Effects Of Emotional Arousal Research Articles

The effects of emotional arousal on pupil size depend on luminance

Pupillometry is widely used to measure arousal states. The primary functional role of the pupil, however, is to respond to the luminance of visual inputs. We previously demonstrated that cognitive effort-related arousal interacted multiplicatively with luminance, with the strongest pupillary effects of arousal occurring at low-to-mid luminances (< 37 cd/m2), implying a narrow range of conditions ideal for assessing cognitive arousal-driven pupillary differences. Does this generalize to other forms of arousal? To answer this, we assessed luminance-driven pupillary response functions while manipulating emotional arousal, using well-established visual and auditory stimulus sets. At the group level, emotional arousal interacted with the pupillary light response differently from cognitive arousal: the effects occurred primarily at much lower luminances (< 20 cd/m2). Analyses at the individual-participant level revealed qualitatively distinct patterns of modulation, with a sizable number of individuals displaying no arousal response to the visual or auditory stimuli, regardless of luminance. Together, our results suggest that effects of arousal on pupil size are not monolithic: different forms of arousal exert different patterns of effects. More practically, our findings suggest that lower luminances create better conditions for measuring pupil-linked arousal, and when selecting ambient luminance levels, consideration of the arousal manipulation and individual differences is critical.

Judging emotion in natural images of crowds.

It has been suggested that humans use summary statistics such as the average of the emotion of individual faces when they rapidly judge group emotion. Previous studies have mainly used faces of actors posing basic emotions, and morphed versions of these faces, against a plain background. In the present study, photographs taken in real-world settings were used to investigate the influence of mean facial emotion, maximal facial emotion, and background context on judgments of group emotion, assessed using dimensional ratings of valence, arousal, and dominance. Background context explained a significant amount of unique variance in group ratings for each dimension. Mean emotion explained additional unique variance for valence ratings, whereas maximal emotion explained additional unique variance for arousal, with dominance showing more mixed results. Removing background context and disrupting the contextual and spatial relationship between faces by randomly replacing faces with ones from other images within the stimulus set increased reliance on mean emotion. However, under all conditions, the maximally arousing face continued to exert an influence on ratings of group arousal, in line with theoretical accounts arguing for a unique bottom-up effect of emotional arousal on attentional competition and postattentive perceptual processing. Together these findings suggest that individuals' reliance on average emotion when judging crowd scenes differs as a function of the dimension of affect. In addition, the presence of background context both directly impacts judgments of crowd emotion and modulates the relative influence of maximal versus mean emotion on these judgments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Are vaccination uptake and non-uptake influenced by our emotions? An experimental study on the role of emotional processes and compassion

Objective This study examined the effects of emotional arousal, emotional competence, emotion regulation (ER), and compassion on COVID-19 and flu vaccination intentions (VI) among the French population. Design Data were collected online from October to December 2020. Altogether, 451 participants (Mage = 35.8, SD = 16.4) were allocated to four groups. High positive (n = 104) or negative (n = 103) emotional arousal were induced into two groups using pictures and music, and compared against a control group (flu group; n = 116) and a reference group (COVID-19 group; n = 114). All groups completed questionnaires on emotional arousal, ER, emotional competence, compassion, and VI. Results The findings indicated a significant effect of group on VI, h2 =.023, 95% CI [–.002, .09]. The Group*Gender interaction on emotional arousal was non-significant, η p 2 =.015, 95%CI [.000, .041]. However, emotional arousal was observed to have a significant main effect on VI, η p 2 =.09, 95% CI [.043, .238]. The ER type*Emotional arousal*Gender interaction on ER use was trend, η p 2 = .002, 95% CI [.000, .005]. The emotional competence*ER type interaction on ER use was significant, η p 2 = .028, 95% CI [.011, .049]. Only experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between emotional arousal and VI, p < .018, 95% CI [.015, .18]. Conclusion Emotional arousal impacts VI. High emotional competence only reduces the use of dysfunctional ER strategies.

