Affect-laden Stimuli Research Articles

On the potential impact of directionality on emotion processing in interpreting

The main aim of the study is to investigate the process of interpreting emotionally-laden content in the two directions (i.e., L2>L1 vs. L1>L2). In line with previous research on bilingualism, there is a psychological distance when processing the non-native relative to the native tongue, reflecting a decreased sensitivity to affect-laden stimuli in L2 compared to L1. Yet thus far only little attention has been devoted to investigating how interpreters process emotionally-laden as compared to neutral stimuli when interpreting. Additionally, in the context of language processing in interpreting, previous studies have shown an interpreting asymmetry, pointing to more cognitively taxing operations engaged in interpreting in the L1-L2 than L2-L1 direction; however, it remains under-investigated whether emotion processing might be modulated by interpreting directionality. To this aim, in the present pilot study, five professional interpreters were asked to interpret negatively-valenced as well as neutral sentences, both from Polish (L1) into English (L2) and in the opposite direction. To measure emotional responding, skin conductance (SC) method was triangulated with a self-report measure (SUPIN S30, the Polish adaptation of the PANAS questionnaire, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule). The obtained results showed an increased emotional responding, as reflected in SC results, in the process of interpreting a negatively-valenced compared to neutral content, irrespective of interpreting direction. The obtained results may contribute to research on emotional language processing in the context of interpreting.

Video Games and Emotion Regulation

Abstract. Research on age differences in media usage has shown that older adults are more likely than younger adults to select positive emotional content. Research on emotional aging has examined whether older adults also seek out positivity in the everyday situations they choose, resulting so far in mixed results. We investigated the emotional choices of different age groups using video games as a more interactive type of affect-laden stimuli. Participants made multiple selections from a group of positive and negative games. Results showed that older adults selected the more positive games, but also reported feeling worse after playing them. Results supplement the literature on positivity in situation selection as well as on older adults’ interactive media preferences.

When congruence breeds preference: the influence of selective attention processes on evaluative conditioning

ABSTRACTWe investigated in two experiments whether selective attention processes modulate evaluative conditioning (EC). Based on the fact that the typical stimuli in an EC paradigm involve an affect-laden unconditioned stimulus (US) and a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS), we started from the assumption that learning might depend in part upon selective attention to the US. Attention to the US was manipulated by including a variant of the Eriksen flanker task in the EC paradigm. Similarly to the original Flanker paradigm, we implemented a target-distracter logic by introducing the CS as the task-relevant stimulus (i.e. the target) to which the participants had to respond and the US as a task-irrelevant distracter. Experiment 1 showed that CS–US congruence modulated EC if the CS had to be selected against the US. Specifically, EC was more pronounced for congruent CS–US pairs as compared to incongruent CS–US pairs. Experiment 2 disentangled CS–US congruence and CS–US compatibility and suggested that it is indeed CS–US stimulus congruence rather than CS–US response compatibility that modulates EC.

"The effects of diffuse and distinct affect": Retraction of Stapel, Koomen, and Ruys (2002).

Reports the retraction of "The effects of diffuse and distinct affect. " by Diederik A. Stapel, Willem Koomen and Kirsten I. Ruys (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002[Jul], Vol 83[1], 60-74). This retraction follows the results of an investigation into the work of Diederik A. Stapel. The Noort Committee has found evidence of fraud, leading to the conclusion that fraud is most likely in the data supplied by Diederik A. Stapel. His co-authors were unaware of his actions and were not involved in the collection of the likely fraudulent data. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2002-01515-004.) In a series of suboptimal priming studies, it was shown that both affective and nonaffective reactions to a stimulus may occur without awareness. Moreover, it was demonstrated that affective information is detected earlier than nonaffective information. Therefore, early reactions to an affect-laden stimulus (e.g., a smiling man) are cognitively unappraised and thus diffuse (e.g., "positive"), whereas later affective reactions can be more specific and distinct (e.g., "a smiling man"). Through variations of prime exposure (extremely short, moderately short) the impact of early diffuse and late distinct affect on judgment was investigated. Findings show that distinctness (and prime-target similarity) is an essential determinant of whether the effect of affect is null, assimilation, or contrast. Furthermore, whether affect priming activates diffuse or distinct reactions is a matter of a fraction of seconds.

