Self-report Measures Of Affect Research Articles

The Acute Effects of Cognitively Demanding Physical Activity on Inhibitory and Affective Responses in Children: An Online-Based Mixed Methods Approach.

This online study investigated the acute effects of a cognitively demanding physical activity (CDPA) vs a simple physical activity (SPA) bout on children’s inhibitory and affective responses. Using a counterbalanced within-subjects’ crossover design, thirty-nine participants aged 9−12 years old (29 boys; Mage = 11 ± 1 years) performed a CDPA and a SPA bout online (via ZOOM) for 15 min. Inhibition (Stroop test) was measured at the baseline, 1 and 30 min following the physical activity (PA) bouts, and self-report measures of affect, mental and physical exertion were taken prior, during and post-PA. Additionally, 31 children took part in semi-structured focus groups to explore the factors affecting their enjoyment. The quantitative results suggest no significant differences on inhibitory responses, affect and physical exertion (all p > 0.05). However, the CDPA induced more mental exertion than the SPA did (p < 0.05). In the focus groups, four themes were identified: physical exertion (e.g., tiredness), social (e.g., teams/groups), environment (e.g., outdoors and competition) and emotional (e.g., fun/enjoyment). Some children (n = 18) reported that the CDPA condition confused them, and to make these activities more interesting and enjoyable, they suggested performing the activities outdoors (n = 15) and including other children as part of a group/team (n = 19). The findings suggest no additional benefit of a cognitively enriched physical activity compared to an SPA bout on the inhibitory responses, affect and enjoyment. Using the instructions provided and given the low cost, the easy administration and the minimal amount of equipment and time involved, either of the approaches may be used in a diversity of contexts (i.e., online, schools or outdoors), and it is worth exploring the effects of these conditions on other aspects of executive function.

An experimental test of the effects of acute sleep deprivation on affect and avoidance

Background and objectivesAvoidance and sleep have been identified as mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of many mental health disorders. However, there has been little research into the relation between sleep and avoidance. MethodsTo address this, a randomized controlled experiment using behavioral and self-report measures of affect and avoidance was conducted. Compared to a control group, we hypothesized that sleep-deprived individuals would demonstrate increased negative, and decreased positive, affectivity, more avoidance behavior toward a negatively valenced stimulus, as well as increased self-reported avoidance. Fifty-two healthy individuals ages 18–30 years old were randomly assigned to a full night of sleep deprivation or normal sleep. They completed a baseline and post-manipulation behavioral avoidance task (BAT) using a disgusting stimulus and self-reports of avoidance and state affect. ResultsRepeated measures ANOVAs demonstrated negative affectivity and self-reported avoidance increased, and positive affectivity decreased, from pre-to post-manipulation in the sleep loss condition as expected. However, there were no effects of sleep deprivation on avoidance behaviors. LimitationsThis study emphasized internal validity over generalizability. Additionally, the at-home sleep deprivation limited researcher control over the overnight activities of participants. ConclusionsResults replicate prior work on the affective consequences of sleep deprivation and highlight a discrepancy between the effect of sleep deprivation on behavioral avoidance toward a specific stimulus compared to self-reported cognitive and social avoidance behaviors.

Validation of the Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences (CHIME) in Portuguese Children.

ObjectivesDespite the increasing interest in mindfulness, there are few multifaceted mindfulness measures for children, mainly in Portuguese. Thus, this study developed the Portuguese version of the Comprehensive Inventory of Mindfulness Experiences (CHIME). Because this scale was initially created for adolescents, we also aimed to adapt it to children.MethodsAfter translating the original CHIME to Portuguese and adapting the wording for children, the instrument was administered to 223 9–10-year-olds, along with self-report measures of affect and quality of life, teacher-rated measures of inhibition, inattention, and emotional lability, and a performance-based attentional measure. We examined CHIME’s factorial validity, inspected facets’ reliability, and tested convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses (CFA) supported a 7-factor structure of the scale, after removing the accepting and non-judgmental attitude facet. Factor loadings (> .34) and reliability indices (> .54) were acceptable, though the average variance extracted was less than desirable. Correlations with external correlates provided support to CHIME’s convergent and divergent validity (rs range .13–.55, ps < .05). Finally, evidence of predictive validity was found with a regression analysis showing that external awareness (b = − .16) and openness to experience (b = − .17) predicted academic achievement.ConclusionsThis study provided preliminary validity and reliability evidence on the Portuguese CHIME. This instrument can provide relevant insights about the mindfulness facets and offer useful indications for the development of evidence-based interventions in childhood.

