedonic thresholds were determined for each trial and for the medium and great health concern segments. Package information on the sodium reduction had no influence on CAT and HRT values for consumers expressing medium health concerns. However, the additional sentence “Great flavor” negatively influenced the CAT values of this segment. For consumers expressing GHC, the presence of the package allowed a more significant sodium chloride reduction without affecting the cracker sensory acceptance. For this segment, the package with the additional sentence “Great flavor” had the most significant favorable influence on the results. Therefore, for most of the population, food industries need not be afraid to report on the reduction of sodium on food labels.Practical applicationsHedonic threshold values are very useful for industries that intend to reduce the sodium CAT and without HRT of their products. In addition, the results of this study can help industries in the process of package development for low‐sodium products, allowing a more significant reduction of this ingredient without compromising the product's sensory acceptance or without resulting in rejection. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that there is adequate communication, regardless of whether the consumer segment has medium or GHC.

Does chronic pain influence our dreams? A dream content analytical approach

Abstract Background To date, the relationship between frequent nightmares, chronic pain, waking-life distress and sleep quality is still unclear. Previous research has shown that chronic pain patients reported more frequent nightmares and critical life events compared to a control group. Moreover, patients reported pain dreams similar to pain in their waking-life, whereas controls reported pain dreams sparsely. Objective The aim of this study was to replicate these findings and to analyze the dream content of chronic pain patients in more detail. Methods A sample of chronic pain patients and healthy control individuals, matched in age and gender, were recruited. All participants completed psychometric questionnaires and a narrative dream diary for 14 consecutive days. Results Nightmare frequency, nightmare distress, pain dreams and distress caused by life events were increased in chronic pain patients compared to the control group. In addition, the patient group reported significantly more negative and aggressive dream contents and physical sensations in their dreams than the controls. These findings replicate continuity between waking-life and dream experiences concerning pain sensation. Distress caused by critical life events also played an important role in negative dream affect and pain perception.

Associations between Risk Assessments of COVID-19, Golf Club’s Risk Management, and Golf Participation

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on leisure and sport consumption. While many sports and recreational activities, including sports, were suspended to contain the spread of the virus, golf presented an opportunity for individuals to engage in outdoor activity where social distancing was possible. We investigated the importance of risk perception and safety management practices in relation to repeated leisure activity participation among recreational golfers via online survey (N = 268). The results indicated that recreational golfers’ perceived risk of leisure activity participation and perceived managerial safety climate had a significant effect, while cognitive and affective COVID-19 risk perceptions did not have a significant influence on recreational golfer’ revisit intention. The findings provide empirical evidence on how recreational golfer perceived the domain-specific risks associated with COVID-19 and managerial safety climate influence their sports and recreational activity consumption decision making.

Humans recognize affective cues in primate vocalizations: acoustic and phylogenetic perspectives

Humans are adept at extracting affective information from vocalizations of humans and other animals. However, the extent to which human recognition of vocal affective cues of other species is due to cross-taxa similarities in acoustic parameters or the phylogenetic closeness between species is currently unclear. To address this, we first analyzed acoustic variation in 96 affective vocalizations, taken from agonistic and affiliative contexts, of humans and three other primates—rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), chimpanzees and bonobos (Pan troglodytes and Pan paniscus). Acoustic analyses revealed that agonistic chimpanzee and bonobo vocalizations were similarly distant from agonistic human voices, but chimpanzee affiliative vocalizations were significantly closer to human affiliative vocalizations, than those of bonobos, indicating a potential derived vocal evolution in the bonobo lineage. Second, we asked 68 human participants to categorize and also discriminate vocalizations based on their presumed affective content. Results showed that participants reliably categorized human and chimpanzee vocalizations according to affective content, but not bonobo threat vocalizations nor any macaque vocalizations. Participants discriminated all species calls above chance level except for threat calls by bonobos and macaques. Our results highlight the importance of both phylogenetic and acoustic parameter level explanations in cross-species affective perception, drawing a more complex picture to the origin of vocal emotions.