Facilitation and interference of behavioral responses by task-irrelevant affect-laden stimuli

Emotional interference on behavior is commonly observed when task-irrelevant negative stimuli appear before behavioral targets. One explanation postulates that affect-laden stimuli readily capture attention, interfering with the processing of the upcoming target. Emotional stimuli might also preactivate motor programs incompatible with the demanded response. Using a cued go/no-go procedure we showed that task-irrelevant unpleasant stimuli cause interference or facilitation depending on their onset asynchrony relative to the target. We observed interference with short (200 ms) stimulus-target asynchronies and facilitation for longer ones (600 ms), both for key press (Experiment 1) and key release (Experiment 2) responses. The interference effect is compatible with an attentional explanation, but the behavioral facilitation is hard to accommodate within either attentional or motor accounts. This interference-facilitation pattern can be explained assuming that once the attentional effect subsides, emotional processing may enhance the perceptual processing of the stimuli, or lower the decision threshold, thereby facilitating the response selection process.

Auras in mysticism and synaesthesia: A comparison

In a variety of synaesthesia, photisms result from affect-laden stimuli as emotional words, or faces of familiar people. For R, who participated in this study, the sight of a familiar person triggers a mental image of "a human silhouette filled with colour". Subjective descriptions of synaesthetic experiences induced by the visual perception of people's figures and faces show similarities with the reports of those who claim to possess the ability to see the aura. It has been proposed that the purported auric perception may be easily explained by the presence of a specific subtype of cross-modal perception. We analyse the subjective reports of four synaesthetes who experience colours in response to human faces and figures. These reports are compared with descriptions of alleged auric phenomena found in the literature and with claims made by experts in esoteric spheres. The discrepancies found suggest that both phenomena are phenomenologically and behaviourally dissimilar.

Cardiovascular-emotional dampening: the relationship between blood pressure and recognition of emotion.

Persons with elevated blood pressure (BP) show dampened emotional responses to affect-laden stimuli. We sought to further examine cardiovascular-emotional dampening by examination of the relationship between resting hemodynamic measures and recognition of emotion in an African American community-based sample. Participants were 106 African American men and women (55 women; mean age = 52.8 years), mainly low in socioeconomic status, and part of the Healthy Aging in Nationally Diverse Longitudinal Samples pilot study. Participants evaluated emotional expressions in faces and sentences using the Perception of Affect Test (PAT). Resting BP, total peripheral resistance (TPR), cardiac output, and heart rate were obtained continuously using a Portapres BP monitor. Total PAT scores were inversely related to systolic (r = -0.30) and diastolic (r = -0.24) BPs, TPR (r = -0.36), and age (r = -0.31; p values < .01) and were positively related to cardiac output (r = 0.27) and education (r = 0.38; p values < .01), as well as with mental state (r = 0.25) and body mass index (r = -0.20; p values < .05). Accuracy of emotion recognition on the PAT tasks remained inversely related to TPR and BP after adjustment for demographic variables, medication, mental state, and body mass index. Elevated BP and TPR were associated with reduced perception of affect. TPR was the most consistent independent hemodynamic correlate of emotional dampening for the PAT scores. These results suggest potentially important links among central nervous system regulation of emotions, hemodynamic processes, and hypertension development.

Evaluative conditioning may incur attentional costs.