Effects of cigarette abstinence on negative and positive affect by depression symptom levels: A lab study

BackgroundHigh negative affect and low positive affect are key depression-related states that may be greater following acute tobacco abstinence. This study aimed to test associations between depression symptom levels and acute tobacco abstinence with negative affect and positive affect. MethodsFollowing a baseline session, participants attended two counterbalanced laboratory sessions (non-abstinent, abstinent) and completed measures of positive and negative affect at rest (i.e., when not completing a task) and during a film clip task. ResultsIndividuals with elevated depression symptoms had higher negative affect and lower positive affect at rest and during the film clip task compared to individuals with low depression symptoms. There was no interaction of depression symptom levels and abstinence on negative and positive affect at rest. There was an interaction of depression symptom level and abstinence on negative and positive affect during the film clip task. Individuals with elevated depression showed significant differences in positive and negative affect between the abstinent and non-abstinent session, but no significant abstinence effects were noted in individuals with low depression symptoms. LimitationsThe study included a non-treatment seeking sample and experimentally induced acute cigarette abstinence. We excluded for the use of smoking cessation medications that are also used to treat depression, classified depression levels using dichotomized CES-D scores, and used self-report measures of affect. ConclusionsResults of this study suggest individuals with elevated depression symptoms who smoke experience elevated negative affect and lower positive affect and cigarette abstinence may uniquely alter affective reactivity in individuals with elevated depression symptoms.

Audio Described vs. Audiovisual Porn: Cortisol, Heart Rate and Engagement in Visually Impaired vs. Sighted Participants.

Audio description remains the cornerstone of accessibility for visually impaired audiences to all sorts of audiovisual content, including porn. Existing work points to the efficacy of audio description to guarantee immersion and emotional engagement, but evidence on its role in sexual arousal and engagement in porn is still scant. The present study takes on this challenge by comparing sighted and visually impaired participants’ experiences with porn in terms of their physiological response [i.e., cortisol and heart rate (HR)] and self-report measures of affect [Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS); Watson et al., 1988], anxiety [State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI); Spielberger et al., 1970], sexual reactivity and arousal [Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scale (SIS/SES); Moyano and Sierra (2014); and the Ratings of Sexual Arousal (RSA); Mosher (2011)], and narrative engagement or transportation [The Transport Narrative Questionnaire, Green and Brock (2013)]. 69 Spanish participants were allocated into three different groups: 25 sighted participants who watched and heard the porn scenes in their audio-visual version (AV); 22 sighted participants who listened to the audio described version without images (AD); and 22 visually impaired participants who also listened to the audio described version without images (ONCE). Overall, results on physiological and self-report measures revealed no significant differences between groups or different versions of the clips. The analysis of cortisol reactivity to porn as the maximum increase or decrease in cortisol (t+12) with respect to baseline values (t−20) revealed no significant differences between the groups, but pointed to a higher percentage of non-responders than responders in the three groups, the highest being found in the ONCE group. As for participants’ cardiac response to the clips, no significant differences were found across the groups, with the highest HR levels being registered in the baseline phase. Self-report measures revealed significant between-group differences in negative affect. The ONCE group displayed the highest pre-task levels of negative affect and was the only group that showed a decrease in negative affect after exposure to the clips. Sighted and visually impaired participants reported to be moderately aroused and immersed in the films, regardless of exposure to AV or AD porn. In addition, correlations found between participants’ levels of self-report sexual arousal and transportation and post-task affect pointed to a positive relationship between exposure to porn and perceived levels of sexual arousal and affect. Results from the study reflected the efficacy of audio description in providing sighted and visually impaired audiences with a similar experience to that offered by original AV porn scenes. This study is exploratory but provides valid, initial groundwork for further research on the impact of audio description on porn reception.