The Mediating Role of Emotional Arousal and Donation Anxiety on Blood Donation Intentions: Expanding on the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Blood donation is essential in health-care systems worldwide, dealing with the demand for transfusions, and for the treatment of a variety of medical conditions. A major obstacle is raising the rate of blood donations by recruiting and retaining donors in an efficient manner. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of blood donation, utilizing an enhanced framework based on the theory of planned behavior with an emphasis on emotional arousal (positive and negative), attitudes towards advertisements, and blood donation anxiety, revealing critical psychological and communicative determinants of blood donation intention. To achieve this, a quantitative non-experimental correlational technique was employed to collect data from 414 individuals using an online questionnaire circulated across Greek society. The data were analyzed using structural equation modelling, with a focus on the direct impacts on donation intentions and the role of emotional arousal as a mediator. The findings indicate that attitudes and anxiety have strong direct impacts on the behavioral intention to donate, underlining the important barriers generated by donation anxieties as well as the efficacy of positive attitudes and successful advertising. Furthermore, the study demonstrates emotional arousal as a partial mediator, implying that both cognitive assessments and emotional responses play a role in influencing donation intentions. This study takes on a new approach to give emphasis and provide evidence of the mediating effect of emotional arousal on donation intention, utilizing structural equation modeling. Despite the critical role of marketing as a primary source of blood donors, the implementation of emotional marketing techniques has been one aspect less addressed throughout marketing professionals and communication efforts. Our results demonstrate the significance of emotional arousal on blood donation intentions, thus suggesting a more emotionally resonant approach of attracting potential donors.

Examining the effects of negative emotion and interviewing procedure on eyewitness recall

AbstractWitnessing or experiencing a crime can be emotionally distressing and this emotional reaction can affect the formation and retrieval of event‐related memory. Extant eyewitness research, however, has generated inconsistent conclusions regarding the effects of emotional arousal on eyewitness memory. In the present experiment, we used a mock witness paradigm to attempt to remedy several methodological limitations that have persisted in the literature and shed light on the effects of emotional memory within an investigative interviewing context. Participants (N = 132) viewed either a Negative or Neutral video and either immediately or one week later provided their account of the video in a virtual interview procedure, consisting of either cognitive interview‐ based instructions or a free recall. Negative emotion was associated with selectively enhanced recall for the central aspects of the video. Participants who viewed the Negative video reported more details that were central to the target video than did those who viewed the Neutral video. The present findings highlight the potential for negative emotional events to lead to focally enhanced recall performance.

Under My Skin: Reducing Bias in STEM through New Approaches to Assessment of Spatial Abilities Considering the Role of Emotional Regulation

Reducing gender bias in STEM is key to generating more equality and contributing to a more balanced workforce in this field. Spatial ability and its components are cognitive processes crucial to success in STEM education and careers. Significant gender differences have consistently been found in mental rotation (MR), the ability to mentally transform two- and three-dimensional objects. The aim of this pilot study is to examine factors in psychological assessment which may contribute to gender differences in MR performance. Moreover, findings will inform the development of the new approaches to assessment using computer adaptive testing (CAT). (1) Background: The study examines the impact of emotional regulation on MR performance in primary school children whose mean age was 9.28 years old. (2) Methods: Skin conductance was measured to assess the impact of emotional reactivity (ER) on performance during an MR task. (3) Results: Patterns of ER influence response time (RT) on specific items in the task. (4) Conclusions: Identifying the effects of emotional arousal and issues of test construction such as stereotyped stimuli and item difficulty in tests of spatial ability warrants ongoing investigation. It is vital to ensure that these factors do not compromise the accurate measurement of performance and inadvertently contribute to the gender gap in STEM.

Enhancing Multimedia Learning by Emotional Arousal

Several studies in multimedia learning have examined the effect of emotional design. Recent findings from cognitive psychology provide opportunities for educators to use more direct ways of manipulating emotion to enhance learning. These studies have shown that emotionally arousing words and pictures are remembered better than neutral ones. Building upon these findings, this experimental study investigates the effect of arousal of instructional materials on learning. A total of 154 participants were randomly divided into a “high-emotional arousal” and a “low-emotional arousal” group in a between-subjects design. These results suggest that emotional arousal enhanced learning. Mediation analyses show that the effect of arousal on learning was partially mediated by interest. Accordingly, emotional arousal increased interest, which in turn improved transfer scores. The findings imply that motivational factors such as situational interest encouraged elaborative processing and deeper levels of learning. The direct effect of emotional arousal on learning was also significant.

The role of emotion and reflection in the development of student teachers' self-efficacy when analyzing video lessons.