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to changes in the liking of an affectively neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, or CS) after pairing this stimulus with an affect-laden stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, or US). Several authors proposed that EC incurs little or no attentional cost. Using a rigorous design, we provide evidence that a reduction in attentional resources may have a negative impact on EC. Additional analyses also revealed that participants correctly encoded fewer CS-US pairings when their attentional resources were depleted. Replicating Pleyers, Corneille, Luminet, and Yzerbyt's (2007) findings, EC was also obtained only for CSs that could be correctly linked to their associated US in the context of an identification task. This research clarifies the role of higher order processes in EC and has significant practical implications.

Neural bases of dysphoria in early Huntington's disease

Psychiatric disorders, including disorders of emotion control, are common in Huntington's disease. The neurobiological mechanism of the increased rate of disorders of emotion control are not known. Emotion perception deficits have been reported in Huntington's disease, but studies of emotional experience have been limited. In the present study we aim to expand the research in emotion in Huntington's disease by examining the neural bases of induced dysphoria at an early stage of Huntington's disease. Ten Huntington's disease patients and 12 demographically matched healthy volunteers underwent [ 15O] water positron emission tomography while in a transient state of dysphoria induced by viewing negatively charged affect-laden stimuli. Both groups experienced dysphoric mood, but Huntington's disease patients responded to the stimuli with greater arousal, anger and fear than healthy controls. Induced dysphoric mood was associated with a widespread reduction of activity within the frontal and parietal lobes, thalamus, and cerebellum. These differences could not be explained based on the smaller gray matter volumes of the corresponding regions, although in Huntington's disease patients smaller caudate nucleus volumes predicted lower dorsal-lateral prefrontal activity. Areas of increased activity included the striate and extrastriate cortex, the left thalamus, the transverse temporal gyrus, and the posterior hippocampus. This study elucidates possible mechanisms contributing to psychiatric disturbances of emotion often found in patients with Huntington's disease.

The effects of diffuse and distinct affect.

In a series of suboptimal priming studies, it was shown that both affective and nonaffective reactions to a stimulus may occur without awareness. Moreover, it was demonstrated that affective information is detected earlier than nonaffective information. Therefore, early reactions to an affect-laden stimulus (e.g., a smiling man) are cognitively unappraised and thus diffuse (e.g., "positive"), whereas later affective reactions can be more specific and distinct (e.g., "a smiling man"). Through variations of prime exposure (extremely short, moderately short) the impact of early diffuse and late distinct affect on judgment was investigated. Findings show that distinctness (and prime-target similarity) is an essential determinant of whether the effect of affect is null, assimilation, or contrast. Furthermore, whether affect priming activates diffuse or distinct reactions is a matter of a fraction of seconds.

Affect Intensity: An Individual Difference Response to Advertising Appeals

The Affect Intensity Measurement (AIM) scale assesses the strength of the emotions with which individuals respond to an affect-laden stimulus. This study investigated the extent to which individual differences in affect intensity influence the message recipient's responses to emotional advertising appeals. In two experiments high affect intensity individuals, compared with those who scored low on the AIM scale, (1) manifested significantly stronger emotional responses to the emotional advertising appeal and (2) showed no differences in emotional response intensity when exposed to a nonemotional appeal. Both negative and positive emotions mediated the influence of affect intensity on attitude formation.

Personality attributes of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using the Rorschach Inkblot Test

This study investigated Rorschach Inkblot Test response patterns in a group of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and compared them to matched samples of clinical control and normal control groups. The findings indicated that the ADHD and clinical control groups both demonstrated markedly limited coping capacities, an avoidance of affect-laden stimuli, difficulties with self- and interpersonal perceptions, problems in perceiving reality accurately, and a vulnerability to depression. The ADHD group demonstrated significantly more intense feelings of isolation and discomfort, less social involvement, avoidance of decision-making, and more dependence, while the clinical control group demonstrated a significantly higher level of psychological disorganization and thinking problems.