A transdiagnostic examination of anxiety and stress on executive function outcomes in disorders with social impairment

BackgroundExecutive function (EF) difficulties characterise a number of psychiatric conditions and EF impairment may be a predisposing factor and/or consequence of anxiety and stress. The aim of the study was to examine EF factors in a mixed clinical cohort (Autism Spectrum Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder) characterised by social impairment and investigate the influence of trait anxiety and state-based depression, anxiety and stress. MethodsIn Study 1, a factor analysis identified EF and non-EF latent factor structures (N=205). In Study 2, (N=137) multiple regression analyses investigated the association between trait anxiety and state based depression, anxiety and stress, on EF and non-EF cognitive domains and on the two composite indices of the Behavioural Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). ResultsTrait anxiety was associated with better performance on neuropsychological measures of EF while state-based stress was associated with lower EF performance. A dissociation was observed between trait anxiety and state stress on the two behavioural indices of the BRIEF. Depression, anxiety and stress did not predict performance on non-EF cognitive domains. LimitationsThe cross-sectional design precludes cause-effect conclusions, further only self-report measures of affect were utilised and our performance measures of EF did not include a working memory test. ConclusionsThe results demonstrate that trait anxiety and state-based stress influence EF processes across disorders with social impairment. The transdiagnostic efficacy of this finding can facilitate remediation strategies, it may also contribute to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder gaining better access to mental health services.

0250 The Day-to-Day Associations Between Sleep Characteristics, Affect, and Affect Reactivity

Abstract Introduction Despite the high co-occurrence of sleep and mood disturbances, day-to-day associations between sleep characteristics (sleep duration, continuity, timing) and dimensions of mood (positive affect, PA, and negative affect, NA) remain unclear. Few field studies have tested whether sleep changes may affect mood by altering people’s emotional response to daily experiences outside the laboratory. The current study aimed to examine how sleep characteristics influence affective states and a measure of emotional response to daily experiences—affect reactivity. Methods Participants were healthy, midlife adults (30–54 yrs old, N =462, 47% male) drawn from the Adult Health and Behavior Project- Phase 2 study. Sleep was measured with actigraphy across a 4-day monitoring period; hourly self-report measures of affect, work demand, and social interactions were collected via ecological momentary assessment. Affect reactivity was quantified as hour-to-hour changes in affect following these daily experiences. We used hierarchical linear modeling to examine whether sleep characteristics on a given night predicted average daily affect and moderated affect reactivity the following day. Results When participants slept later than their average sleep time on a given night, they reported greater NA the following morning (before 12pm) and afternoon (12-6pm; B’s =.03, p’s&amp;lt;.05). When participants slept longer than their average sleep duration, they subsequently reported greater NA throughout the following day (B’s =.02, p’s&amp;lt;.05). Sleep efficiency was unrelated to affect report (p’s &amp;gt;.05). While episodes of greater work demand and social conflict predicted lower PA and higher NA (p’s&amp;lt;.05), participants’ sleep characteristics did not moderate these associations (p’s&amp;gt;.05). Conclusion Overall, our findings suggest proximal associations between sleep characteristics and next-day mood. While previous studies have shown effects of sleep disruptions on affect reactivity, we did not observe such associations in the context of small, day-to-day fluctuations in sleep characteristics among healthy individuals. Support National Institutes of Health Grant PO1 HL040962 (to S.B.M.).

