Valence Bias Research Articles

The influence of valence and relationship on children's verification of gossip.

Given that children do not always trust gossip, do they spontaneously check what they are told? We provided 5- (N = 32) and 6-year olds (N = 32) with gossip concerning characters in a cartoon they were watching, and examined whether they verified the gossip by actively re-watching the relevant episodes. Six-year olds were more likely to verify gossip than 5-year olds. When gossip targeted their favourite characters, children were more likely to verify negative when compared with positive gossip. However, when gossip targeted children's disliked characters, they showed no such valence bias. These results indicate that children's verification of gossip increases with age, and they evaluate claims selectively.

Greater social network complexity mitigates pandemic-related negativity

Having strong, diverse social relationships is tightly linked to myriad physical and mental health benefits by mitigating the negative impacts of adverse events. The COVID-19 pandemic brought increased uncertainty and changes to our social lives that reduced the spread of COVID-19 (e.g., social distancing), but also likely impacted emotional well-being. We investigated how one of these changes – changing social networks – relates to emotional bias (a proxy for well-being), specifically one’s tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli as positive or negative (i.e., valence bias). Participants ( N = 614) categorized the valence of clearly (e.g., angry and happy expressions) and ambiguously valenced stimuli (e.g., surprised expressions), and were asked about their social network before and during the pandemic. Compared to before the pandemic, participants reported a decrease in overall network size ( p < .001) and number of embedded networks (i.e., a measure of network complexity represented by number of areas of social activity; p < .001). In a model with all three social network dimensions (size, complexity, diversity), network complexity uniquely predicted valence bias ( p = .02). Specifically, participants with greater social network complexity during the pandemic showed a more positive bias. Further, participants that did not experience a pandemic-related reduction in network complexity were protected from pandemic-related increases in negativity ( p < .001). In other words, having a more complex social network could act as a protective factor against adverse outcomes in times of uncertainty.

Disrupted basolateral amygdala circuits supports negative valence bias in depressive states

Negative bias is an essential characteristic of depressive episodes leading patients to attribute more negative valence to environmental cues. This negative bias affects all levels of information processing including emotional response, attention and memory, leading to the development and maintenance of depressive symptoms. In this context, pleasant stimuli become less attractive and unpleasant ones more aversive, yet the related neural circuits underlying this bias remain largely unknown. By studying a mice model for depression chronically receiving corticosterone (CORT), we showed a negative bias in valence attribution to olfactory stimuli that responds to antidepressant drug. This result paralleled the alterations in odor value assignment we observed in bipolar depressed patients. Given the crucial role of amygdala in valence coding and its strong link with depression, we hypothesized that basolateral amygdala (BLA) circuits alterations might support negative shift associated with depressive states. Contrary to humans, where limits in spatial resolution of imaging tools impair easy amygdala segmentation, recently unravelled specific BLA circuits implicated in negative and positive valence attribution could be studied in mice. Combining CTB and rabies-based tracing with ex vivo measurements of neuronal activity, we demonstrated that negative valence bias is supported by disrupted activity of specific BLA circuits during depressive states. Chronic CORT administration induced decreased recruitment of BLA-to-NAc neurons preferentially involved in positive valence encoding, while increasing recruitment of BLA-to-CeA neurons preferentially involved in negative valence encoding. Importantly, this dysfunction was dampened by chemogenetic hyperactivation of BLA-to-NAc neurons. Moreover, altered BLA activity correlated with durable presynaptic connectivity changes coming from the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, recently demonstrated as orchestrating valence assignment in the amygdala. Together, our findings suggest that specific BLA circuits alterations might support negative bias in depressive states and provide new avenues for translational research to understand the mechanisms underlying depression and treatment efficacy.

The 20-item dysexecutive questionnaire after severe traumatic brain injury: Distribution of the total score and its significance

ABSTRACT The Dysexecutive questionnaire (DEX), a 20-item ecological measure used by patients (DEX-S) or significant others (DEX-SO) to assess dysexecutive syndrome, often complements performance-based executive functions (EF) tests. Previous studies highlighted its internal consistency, score variability across samples, weak DEX-S correlations with EF tests, but strong associations with self-assessments of anxiety/depression. This study examined DEX-S and DEX-SO scores from the PariS-TBI study, analyzing data from 76 severe TBI participants and 40 proxies assessed 8-years postinjury compared to matched healthy controls. DEX scores in the control group followed a normal distribution, but severe TBI participants reported significantly higher percentages of very low DEX scores and significantly higher percentages of extremely high scores in both self-reports and proxy-reports. Strong correlations were found between DEX-S and self-reported anxiety/depression (rho = 0.65, p < 0.001). These findings suggest a possible lack of self-awareness in some TBI participants, a probable tendency of some TBI-proxies to underestimate EF difficulties, and the presence of EF difficulties in the TBI group compared to controls. The tendency among some TBI participants and proxies to respond to the DEX questions based on their positive or negative valence (presence of a “valence bias”), rather than specific content, potentially elucidates our results and prior published DEX findings. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01437683..