A causal link between mental imagery and affect-laden perception of climate change related risks

Previous studies have shed light on the importance of affect in risk perception and the role of mental imagery in generating affect. In the current study, we explore the causal relationship between mental imagery, affect, and risk perception by systematically varying the level of mental imagery in three levels (i.e., enhanced, spontaneous, or prevented). In light of the increasing environmental risk of adverse events caused by climate change, we operationalize risk as participants' perceived risk of climate change. One-thousand-fifty-five participants were recruited online and randomized to one of three levels of mental imagery. As predicted, we found a causal link between the level of mental imagery, affective experience, and perceived risk of climate change, in that enhanced mental imagery caused a larger decrease in positive affective valence and a larger increase in perceived risk of climate change. We argue that mental imagery enhances the negative affect associated with the risk event by creating a perceptual experience that mimics seeing the environmental risk events.

The association between the risk perceptions of COVID-19, trust in the government, political ideologies, and socio-demographic factors: A year-long cross-sectional study in South Korea.

Risk perception research, targeting the general public, necessitates the study of the multi-faceted aspects of perceived risk through a holistic approach. This study aimed to investigate the association between the two dimensions of risk perception of COVID-19, i.e., risk as a feeling and analysis, trust in the current government, political ideologies, and socio-demographic factors in South Korea. This study used a year-long repeated cross-sectional design, in which a national sample (n = 23,018) participated in 23 consecutive telephone surveys from February 2020 to February 2021. Most factors differed in the magnitude and direction of their relationships with the two dimensions of risk perception. However, trust in the current government, alone, delineated an association in the same direction for both dimensions, i.e., those with a lower level of trust exhibited higher levels of cognitive and affective risk perception. Although these results did not change significantly during the one-year observation period, they are related to the political interpretation of risk. This study revealed that affective and cognitive risk perceptions addressed different dimensions of risk perception. These findings could help governments and health authorities better understand the nature and mechanisms of public risk perception when implementing countermeasures and policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies.

The impact of small-scale green infrastructure on the affective wellbeing associated with urban sites

The largest public space in any city is its streets. Investments which incorporate small-scale green infrastructure into streetscapes can bring more nature into the lives of urban residents worldwide, including those living in even the most economically and spatially constraint places. However, little is known about the impact of such small-scale investments on urban residents’ affective perceptions of their local environments and how to design these investments to maximise their positive impacts. In the current study, we use photo simulation techniques and an adapted form of the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule to examine the impact of small-scale green infrastructure interventions on the affective perceptions of low, middle and high-income sites in Santiago Chile. Our results, based on 62,478 reports of affective perceptions from 3,472 people, indicate that green infrastructure investments can both promote positive affect and, to a lesser, but still substantial extent reduce negative affect. The magnitudes of these relationships vary across discrete affective measures and for many of these measures, both positive and negative, a minimum of 16% increase in green coverage is required to see an impact. Finally, we find people associated lower affect with low, compared to middle and high, income sites but that these affective inequalities can be addressed, at least in part, through green infrastructure interventions.

Endocannabinoid function and affective touch perception in trauma and non-trauma-exposed humans

Touch serves an important role in social interactions, as well as regulating our stress response. In particular, C-tactile CT afferent nerve fibres facilitate the pleasant characteristics of touch and are thus thought to serve an important function as a stress buffer. However, individuals with trauma may respond differently to touch. Emerging evidence suggests that the endocannabinoid (eCB) system is involved in both stress processing and social functioning. Thus, the eCB system may influence touch processing. In study one, we looked at preferences for affective touch in individuals with documented childhood trauma (N=52) or no trauma history (N=49). We also assessed variations of the endocannabinoid ligand anandamide (AEA). In a separate study with healthy participants (N=46), we examined whether pharmacological enhancement of AEA had an impact on affective touch processing. In study one, trauma exposure was associated with marginally higher AEA levels. However, we found no significant interactions between affective touch preference and the trauma group. We observed an interaction between affective touch and AEA such that decreased preference for CT-touch was associated with higher levels of AEA. In study two, we similarly found an interaction between preference for CT-optimal touch and AEA, where the high AEA group displayed less preference for affective touch. These findings suggest that both AEA and affective touch may play a role in stress buffering. Further studies using clinical populations or conducted during stress could be informative going forward.