Outcomes of collage art-based and narrative self-expression among home hospice caregivers

ABSTRACT Aims: This mixed methods quasi-experimental study examined the outcomes of a brief art therapy-based and a narrative interview-based intervention to address the psychosocial needs of home hospice caregivers. Methods: Participants (n = 14) chose to participate either in a narrative interview (n = 7) or arts-based interview (n = 7). Standardised self-report measures of affect, spiritual well-being, perceived stress, and self-efficacy and physiological markers of stress(salivary cortisol) and social/emotional connection (oxytocin levels) were collected before and after intervention sessions. Results: Qualitative findings indicated that caregivers (a) recognized their need for reducing stress and isolation; (b) experienced a learning curve related to illness and hospice care; (c) engaged in existential reflections on purpose and values; and were (d) living through progressive grief and loss. Quantitative findings indicated that the narrative condition group experienced improved spiritual well-being and negative affect. Both conditions were followed by improved positive affect. There were no statistically significant changes in salivary cortisol or oxytocin for either condition. Conclusion: The results suggest that caregivers might need longer term interventions for sustained changes. Implications for further research: Further research is needed to examine the role of narrative and visual self-expression among home hospice caregivers. Study limitations included a small non-randomised sample, lack of transcribed interview data, and incomplete survey and biomarker data. Plain-language summary This study examined the outcomes of an art therapy-based and a narrative intervention to address the mental, physical, and spiritual needs of family caregivers of patients at the end of life. Seven caregivers completed a therapeutic narrative interview in which caregivers shared their experiences, challenges, and sources of strength. Seven caregivers completed a collage art- based session in which they were invited to make a collage using a range of precut magazine collage images while sharing their experiences, challenges, and sources of strength as caregivers. Measures of stress (cortisol) and social/emotional connection (oxytocin) were collected before and after intervention sessions. Findings indicated that caregivers appreciated the opportunity for self-expression in both the narrative and the art-based conditions. Caregivers in the narrative condition group trended toward improvement in spiritual well-being and in reversing negative mood. Both conditions indicated a trend toward improved positive mood. Findings indicated that caregivers were consistently stressed and often isolated due to their roles. Four recurring themes were found within the qualitative data for caregivers in both conditions: (a) recognition and reduction of stress and isolation; (b) learning curve related to illness and hospice care; (c) existential reflections on death and living out values; and (d) living through progressive grief and loss. The preliminary quantitative findings suggest that narrative therapeutic approaches might be better suited for spiritual well-being. Caregivers in the narrative condition group demonstrated more improvement in spiritual well-being than those in the arts-based condition group. This finding may be the result of the format of the narrative condition in which caregivers reflected on existential concerns. In contrast, the structure of the art-making condition may have resulted in a focus on the present moment.

Interpersonal Stress Severity Longitudinally Predicts Adolescent Girls' Depressive Symptoms: the Moderating Role of Subjective and HPA Axis Stress Responses.

In recent decades, stress response models of adolescent depression have gained attention, but it remains unclear why only certain adolescents are vulnerable to the depressogenic effects of stress while others are not. Building on evidence that affective and physiological responses to stress moderate the impact of stress exposure on depression, the current study examined whether the interaction between severity of interpersonal stress, subjective affective reactivity, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to an acute, in-vivo psychosocial stressor prospectively predicted depressive symptoms nine months later. Hypotheses were examined with a clinically-oversampled group of 182 adolescent girls (aged 12-16) to ensure an examination of the widest possible range of risk. Self-report measures of affect and salivary cortisol samples were collected before and after an in-vivo stress task to assess affective reactivity and HPA axis reactivity, respectively. Severity of interpersonal stress between baseline and nine months was assessed using a semi-structured interview and was objectively coded for severity and content theme (i.e., interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal). Results indicate that experiences of severe interpersonally-themed stress predict elevated levels of depressive symptoms longitudinally only for adolescent girls with elevated affective reactivity to stress, and suggest that these deleterious effects of stress are most exacerbated for girls with elevated physiological responses to stress. Findings suggest that it may be critical to examine both affective and physiological stress responses when assessing risk for depression in adolescents.

