Emotional eating (EE) - eating in response to emotions - has clinical relevance, yet its underlying mechanisms (how?) remain poorly understood. Questions also concern interindividual differences (who?), and the types of foods involved (what?). We hypothesized that negative affect would be linked to increased, and positive affect to decreased food approach bias (how?). These effects were expected to be moderated by trait EE (who?) and by the goal-congruency and hedonic value of the foods (what?). In 76 participants with self-regulatory, diet-related goals, we measured positive and negative affect using ecological momentary assessment, and approach bias toward goal-congruent and -incongruent foods using a mobile approach-avoidance task, on nine midday assessments. Hedonic food characteristics were assessed with food-specific craving ratings in the evening, and trait EE with the Salzburg Emotional Eating Scale. There was no direct association between affect and approach bias, nor one moderated by goal-congruency. Instead, affect and approach bias covaried on high-craving days: negative affect cooccurred with higher approach bias, while positive affect cooccurred with lower approach bias. These patterns were mainly present in participants reporting more intake during negative affect or less intake during positive affect (trait EE), respectively. Our results highlight temporally dynamic relationships between affect and approach bias as potential mechanisms of EE (how?) - although eating behavior itself was not studied here. Affect-bias links emerged on high-craving days (when?) in trait emotional eaters (who?) but irrespective of specific food characteristics (what?). This opens avenues for further mechanistic research and targeted eHealth interventions (when and in whom).

Facial expressions are ubiquitous and reliable social cues. Research has shown that affective faces attract attention at the cost of competing visual information, with functional neuroimaging evidence suggesting that the prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in regulating responses to emotional distractors. However, methodological constraints within neuroimaging environments often prevent the measurement of unique neural signals from multiple competing stimuli, limiting the conclusions that can be drawn regarding how affective biases in attention are generated in the brain. In the current study, we used a novel frequency tagging approach with visual entrainment during magnetoencephalography to track the unique neural signals elicited by a task-relevant Gabor patch and a concurrent, spatially overlapping face with either an angry, neutral, or happy expression. The entrainment responses were projected to the cortex using a beamformer, and a competition index was calculated per voxel to determine the bias toward either of the spatially overlapping entrained stimuli. In the prefrontal cortex, we found a stronger Gabor bias for neutral compared to angry and happy expressions, supporting prior functional neuroimaging works which point to the prefrontal cortex as critical to the regulation of emotional distractors. In the calcarine, we found a stronger face bias for angry compared to neutral and happy expressions, replicating prior findings from electroencephalography. The separate entrainment responses were also sensitive to facial expression in several regions commonly implicated in face processing, social cognition, and attention. These data highlight the utility of frequency tagging paradigms for tracking unique neural responses to concurrent and spatially overlapping stimuli, which is critical for the study of social and emotional processing.

The fading affect bias (FAB) is the faster fading of unpleasant than pleasant affect, and this effect is positively and negatively related to healthy/adaptive and unhealthy/non-adaptive outcomes, respectively. Research has argued that the FAB makes people happy and it prompts them to seek out pleasant experiences. Although Pillersdorf and Scoboria found a negative relation between the FAB and marijuana consumption, they only examined non-marijuana events. This investigation was limited because the relation between the FAB and marijuana consumption may be absent or positive for marijuana events. The current study examined the relation of the FAB to marijuana consumption measures across marijuana and non-marijuana events. The study was conducted both in person (Experiment 1; n = 328) and online (Experiment 2; n = 232). Analyses included ANOVAs to examine fading affect across initial event affect and event type, and Process Model 1 was used to evaluate the fading affect bias across initial event affect in 2-way interactions with continuous variables. Process Model 3 was used to investigate fading affect across initial event affect and event type in 3-way interactions with continuous variables. Both experiments showed a robust FAB that was positively related to adaptive variables and negatively related to non-adaptive variables, and it was positively related to marijuana consumption/reactivity. In addition, the positive relations between FAB and marijuana consumption (hours) and reactivity (highness) measures in Experiment 1 and a marijuana reactivity measure (highness) in Experiment 2 were only found for marijuana events. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

There is increasing interest in positive animal welfare which emphasizes that animals should experience predominantly positive mental states. Positive animal welfare raises challenging biological questions, including how we assess positive experiences. Rat tickling mimics rough and tumble play; it is applied to improve welfare and study positive affect, often using ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) to assess rats' affective state. Standard tickling protocols involve frequent pinning where the supine rat is vigorously tickled on its belly, which we have argued may not be positive for all rats. Here, using an affective bias test, we show that both sexes experience positive affective states when tickled, but females, unlike males, prefer playful tickling with minimal pinning. This result corresponds with our previous work using USVs to assess rats' affective response to tickling, further validating USV recording as a marker of positive affective states. We believe this to be the first example where a refinement aimed at enhancing positive, rather than minimizing negative, mental states in animals has been independently validated; this should provide a model for similar studies in other species. In rats, this refinement should enhance welfare and more generally demonstrate the importance of considering sex differences when designing welfare interventions.