Identifying key-psychological factors influencing the acceptance of yet emerging technologies–A multi-method-approach to inform climate policy

The best combination of possible climate policy options (mitigation, adaptation and different climate engineering technologies) to tackle climate change is unknown. Climate policy is facing a hard decision in answering the question whether climate engineering technologies should be researched, limitedly deployed or even deployed at global scale. Such technologies bear large epistemic and ethical uncertainties and their use as well as non-use might have severe consequences. To deal with such uncertainties, the (ethical) assessment of climate engineering technologies should include the perspectives of various stakeholders including laypersons to inform climate policy. To facilitate (ethical) technology assessment, we propose a novel 2-step methodology to collect and analyze data on ethical concerns and the acceptability of climate engineering technologies. Thereby we focus on Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) as an use case. We propose an innovative combination of newly developed methods consisting of two data collection tools (Cognitive-Affective Mapping and large-scale survey) and two types of data analyses (using graph theory and factor analysis). Applying this multi-method approach we were able to identify (1) central ethical and governance related concerns regarding SAI (by Cognitive-Affective Maps) and (2) to estimate the relative importance of core constructs (positive and negative affect, risk and benefit perception, trust) on the acceptability of SAI (by large-scale survey).

New adventures in embodied cognition: The role of sensorimotor integration in the experience and perception of affect

New adventures in embodied cognition: The role of sensorimotor integration in the experience and perception of affect

Understanding cancer treatment decision making among cancer survivors.

e24076 Background: Nearly 20% of U.S. cancer survivors develop late cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a result of cardiotoxic cancer treatments. Patients and providers may consider alternative treatment options to lower cardiotoxicity risk, which may present a trade-off between reducing relatively near-term relapse/recurrence vs. preventing long-term CVD. Patients’ decision-making processes (e.g., delay discounting, risk perceptions for CVD vs. cancer) may affect such choices. However, these decision-making factors are not well understood in this context; nor is their association with treatment selection. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey using the online survey vendor Prolific, we recruited 443 U.S. cancer survivors (any type.) Using logistic regression, we assessed how survivors’ risk perceptions (deliberative, affective, and intuitive) for cancer vs. CVD were associated with decisions between two hypothetical cancer treatments involving different risk tradeoffs: Treatment 1: 5% chance of near-term cancer recurrence & 10% chance of CVD; Treatment 2: 10% chance of near-term cancer recurrence & 5% chance of CVD. We explored effects of delay discounting by randomizing participants to information describing immediate vs. delayed (10 years post-treatment) development of CVD. Results: Survivors ( Mage = 48, range 18-93) were, on average, 10.8 years from diagnosis. More survivors ( 72% v. 28%) chose Treatment 1 (lower cancer recurrence risk but higher risk of cardiotoxicity) than Treatment 2 (lower risk of cardiotoxicity but higher risk of cancer recurrence) . Immediacy of CVD development (immediate vs. delayed) was not associated with treatment selection (p = 0.12.) Modeling separately, higher levels of affective risk perception (“worry”) about cancer, but not worry about CVD, was associated with increased odds of choosing Treatment 1 ( OR= 1.25, p= 0.014.). Modeled together, cancer worry was associated with increased odds, whereas CVD worry was associated with decreased odds, of choosing Treatment 1 ( OR-cancer= 1.35, p= 0.002; OR-CVD= 0.76, p= 0.011). Neither deliberative nor experiential risk perceptions were significantly associated with treatment choice. Conclusions: Cancer survivors were more likely to select treatment that minimizes cancer recurrence rather than comparative CVD—regardless of the described immediacy of cardiotoxicity. Further, treatment decision also depended upon both cancer- and CVD-related worry but not deliberative or experiential risk perceptions. Comparatively to CVD, cancer is often more affectively-laden, especially among cancer survivors. These results suggest that in treatment discussions, clinicians may need to address not only the probabilities of treatment outcomes, but patients’ relative worries about cancer and cardiotoxicity.

Impacts of social isolation and risk perception on social networking intensity among university students during covid-19.

This paper aims to examine the impacts of social isolation and risk perception on social networking intensity during COVID-19. Data was gathered from 345 university students. The present study empirically analyzed the data through a partial least squares methodology. The analysis showed that perceived behavioral control positively impacts social networking intensity. Affective risk perception positively affects subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Cognitive risk perception has a significant association with both subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. Moreover, cabin fever syndrome serves as the key determinant of both sub-scales of risk perception. This study is novel in that it organically examines the effects of risk perception, social action, and closure on social networking. The current research and findings will offer useful implications for service providers in the social network industry.