A Cross-Cultural Validation of the Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT)

Abstract. Self-report measures of affect come with a number of difficulties that can be circumvented by using indirect measurement procedures. The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT) is a recently developed measure of automatic activation of representations of affective states and traits that draws on participants’ ratings of the extent to which nonsense words purportedly originating from an artificial language bear positive or negative meaning. Here we compared psychometric properties of this procedure across 10 countries and provide versions in corresponding languages (Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish). The results suggest good reliability, metric invariance, and construct validity across countries and languages. The IPANAT thus turns out as a useful tool for the indirect assessment of affect in different languages and cultures.

The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test: Validity and Relationship with Cardiovascular Stress-Responses.

Self-report, i.e., explicit, measures of affect cannot fully explain the cardiovascular (CV) responses to stressors. Measuring affect beyond self-report, i.e., using implicit measures, could add to our understanding of stress-related CV activity. The Implicit Positive and Negative Affect Test (IPANAT) was administered in two studies to test its ecological validity and relation with CV responses and self-report measures of affect. In Study 1 students (N = 34) viewed four film clips inducing anger, happiness, fear, or no emotion, and completed the IPANAT and the Positive And Negative Affect Scale at baseline and after each clip. Implicit negative affect (INA) was higher and implicit positive affect (IPA) was lower after the anger inducing clip and vice versa after the happiness inducing clip. In Study 2 students performed a stressful math task with (n = 14) or without anger harassment (n = 15) and completed the IPANAT and a Visual Analog Scale as an explicit measure afterwards. Systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were recorded throughout. SBP and DBP were higher and TPR was lower in the harassment condition during the task with a prolonged effect on SBP and DBP during recovery. As expected, explicit negative affect (ENA) was higher and explicit positive affect (EPA) lower after harassment, but ENA and EPA were not related to CV activity. Although neither INA nor IPA differed between the tasks, during both tasks higher INA was related to higher SBP, lower HRV and lower TPR and to slower recovery of DBP after both tasks. Low IPA was related to slower recovery of SBP and DBP after the tasks. Implicit affect was not related to recovery of HR, HRV, and TPR. In conclusion, the IPANAT seems to respond to film clip-induced negative and positive affect and was related to CV activity during and after stressful tasks. These findings support the theory that implicitly measured affect can add to the explanation of prolonged stress-related CV responses that influence CV health.

Negative communication in psychosis: understanding pathways to poorer patient outcomes.

High expressed emotion (EE) is a robust predictor of elevated rates of relapse and readmission in schizophrenia. However, far less is known about how high EE leads to poorer patient outcomes. This study was designed to examine links between high EE (criticism), affect, and multidimensional aspects of positive symptoms in patients with psychosis. Thirty-eight individuals with nonaffective psychosis were randomly exposed to proxy high-EE or neutral speech samples and completed self-report measures of affect and psychosis symptoms. Patients reported significant increases in anxiety, anger, and distress after exposure to the proxy high-EE speech sample as well as increases in their appraisals of psychosis symptoms: voice controllability, delusional preoccupation, and conviction. These findings offer further evidence of the potential deleterious impact of a negative interpersonal environment on patient symptoms in psychosis.

The affective experience of normative-performance and outcome goal pursuit: Physiological, observed, and self-report indicators

Research concerning different standards in performance goals – the achievement goal of demonstrating ability – has found little difference in cognition and behavior between normative (social-comparative) oriented and outcome-oriented standards. The present study tested differences in affect between performance goals with these different standards. Ninety-nine participants were randomly assigned into five goal conditions: (a) mastery; (b) normative-performance-approach; (c) outcome-approach; (d) normative-performance-avoidance; and, (e) outcome-avoidance. Multi-level analyses of physiological, observed, and self-report measures of affect indicated that pursuing the demonstration of ability along a social-comparative normative standard involved more intense and negative affect than did such pursuit along a non-social-comparative standard. This was found both in goals of approach and of avoidance valence.