Emotional resilience and affective forecasting bias in junior high school students: the moderating role of negative coping.

Forecasting turbulence: Evidence of affective projection biases in momentary predictive fluctuations using dynamic structural equation modelling.

Negative affective biases influence cognitive and emotional behaviours and have been observed in patients with major depressive disorder. The neuropsychological hypothesis of antidepressant efficacy suggests direct modulation of affective biases may contribute to efficacy. Studies have shown conventional antidepressants can positively bias emotional processing following acute administration in humans. This study employs a rat model developed to study affective biases based on associative learning and memory, and used this assay to compare selected first versus second generation antidepressants. Dose-response experiments using the tricyclic antidepressant, amitriptyline (0.3-3.0 mg/kg), monoamine oxidase inhibitor, moclobemide (3.0-10.0 mg/kg) and serotonin specific re-uptake inhibitor, sertraline (1.0-10.0 mg/kg) were performed. Specific protocols permitted quantification of affective biases associated with new learning or the acute and sustained modulation of past experiences. All treatments positively biased new learning but exhibited differences in terms of their ability to modulate negatively biased memories. Amitriptyline and sertraline attenuated negatively biases memories when administered 1 h or 24 h before testing. Moclobemide had no effects on past experiences. No treatments had effects in the control reward learning assay. Although generally considered to have similar efficacy and time course of effects, the pharmacological profiles of these antidepressants differ. Previous work has shown that variations in affective bias modification are linked to both the time course of clinical effects and their interaction with experience-dependent plasticity. Integrating understanding of these neuropsychological differences within clinical practice has the potential to improve clinical outcomes for patients.

Psychological emotions, as dynamic mental activities modulated by individual volition, are critical to well-being. This study investigates the impact of aerobic exercise on emotional regulation through EEG signal analysis.In an acute exercise experiment (n = 66, 30 exercise,15 M/15F vs. 36 control,19 M/17F), moderate-intensity aerobic activity significantly increased prefrontal alpha asymmetry during exposure to negative and neutral stimuli from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) (p < .05, Cohen’s d = 0.62), indicating a shift toward positive affective bias. For long-term effects, participants with sustained aerobic habits (n = 80) demonstrated significantly higher accuracy in the EEG-based classification of emotional states (SVM: 73.54%, AUC = 0.80) using α–β band features, compared to sedentary controls (p < .01). Our integrated EEG-based computational framework reveals that acute aerobic exercise rapidly modulates mood-related cortical activity (indexed by prefrontal alpha asymmetry), while habitual exercise is associated with refined neural tuning and efficiency in emotional processing (indexed by enhanced EEG pattern classification). These findings propose EEG-driven biomarkers for preventing negative emotions, offering practical strategies for mental health interventions.

Affective biases are central to mood and anxiety disorders, with individuals often interpreting ambiguous facial expressions more negatively. Adaptation paradigms, where exposure to emotional stimuli shifts perception, provide a tool to separate perceptual from decisional biases, but have not been used to study emotional biases relevant to affective disorders. To determine whether affective biases in facial emotion perception arise from perceptual or decisional processes, and to examine how these biases are modulated by individual differences in negative affect. Eighty participants completed emotion and identity discrimination tasks before and after adaptation. Participants made binary judgements of morphed facial expressions (happy/sad) and identities (Bonny/Sheila), followed by confidence ratings. Logistic and Gaussian functions were used to estimate adaptation effects from shifts in the point of subjective equality (PSE) and peak uncertainty. Adaptation produced repulsive aftereffects: exposure to happy faces biased perception towards sadness, and vice versa, with analogous effects for identity. Correlated shifts in PSE and uncertainty indicated a perceptual rather than decisional origin. Negative affect (derived from Beck Depression Inventory and State Trait Anxiety Inventory-trait questionnaires) moderated this relationship, such that individuals higher in negative affect showed stronger perceptual biases towards sadness. Findings suggest that negative affect modulates low-level perceptual encoding of emotional expressions. This supports cognitive neuropsychological models positing that antidepressants first target early perceptual biases and highlight perceptual encoding as a potential mechanism underlying affective biases in mood and anxiety disorders.