Affect intensity and empathic emotions: an individual difference measure of advertising response

This study examined the manner in which audience characteristics (individual dif ferences in affect intensity) and one situation factor (the emotional/non-emotional execution style of advertising appeals) interact to enhance persuasion. Affect inten sity refers to the strength of the emotions with which individuals respond to daily life events and affect-laden stimuli. The results showed that high affect intensity individuals experienced significantly more intense empathic emotions in response to emotionally charged advertising appeals, but not in response to non-emotional advertisements: Since affect intensity was significantly related to empathic emotions rather that cognitive empathy, regression analyses showed that it was the empathic emotions which served as the mechanism through which affect intensity influenced the desire to help. Finally, it was found that while high and low affect intensity indi viduals showed no significant differences in attitudes towards the advertisements, the arousal of stro...

Personality dimensions in two types of learning-disabled children: a Rorschach study.

Children referred for psychoeducational assessment of learning disabilities (LDs) commonly receive the Rorschach test. yet little is known about the impact of LD on Rorschach response patterns. This study investigated Rorschach response patterns in two groups of 9- to 12-year-old children (n = 41) classified by their respective intellectual abilities. Another group of 9- to 12-year-olds (n = 143) served as a nonclinical comparison group. Rorschach variables indicative of personality dimensions failed to discriminate between the two LD groups. Compared to the nonclinical group, the LD group exhibited several Rorschach characteristics--including problems in perceptual accuracy, inefficient visual scanning and problem-solving strategies, and avoidance of affect-laden stimuli--having implications for successful socioemotional adaptation. Suggestions for further research are discussed.

Desirable responding triggered by affect: Automatic egotism?

Two experiments demonstrated an increase in socially desirable responding in the presence of affectladen stimuli. Subjects responded or not me to trait adjectives presented on a microcomputer. Affect was manipulated by pairing each trait adjective with a distractor word presented nearby. Some distractors were affect-laden (e.g., sex, blood); others were innocuous (e.g., station, lake). In Study I, some trait adjectives were positive traits and others were neutral. Results showed that endorsements of positive traits were increased and speeded up by the affective distractors; denials of positive traits were reduced and slowed down by affective distractors. Both claims and denials of neutral traits were slowed by the affective distractors. In Study 2, positive, neutral, and negative traits were presented. The Study 1 results were replicated with parallel results for negative traits: Denials of negative traits were increased and speeded by the affective distractors, whereas claims of negative traits were reduced and slowed. This overall pattern of results was interpreted as a response-potentiation effect; that is, dominant responses were facilitated and subordinate responses were inhibited. Thus the net reaction to the presence of affective distractors was increased desirable responding. The high speed of this process suggests mediation by a fast-rising arousal or an attentional mechanism. The latter model suggests that self-perception automatically becomes more egotistical. This automatic egotism may underlie a variety of self-presentation phenomena, including certain defense mechanisms.

Self recognition and social awareness in the deconnected minor hemisphere

Two patients with cerebral commissurotomy were tested with visual input lateralized to left or right half of the visual field by an opaque hemifield screen set in the focal plane of an optical system mounted on a scleral contact lens which allowed prolonged exposure and ocular scanning of complex visual arrays. Key personal and affect-laden stimuli along with items for assessing general social knowledgability were presented among neutral unknowns in visual arrays with 4–9 choices. Selective manual and associated emotional responses obtained from the minor hemisphere to pictures of subject's self, relatives, pets and belongings, and of public, historical and religious figures and personalities from the entertainment world revealed a characteristic social, political, personal and self-awareness comparable roughly to that of the major hemisphere of the same subject.

Schizophrenic reasoning about affect-laden material.

Drug-free schizophrenic patients (N equals 74) and nonpsychotic subjects (N equals 206) were given a test of affect-laden and affectively neutral multiple choice analogy items. The two subtests were matched on several psychometric characteristics that determine the power of the test to distinguish the more able from the less able normal subjects. Neither newly admitted schizophrenic nor long-term chronic schizophrenic patients performed differently on the affective subtest than on the neutral subtest. The many published findings of a cognitive deficit in schizophrenia in response to affect-laden stimuli can probably be attributed to the inappropriate use of unmatched tested.