Teachers' self-efficacy is an important indicator of student teachers' preparedness for teaching. Interventions using video lessons are effective in increasing student teachers' self-efficacy. However, there is a lack of research on emotional and reflective processes in the context of video-based interventions. The present study examined emotions and reflection as well as their effects on changes in self-efficacy in a video-based intervention. A total of 159 student teachers participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to three groups: Two groups analyzed video lessons in which group roup one received open-ended observation tasks (ig1) and group two received structured observation tasks (ig2). Participants in the control group (cg) analyzed text-based case studies with open-ended observation tasks. The results show that self-efficacy increased with medium effect size (d = 0.68) in video group two (ig2), whose members analyzed videos using structured observation tasks but not in video group one (ig1), whose members analyzed open-ended observation tasks, and in the control group. In addition, there were significant relations between positive arousal and reflection. Finally, regression analyses showed that reflection was a significant predictor for changes in self-efficacy, whereas no significant effect of emotional arousal was detected. In conclusion, the findings of this study indicate that video-based interventions with structured observation tasks increased self-efficacy among student teachers. Furthermore, the findings provide novel evidence on the association between reflection, self-efficacy and emotion in video-based interventions in teacher education.

Attention mediates the effect of emotional arousal on learning outcomes in multimedia learning: an eye-tracking study

Recent findings from psychological studies have shown that emotional arousal improves human memory. However, more evidence is necessary if these results are generalisable to multimedia learning environments. Considering these needs, the study has the goal to examine the effect of emotional arousal on multimedia learning. Fifty-seven participants were presented with instructional materials with either high- or low-arousing words and pictures in an experimental study. The eye movements of participants were recorded while they studied the instructional materials to examine the online processes during learning. The results suggest that emotional arousal enhanced recall and transfer scores. The eye-tracking results demonstrate that emotional arousal attracted attention. The results of the mediation analysis suggest that fixation time on emotional pictures as an indicator of attention mediated the relationship between emotional arousal and learning outcomes. The findings show the importance of the guidance of attention by emotional multimedia elements for learning.

Independent effects of emotional arousal and reward anticipation on episodic memory formation.

Events that elicit emotional arousal or are associated with reward are more likely remembered. Emotional arousal activates the amygdala and the central noradrenergic system, whereas reward anticipation results in an activity in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system. The activation of both pathways enhances memory formation in the hippocampus where their effects are based on similar neural substrates, e.g. tagging of active hippocampal synapses. Moreover, emotional arousal and reward anticipation both enhance attention, which can also affect memory formation. In addition, both neuromodulators interact on the cellular level. Therefore, we tested in the current functional magnetic resonance imaging study whether simultaneously occurring emotional arousal and reward anticipation might have interacting effects on memory formation. We did not find evidence for such an interaction, neither on the behavioral nor on the neural level. Our results further suggest that reward anticipation enhances memory formation rather by an increase in anticipation-related arousal-reflected in activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex-and not dopaminergic midbrain activity. Accompanying behavioral experiments indicated that the effect of reward anticipation on memory is (i) caused at least to some extent by anticipating the speeded response to obtain the reward and not by the valance of the outcome and (ii) can be observed already immediately after encoding, i.e. before consolidation.

Human cerebellum and corticocerebellar connections involved in emotional memory enhancement

Emotional information is better remembered than neutral information. Extensive evidence indicates that the amygdala and its interactions with other cerebral regions play an important role in the memory-enhancing effect of emotional arousal. While the cerebellum has been found to be involved in fear conditioning, its role in emotional enhancement of episodic memory is less clear. To address this issue, we used a whole-brain functional MRI approach in 1,418 healthy participants. First, we identified clusters significantly activated during enhanced memory encoding of negative and positive emotional pictures. In addition to the well-known emotional memory-related cerebral regions, we identified a cluster in the cerebellum. We then used dynamic causal modeling and identified several cerebellar connections with increased connection strength corresponding to enhanced emotional memory, including one to a cluster covering the amygdala and hippocampus, and bidirectional connections with a cluster covering the anterior cingulate cortex. The present findings indicate that the cerebellum is an integral part of a network involved in emotional enhancement of episodic memory.

Do the Emotions Evoked by Interface Design Factors Affect the User’s Intention to Continue Using the Smartwatch? The Mediating Role of Quality Perceptions

Based on the S-O-R model as the overall theoretical framework, this study combined objective factors in interface design with subjective perceptions, and investigated whether the emotions evoked by interface design factors would affect user’s intention to continue using the smartwatch through two stages. The first stage, we used two-way ANOVA to analyze whether symmetry and complexity in interface design have different effects on user’s emotions. The findings found that asymmetrical interface designs tend to be more likely to evoke emotional arousal, whereas symmetrical interface designs are more likely to evoke emotional valence. Moreover, complex interface designs are more likely to evoke emotional arousal and valence than simple interface designs. The second stage, the bootstrapping method was adopted to examine the mediating effect of quality perceptions, and to explore the influence of emotions evoked by interface design factors on the user’s intention to continue using smartwatch. The results found that users’ hedonic and pragmatic qualities fully mediate the effect of emotional arousal and valence on continuous usage intention of the smartwatch. Moreover, it is important to address the relationship between users and products through emotions and quality perceptions evoked by interface design factors to increase user experience and enjoyment. Furthermore, it is suggested to design and manufacture products with strong emotional attachment, which is also one of the effective methods to solve some environmental issues caused by consumer electronics.