Perceptions of COVID-related risks among people who smoke: A mediation model

The COVID-19 pandemic provides both reasons to quit smoking as well as stress that may promote increased cigarette consumption. Perceptions of COVID-19 risk related to smoking may motivate cessation among smokers. At the same time, other evidence shows that affective perceptions (i.e., worry) could lead to increased smoking as a coping mechanism. Using a sample drawn from a rural region of California (N = 295), we examined the relationship between perceptions about health risks for smokers during the pandemic and both reported increases in smoking frequency and intentions to quit smoking. We also examined whether worry about health risks mediated these relationships. High perceived risk was associated both with reported increases in smoking frequency as well as greater intentions to quit smoking. Worry partially mediated both these relationships, with worry accounting for 29.11% of the variance in the relationship between high risk perceptions and increased smoking as well as 20.17% of the relationship between risk perceptions and intentions to quit smoking. These findings suggest that while smokers’ awareness about their increased risk of COVID-19 can motivate intent to quit smoking in the future, smokers may require greater support to act on these intentions.

Prenatal alcohol exposure risk perception dimensions and influencing factors: A systematic review and conceptual model

ObjectiveThis paper aims to explore the available literature to understand how risks regarding prenatal alcohol exposure are perceived. MethodsA systematic review (PROSPERO; CRD 42020212887) was undertaken. PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were searched for relevant quantitative and qualitative studies. A thematic analysis of the studies was performed. ResultsFifteen articles—nine quantitative and six qualitative studies met the inclusion criteria. Three dimensions of risk perceptions were identified—perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and affective risk perception. Three influencing factors of these dimensions were also identified: information (i.e., consistency, confirmation bias, strength of the evidence, and perceived relevance), sociocultural (i.e., social inclusivity, cultural context, and risk interpretation), and individual (i.e., risks versus benefits, controllability, and experience). These dimensions and influencing factors were brought together to create the proposed novel Pregnancy Alcohol Risk Perception (PARP) conceptual model. ConclusionsThe novel PARP conceptual model developed from the current literature provides a framework to guide understanding of risk perceptions, which includes a wide range of potential influencing factors. Implications for public healthThe novel PARP conceptual model provides the groundwork for further refinement with stakeholders, which could in turn be used to inform the design of interventions and health promotional materials to support harm reduction approaches and prevention of prenatal alcohol exposure.

‘You’re walking on eggshells’: exploring subjective experiences of workplace tracking

ABSTRACT Technology-driven workplace tracking is becoming increasingly widespread and normalized. However, experiences of the tracking practices and their impact on individual employees and employers are not fully understood. Eleven qualitative interviews investigated employees’ and employers’ subjective and affective perceptions and experiences of workplace tracking, finding that employees were ambivalent about being tracked, their divergent feelings affecting their actions and experiences, while employers emphasized the benefits, concerns and rationales of the practice. This research highlights the affective side of the tracking practice by revealing how employee and employer experiences and perceptions of workplace tracking are embodied in divergent ways, with meanings ascribed to technologies culturally situated, mediated by context, positionality and use. Recommendations are proposed for further research as well as a collective policy framework governing workplace tracking to address current tensions within a fairer organizational culture.

What is the general population’s perception of smart motorways in the UK?

Motorway users have various opinions about the types of smart motorways. Motor-way utilization can be affected if road users have a negative perception towards certain types of smart motorway, particularly on the topic of safety. There are three types of smart motorways in the UK. These are Controlled, Dynamic and All-Lane Running. This study focuses on the comparison of ALR and DHS smart motorways as ALR smart motorways are aiming to replace and improve upon DHS smart motorways. The aim of this project is to understand how the general population perceive smart motorways in the UK. This aim will be achieved through answering a series of these research questions: (1) How does existing knowledge of smart motorways effect perception of smart motorways; (2) How does age effect perception of smart motorways; (3) How does car ownership affect perception of smart motorways? Data were collected using an online survey disseminated to the UK vehicle and non-vehicle drivers via social media and advertisements. Descriptive statistics and cluster analysis were used to analyse the dataset and find similarity clusters. The primary research shows that ~57% of the survey respondents had never heard of or did not know the meaning of the 3 different types of smart motorway and only ~13% of respondents fully understand the different types. Car owners in both cluster analysis models show substantial variation in the results of the comfort / smart motorway choice variables. Greater knowledge and awareness about smart motorways is required to improve the perception of smart motorways. It would seem that this is particularly true for all-lane running smart motorways which are both the newest and most physically different type of smart motorway with their removal of the hard shoulder.