Positive and negative affect, depression, and cognitive processes in the Cognition in the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (Co-STAR) Trial

ABSTRACTObjectives: This study examined the relationship between positive and negative affect, depressive symptoms, and cognitive performance. Methods: The sample consisted of 1479 non-demented, postmenopausal women (mean age = 67 years) at increased risk of breast cancer enrolled in the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project’s Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene. At each annual visit, women completed a standardized neuropsychological battery and self-report measures of affect and depression. Data from three visits were used in linear mixed models for repeated measures using likelihood ratio tests. Separate analyses were performed to relate positive/negative affect and depression to each cognitive measure. Results: Higher positive affect was associated with better letter fluency (p = .006) and category fluency (p < .0001). Higher negative affect was associated with worse global cognitive function (p < .0001), verbal memory (CVLT List B; p = .002), and spatial ability (p < .0001). Depressive symptoms were negatively associated with verbal knowledge (p = .004), figural memory (p < .0001), and verbal memory (p’s ≤ .0001). Discussion: Findings are consistent with some prior research demonstrating a link between positive affect and increased verbal fluency and between depressive symptoms and decreased memory. The most novel finding shows that negative affect is related to decreased global cognition and visuospatial ability. Overall, this research in a large, longitudinal sample supports the notion that positive affect is related to increases and negative affect to decreases in performance on distinct cognitive measures.

Anxiety Sensitivity as a Predictor of Acute Subjective Effects of Smoking

Anxiety sensitivity (i.e., AS; the degree to which one believes that anxiety and its related sensations are harmful) is a stable trait that is associated with habitual smoking. Yet, the mechanisms linking AS and smoking are unclear. A promising hypothesis is that high-AS individuals are more sensitive to the acute subjective reinforcing effects of smoking and are, therefore, more prone to tobacco dependence. This study examined trait AS as a predictor of several subjective effects of cigarette smoking. Adult non-treatment-seeking smokers (N = 87; 10+ cigarettes/day) completed a measure of AS during a baseline session. Prior to a subsequent experimental session, participants were asked to smoke normally before their appointment. At the outset of that visit, each participant smoked a single cigarette of their preferred brand in the laboratory. Self-report measures of affect and cigarette craving were completed before and after smoking, and post-cigarette subjective effect ratings were provided. AS predicted greater increases in positive affect from pre- to post-cigarette (β = .30, p = .006) as well as greater smoking satisfaction and psychological reward (β = .23 to .48, ps < .03). Each of these effects remained statistically significant after adjusting for anxiety symptom severity. AS did not predict the degree of negative affect and craving suppression or post-cigarette aversive effects. These findings suggest that positive reinforcement mechanisms may be particularly salient etiological processes that maintain smoking in high-AS individuals.

Regulation of affect in late adulthood: Effects of mild depressive symptoms

Background: Recent research has highlighted the important role of emotion dysregulation in the occurrence and maintenance of depressive symptomatology. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to test the effects of mild depressive symptoms (MDS) on older adults’ ability to regulate emotional experiences. Method: A total of 70 community dwelling older adults completed self-report measures of affect and were asked to report how often they use specific emotion regulation strategies. Results: Consistent with previous theories older adults experiencing MDS reported greater difficulties in regulating affect compared to normal controls (NCs). Conclusion: The present results provide support for previous findings demonstrating that experiencing depressive symptoms affects the ability to regulate emotional responses. Current findings are likely to be informative in terms of understanding emotion dysregulation in older adults at risk of experiencing clinical symptoms of depression.