Evidence for the impact of racial implicit bias and clinical reasoning remains conflicting. Our inability to characterize the relationship between racial implicit bias and clinical reasoning (CR) precludes development of comprehensive interventions seeking to address the impact of racial implicit bias on clinical encounters. To address this gap, we conducted a simulation-based investigation with clinical presentations with known health disparities, cognitive stressors common to clinical environments, and Black and White standardized patients (SPs). We recruited 75early-career generalist physicians from five academic medical centers in New York, NY, USA. Physicians engaged in a three-station simulation. The first was for level-setting, familiarizing physicians with the online platform. The second was a diagnostic dilemma - an atypical presentation of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The third tested treatment decision-making in acute pain. Immediately afterward, physicians completed the Race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and Race Medical Cooperativeness (RMC) IAT measuring affective and cognitive implicit biases, respectively. Two investigators assessed CR accuracy by applying a scoring rubric to physicians' post-encounternotes. Statistical analyses revealed no significant correlations between physicians' Race-IAT scores and CR by SP race. However, for ACS, a moderate correlation was suggested between physicians' RMC-IAT scores and CR accuracy when seeing Black (R=0.36, CI-0.04 to 0.6), but not White, SPs (R=0.1, CI-0.44 to0.24). This study expands our understanding of the complex impact of racial implicit bias on clinical encounters. Future, larger studies should explore affective and cognitive implicit biases' effects on CR across varied clinical scenarios and contexts with diverseSPs.

Effects of repeated electroconvulsive therapy on affective biases

Behavioural inhibition system, affective processing bias, and heart rate variability in resting and uncertain states as predictors of anxiety symptoms

ABSTRACT Email is a prevalent communication medium between auditors and clients for obtaining evidence and performing inquiry. Client email responses can contain affective statements that increase likability. These responses may contain mixed evidence, meaning some client responses align with audit evidence obtained and others do not. We investigate how auditors are influenced by positive affect in a mixed evidence multiple email exchange setting. In Experiment 1, results indicate that auditors judge clients as more reliable and assess a lower risk of material misstatement when emails contain positive affective cues. Interestingly, positive affect is most influential when clients provide evidence-inconsistent responses. In Experiment 2, positive affective statements do not influence auditors when the client’s first response is inconsistent. This suggests that affect primarily influences auditor judgment if a positive “first impression” is established. These results establish a boundary condition of positive affect and show when client positive affective cues are more influential. Data Availability: Please contact Kate B. Sorensen.

IntroductionGuided by attachment, social cognitive, and ecological systems theories, this study examined the direct and indirect effects of perceived parent-adolescent relationship quality on youths' conscious bias toward individuals facing socioeconomic or minority-related challenges.MethodsData were collected from 702 U.S. 18-year-olds via Qualtrics online panels. Measures included parent relationship quality, negative affect, human agency, and conscious bias (disregard for minority experiences and blaming attitudes).ResultsThe findings revealed that strong parent-teen bonds indirectly influenced conscious bias through psychosocial wellbeing. However, while negative emotions were universally influential, the impact of human agency varied depending on gender and race/ethnicity.DiscussionStudy findings underscore the necessity for a more comprehensive understanding of human agency as personal empowerment, considering gendered socialization practices and cultural nuances across different racial/ethnic groups. Additionally, there is an important need to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion principles into parental education initiatives.

The rapid shift toward digital commerce and frictionless payment technologies has fundamentally redefined consumer behaviour, collapsing the temporal and cognitive distance between desire and purchase. This systematic review synthesises empirical findings from 72 peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2025, exploring how digital payment mechanisms, user interface design, and emotional triggers mediate impulsive buying in online contexts. Using the PRISMA framework, evidence from databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect was qualitatively analysed across four themes: (1) the pain of paying and transaction friction, (2) emotional triggers and interface cues, (3) instant payments and cognitive load, and (4) post-purchase regret and mindfulness gaps. The review reveals that invisible or delayed payments attenuate the psychological discomfort of spending, fostering compulsive tendencies. Emotional and design-based stimuli amplify this vulnerability by targeting cognitive shortcuts and affective biases. The study highlights the growing ethical responsibility of fintech designers and marketers to introduce reflective “ethical frictions” that restore user agency. Future research should adopt cross-cultural and longitudinal methodologies to examine how artificial intelligence, gamification, and digital nudges influence the evolving landscape of digital impulsivity.