Examining the effects of negative emotion and interviewing procedure on eyewitness recall

AbstractWitnessing or experiencing a crime can be emotionally distressing and this emotional reaction can affect the formation and retrieval of event‐related memory. Extant eyewitness research, however, has generated inconsistent conclusions regarding the effects of emotional arousal on eyewitness memory. In the planned study, we will use a mock witness paradigm to attempt to remedy several methodological limitations that have persisted in the literature and shed light on the effects of emotional memory within an investigative interviewing context. Participants will view either a negative or neutral video and either immediately or 1 week later provide their account of the video in a virtual interview procedure, consisting of either cognitive interview‐based instructions or a free recall. We will test the main effects of emotional arousal, interview procedure, and delay as well as their interactions. The present research will help clarify the nature of emotional memory in forensic contexts.

Neural systems and the emotion-memory link

The present brief review for this Special Issue summarizes some of the original research on the emotional modulation of memory. The review begins by highlighting the pioneering research from James L. McGaugh and colleagues demonstrating modulatory effects of post-training drug administration on memory consolidation, in particular the stress hormone epinephrine. The subsequent discovery of a critical role for the basolateral amygdala in emotional modulation of memory is described. Within the context of a multiple systems approach to memory focusing on selective roles for the hippocampus and dorsolateral striatum in cognitive and habit memory, the original studies indicating that robust emotional arousal can bias animals and humans toward the predominant use of habit memory are reviewed. This effect of emotional arousal on the relative use of multiple memory systems depends on a modulatory role of the basolateral amygdala. Finally, we briefly consider how an emotion-induced enhancement of dorsolateral striatal-dependent memory may be relevant to understanding maladaptive habitual behaviors in certain human psychopathologies.

Emotional arousal impairs association memory: roles of prefrontal cortex regions.

The brain processes underlying impairing effects of emotional arousal on associative memory were previously attributed to two dissociable routes using high-resolution fMRI of the MTL (Madan et al. 2017). Extrahippocampal MTL regions supporting associative encoding of neutral pairs suggested unitization; conversely, associative encoding of negative pairs involved compensatory hippocampal activity. Here, whole-brain fMRI revealed prefrontal contributions: dmPFC was more involved in hippocampal-dependent negative pair learning and vmPFC in extrahippocampal neutral pair learning. Successful encoding of emotional memory associations may require emotion regulation/conflict resolution (dmPFC), while neutral memory associations may be accomplished by anchoring new information to prior knowledge (vmPFC).

Tourism Marketing Stimulus Characteristics: A Self-Validation Analysis of Iran

Prior self-validation hypothesis studies suggest that an individual’s attitude toward advertising is affected by the cognitive processing of the message and the valence of emotion. Yet, the effect of emotional arousal and stimulus credibility on attitudes toward a destination has not been discerned. This study employs the self-validation hypothesis to investigate the effect of the three dimensions of thinking on attitudes toward Iran. Participants (N = 416) were randomly assigned to a two (high vs. low arousal) × two (high vs. low source credibility) experiment. The partial least squares multigroup analysis results indicated that the emotionally arousing stimulus led to a greater influence of the amount and confidence of thought on attitudes. The effect of the amount of thought on attitude was greater in response to a credible stimulus. This research advances knowledge by revealing that emotional arousal has a significant positive impact on three dimensions of thinking and positive attitudes.

Emotional arousal influences remembrance of goal-relevant stimuli.