A history of major depressive disorder and the response to stress

Background The occurrence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been linked to an increased vulnerability to stress. However, the specific behavioral and affective aspects that may underlie this vulnerability to stress have not been well studied. Methods This study examined sensitivity to a stress manipulation in 62 participants, 30 with and 32 without a previous episode of MDD. Comparisons were made between those with a history of depression and those without, randomized to either the high or low stress conditions on self-report measures of affect and behavior measures of performance. Results A significant interaction was found between depression history and level of stress on measures of self-report tension and behavioral performance on the experimental task. Specifically, those with a history of MDD in the high stress condition reported significantly more tension than other participants. Additionally, participants in the high stress condition without a history of MDD responded to uncontrollable stress by responding at a significantly higher rate on the task while those individuals with a history of MDD responded to uncontrollable stress by maintaining a relatively low level of responding. No differences in self-report depressed affect were found. Limitations The study utilized a laboratory stressor in a sample composed primarily of college students. Conclusions A history of MDD appears to be associated with an increased sensitivity to uncontrollable stress. This vulnerability may manifest itself in the subjective state of individuals (i.e., tension) or in their behavioral responses to stress.

Variations on a human universal: Individual differences in positivity offset and negativity bias

The positivity offset refers to a tendency for the positive motivational system to respond more than the negative motivation system at low levels of evaluative input. The negativity bias refers to a tendency for the negative motivational system to respond more intensely than the positive motivational system when evaluative input increases. While there is evidence that these represent general aspects of evaluative responding, individuals also vary in their level of positivity offset and negativity bias. In two studies, we explore individual differences in these features of evaluative responding to determine if they are stable across time, internally consistent, only modestly related to self-report measures of affect, and have predictive validity. We found that individuals with stronger positivity offsets formed more positive impressions of targets described by only neutral information and individuals with stronger negativity biases formed even more negative impressions of targets described by negative information.

Temporal Dynamics and Dimensional Specificity of the Affective Response to Exercise of Varying Intensity: Differing Pathways to a Common Outcome

Electroencephalographic (EEG) and self-report measures of affect were obtained from 27 participants (14 F, 13 M) before, during, and following 30 min of continuous exercise at low and high intensities to determine the respective temporal courses of affective response. Mood was measured via a visual analog mood scale (VAMS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (PANAS-PA and -NA), and EEG hemispheric asymmetry as obtained from three electrode pairs: F4-F3, F8-F7, and P4-P3. Participants reported higher VAMS and lower PANAS-NA scores during low-intensity exercise relative to baseline, and the higher scores were maintained during recovery. In contrast, they reported lower scores on the VAMS during high-intensity exercise relative to baseline that were subsequently elevated during recovery. Also, during high-intensity exercise the PANAS-NA scores were similar to baseline, but they were lower during recovery. Both the VAMS and PANAS-NA scores observed after exercise were similar regardless of intensity. Additionally, participants had higher PANAS-PA and EEG hemispheric asymmetry scores (i.e., F8-F7) during exercise at both intensities relative to baseline, then reported values similar to baseline levels on cessation of work. The magnitude of change from baseline for the PANAS-PA and EEG scores during exercise was similar regardless of exercise intensity.

Prepulse Inhibition of the Startle Reflex: Preliminary Study of the Effects of a Low Dose of Alcohol in Humans

The present study was designed to examine the effects of a low dose of alcohol on prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response and self-report measures of affect. Eighteen subjects participated in a counterbalanced repeated-measures design in which they received a beverage with alcohol during one session and a nonalcohol beverage during a different experimental session. The startle response was probed in two separate 10-min blocks immediately after consumption of the alcohol. Although alcohol significantly suppressed the startle response in general, it did not do so to an extent that compromised detection of PPI. The effects of alcohol on PPI were primarily evident in the first block and were dependent on baseline levels of PPI, such that alcohol resulted in a reduction of PPI in subjects who demonstrated low PPI at baseline and an increase in PPI for subjects with high PPI at baseline. Alcohol also significantly increased self-reported stimulation during the first block and increased negative affect during the second block. These findings suggest that baseline PPI may reflect an important individual difference that is predictive of the direction and magnitude of alcohol-induced changes in sensorimotor gating.