Recent clinical trial data suggests that ratings on depression scales are lowered after psilocybin therapy compared to placebo, though it is unclear what neuropsychological mechanisms underpin these effects. This study compared psilocybin, with an established antidepressant, escitalopram, to investigate whether there are shared or distinct effects on emotional information processing. Patients with long-standing moderate-to-severe depression were randomly and double-blindly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either 1) two doses of 25 mg of psilocybin, 3-weeks apart, plus 6-weeks of daily placebo (psilocybin group N = 30); or 2) two doses of 1 mg of psilocybin 3-weeks apart plus 6-weeks of daily oral escitalopram (escitalopram group N = 29); all patients received the same psychological support. Behavioural measures of affective bias as well as subjective measures of depression were collected at baseline and at the primary 6-week endpoint, using an established computerised task (Facial Emotion Recognition Task) and Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, respectively. Change in affective bias was further correlated with change in depression scores measured concurrently as well as at 1-month post-trial follow-up (week-10), corrected for baseline depression severity. Negative bias in facial expression recognition decreased after both treatments to a comparable level. Concurrently, change in negative affective bias was not associated with change in depression. Longitudinally, a decrease in the misclassification of positive faces as negative was associated with a decrease in depression scores at week-10 for the escitalopram group only. Therefore, a more positive behavioural bias in emotional processing was seen following psilocybin and citalopram compared to baseline. This highlights the potential for at least some overlap in cognitive mechanisms across two distinct treatments, which is noteworthy given the short dosing regimen with psilocybin.

Several studies have demonstrated that potent sociocognitive factors, particularly perceived race, strongly influence empathy leading to altered social interactions, especially in clinical settings. This systematic review aimed to clarify how racial bias influences brain responses to others' pain. For this review, 17 eligible studies included based a systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science for this review. All included studies utilized event-related potentials to investigate the neural correlates of empathy for pain in visual empathy judgment tasks. Early event-related potential (ERP) components, such as P1 and N170, reflect initial processing biases in racial pain judgment. The P2 component highlights automatic emotional biases, evidenced by enhanced neural responses to same-race suffering. Finally, the flexible P3 component indicates higher-level cognitive appraisal and controlled processing, influenced by individual beliefs and social context. These ERP findings are consistent with neurocognitive models that involve brain networks involved in salience recognition (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, insula) and top-down regulation (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and are aligned with theoretical frameworks, such as predictive coding theory and dual-process theories. Reviewed ERP evidence provides a precise neurocognitive time course of how racial bias shapes empathic pain processing. Distinct ERP components reveal a progression from rapid perception (e.g., P1, N170) to automatic affective bias (P2) and later cognitive appraisal (P3). These findings underscore empathy as a dynamic and flexible process, amenable to targeted interventions. This neurophysiological insight establishes a promising foundation for developing strategies to motivate prosocial behavior, challenge discrimination, and advance equity.

Background:Depressive (DD) and bipolar (BD) disorders are characterized by biases in anticipating and encoding emotional information. Depressive traits are linked to negative affective biases, while hypomanic features are associated with heightened responsiveness to positive stimuli. The vividness of visual imagery may further modulate these biases. This study examined how lifetime dimensional symptoms of depression and hypomania across diagnoses interact with imagery vividness to modulate brain activation during anticipation and encoding of happy and sad faces.Methods:A total of 155 individuals aged 18–45 years with BD, DD, or healthy control (HC) status completed a cued emotional face-encoding task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Lifetime dimensional symptoms of depression and hypomania were assessed using the MOODS-SR, and imagery vividness was measured with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). Interaction effects between spectrum depression/hypomania and imagery vividness on brain activation during anticipation and encoding of happy versus sad faces were analyzed using the Sandwich Estimator approach in FSL.Results:Higher spectrum hypomania scores were associated with greater imagery vividness and increased activation for happy versus sad faces in the occipital pole, cuneus, intracalcarine, and lateral occipital cortices during encoding. However, there was reduced activation for happy versus sad faces in the precentral gyrus during anticipation. Depressive symptoms interacted with imagery vividness within the default mode network: more severe spectrum depression and lower vividness were associated with greater activation for happy versus sad faces in the frontopolar cortex during anticipation, but with reduced activation in the angular gyrus during encoding.Conclusion:Lifetime depressive and hypomanic spectrum symptoms across diagnoses differentially interact with visual imagery to influence anticipation and encoding of emotional faces. Depressive biases were observed in frontopolar–parietal regions, while hypomanic biases appeared in occipital cortices. These findings highlight the value of dimensional approaches to mood psychopathology and identify imagery vividness as a promising transdiagnostic target for intervention.

Memory of affective responses to physical activity (study 1) and a pilot intervention to reduce negative memory bias (study 2) in adults with overweight or obesity.

Age differences in the effects of task difficulty and outcome on affective forecasting bias