Emotional stimuli rarely occur in isolation; instead, they often cluster with nearby neutral items in time and space. Research suggests that emotional arousal at encoding strengthens memory retention for temporally adjacent goal-relevant neutral stimuli. It is an open question whether these emotion-induced enhancement effects are the same for spatially adjacent stimuli. The present study examined how emotional arousal influenced memory of temporally or spatially adjacent goal-relevant neutral items. In Experiment 1, two stimuli were presented consecutively as a temporally adjacent pair during the study phase, with a neutral-test stimulus paired with either a negative or neutral bystander stimulus. Participants were instructed to attend to the neutral-test stimulus in the goal-relevant condition and to the bystander stimulus in the goal-irrelevant condition. The method for Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that the two stimuli were presented simultaneously during the study, so that they were spatially rather than temporally adjacent. Memory performance was measured for neutral-test items using a recognition test with a remember-know paradigm. Emotional arousal at encoding enhanced the remembrance of temporally adjacent goal-relevant neutral stimuli but impaired the remembrance of spatially adjacent goal-relevant neutral stimuli. Using a similar procedure, Experiment 3 collected behavioral data from two samples for temporally and spatially adjacent conditions and replicated the results of Experiments 1 and 2. The effects of emotional arousal on remembrance of goal-relevant neutral items double dissociated for temporally and spatially adjacent conditions support that arousal-biased competition amplifies the effects of goal relevance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of emotionally-arousing ad appeals on memory: time and fit matter

This research studies the effect of emotional arousal communicated in ad appeals on consumers’ memory of the ad. Isolating and studying the level of arousal – one dimension of affect communicated in the ad, as opposed to valence – we examine the moderating roles of two factors: retention time (i.e., immediate vs. delayed memory) and the fit between ad-arousal and the ad claim. The results of three experiments show that ad-arousal inhibits immediate memory but enhances delayed memory. These effects, however, occur only when the level of arousal communicated in the ad fits the ad claim; whereas when the level of arousal does not fit the claim, ad-arousal does not influence memory. Insights from this research shed light on the boundary conditions of the effect of ad emotional arousal on memory, contributing to the development of an integrative theory on such effects, which can serve as a guide to advertisers in developing effective message strategies in different circumstances.

Optimistic vs. pessimistic endings in climate change appeals

The use of emotion in climate change appeals is a hotly debated topic. Warning about the perils of imminent mass extinction, climate change communicators are often accused of being unnecessarily ‘doomsday’ in their attempts to foster a sense of urgency and action among the public. Pessimistic messaging, the thinking goes, undermines engagement efforts, straining credulity and fostering a sense of helplessness, rather than concern. Widespread calls for more optimistic climate change messaging punctuate public discourse. This research puts these claims to the test, investigating how affective endings (optimistic vs. pessimistic vs. fatalistic) of climate change appeals impact individual risk perception and outcome efficacy (i.e., the sense that one’s behavior matters). The findings of three online experiments presented in this paper suggest that climate change appeals with pessimistic affective endings increase risk perception (Studies 1 and 2) and outcome efficacy (Study 3), which is the result of heightened emotional arousal (Studies 1–3). Moreover, the results indicate that the mediating effect of emotional arousal is more prevalent among political moderates and conservatives, as well as those who hold either individualistic or hierarchical world views. Given that these audiences generally exhibit lower risk perception and outcome efficacy in relation to climate change, the results suggest that climate change appeals with pessimistic endings could trigger higher engagement with the issue than optimistic endings. These findings are interpreted in light of recent research findings, which suggest that differences in threat-reactivity and emotional arousal may be attributable to brain functions/anatomy mappable to basic motivations for safety and survival. Implications for scholars and practitioners are discussed.

Noradrenergic enhancement of object recognition and object location memory in mice

Extensive evidence indicates that noradrenergic activation is essentially involved in mediating the enhancing effects of emotional arousal on memory consolidation. Our current understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the memory-modulatory effects of the noradrenergic system is primarily based on pharmacological studies in rats, employing targeted administration of noradrenergic drugs into specific brain regions. However, the further delineation of the specific neural circuitry involved would benefit from experimental tools that are currently more readily available in mice. Previous studies have not, as yet, investigated the effect of noradrenergic enhancement of memory in mice, which show different cognitive abilities and higher endogenous arousal levels induced by a training experience compared to rats. In the present study, we investigated the effect of posttraining noradrenergic activation in male C57BL/6J mice on the consolidation of object recognition and object location memory. We found that the noradrenergic stimulant yohimbine (0.3 or 1.0 mg/kg) administered systemically immediately after an object training experience dose-dependently enhanced 24-h memory of both the identity and location of the object. Thus, these findings indicate that noradrenergic activation also enhances memory consolidation processes in mice, paving the way for a systematic investigation of the neural circuitry underlying these emotional arousal effects on memory. LAY SUMMARY: The current study successfully validated the effect of noradrenergic activation on both object recognition and object location memory in mice. This study thereby provides a fundamental proof-of-principle for the investigation of the neural circuitry underlying noradrenergic and arousal effects on long-term memory in mice.