In the face of ambiguity: intrinsic brain organization in development predicts one's bias toward positivity or negativity.

Exacerbated negativity bias, including in responses to ambiguity, represents a common phenotype of internalizing disorders. Individuals differ in their propensity toward positive or negative appraisals of ambiguity. This variability constitutes one's valence bias, a stable construct linked to mental health. Evidence suggests an initial negativity in response to ambiguity that updates via regulatory processes to support a more positive bias. Previous work implicates the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, and regions of the cingulo-opercular system, in this regulatory process. Nonetheless, the neurodevelopmental origins of valence bias remain unclear. The current study tests whether intrinsic brain organization predicts valence bias among 119 children and adolescents (6 to 17years). Using whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity, a machine-learning model predicted valence bias (r = 0.20, P = 0.03), as did a model restricted to amygdala and cingulo-opercular system features (r = 0.19, P = 0.04). Disrupting connectivity revealed additional intra-system (e.g. fronto-parietal) and inter-system (e.g. amygdala to cingulo-opercular) connectivity important for prediction. The results highlight top-down control systems and bottom-up perceptual processes that influence valence bias in development. Thus, intrinsic brain organization informs the neurodevelopmental origins of valence bias, and directs future work aimed at explicating related internalizing symptomology.

Supplemental Material for Proposing a Model Whereby Negative Valence Bias Increases the Risk for More Severe Dysphoric Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Symptomology

Supplemental Material for Proposing a Model Whereby Negative Valence Bias Increases the Risk for More Severe Dysphoric Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Symptomology

Shift in Valence Bias Associated with Decrease in Trait Anxiety and Depression Symptoms

Shift in Valence Bias Associated with Decrease in Trait Anxiety and Depression Symptoms

Emotional memory consolidation during sleep is associated with slow oscillation-spindle coupling strength in young and older adults.

Emotional memories are processed during sleep; however, the specific mechanisms are unclear. Understanding such mechanisms may provide critical insight into preventing and treating mood disorders. Consolidation of neutral memories is associated with the coupling of NREM sleep slow oscillations (SOs) and sleep spindles (SPs). Whether SO-SP coupling is likewise involved in emotional memory processing is unknown. Furthermore, there is an age-related emotional valence bias such that sleep consolidates and preserves reactivity to negative but not positive emotional memories in young adults and positive but not negative emotional memories in older adults. If SO-SP coupling contributes to the effect of sleep on emotional memory, then it may selectively support negative memory in young adults and positive memory in older adults. To address these questions, we examined whether emotional memory recognition and overnight change in emotional reactivity were associated with the strength of SO-SP coupling in young (n = 22) and older (n = 32) adults. In younger adults, coupling strength predicted negative but not positive emotional memory performance after sleep. In contrast, coupling strength predicted positive but not negative emotional memory performance after sleep in older adults. Coupling strength was not associated with emotional reactivity in either age group. Our findings suggest that SO-SP coupling may play a mechanistic role in sleep-dependent consolidation of emotional memories.

Specialized late cingulo-opercular network activation elucidates the mechanisms underlying decisions about ambiguity

Cortical task control networks, including the cingulo-opercular (CO) network play a key role in decision-making across a variety of functional domains. In particular, the CO network functions in a performance reporting capacity that supports successful task performance, especially in response to errors and ambiguity. In two studies testing the contribution of the CO network to ambiguity processing, we presented a valence bias task in which masked clearly and ambiguously valenced emotional expressions were slowly revealed over several seconds. This slow reveal task design provides a window into the decision-making mechanisms as they unfold over the course of a trial. In the main study, the slow reveal task was administered to 32 young adults in the fMRI environment and BOLD time courses were extracted from regions of interest in three control networks. In a follow-up study, the task was administered to a larger, online sample (n = 81) using a more extended slow reveal design with additional unmasking frames. Positive judgments of surprised faces were uniquely accompanied by slower response times and strong, late activation in the CO network. These results support the initial negativity hypothesis, which posits that the default response to ambiguity is negative and positive judgments are associated with a more effortful controlled process, and additionally suggest that this controlled process is mediated by the CO network. Moreover, ambiguous trials were characterized by a second CO response at the end of the trial, firmly placing CO function late in the decision-making process.

Low heart rate variability is associated with a negativity valence bias in interpreting ambiguous emotional expressions.

Most people tend to overstate positive aspects of their experiences, that is, a positive valence bias. However, some people tend to have attenuated attention for negative aspects of perceived information, that is, negative valence bias. This dispositional tendency in either valence is especially significant for emotion regulation as it influences the intensity of later stages of emotional experiences. Heart rate variability (HRV) is used as an index of emotion regulation and for the effect dispositional valence bias has on social cognition. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether a positivity or negativity bias in processing ambiguous facial expressions would predict high or lower HRV, respectively, in a healthy sample. The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test was presented to a sample of 128 healthy participants (N = 86 women participants), and resting HRV was acquired. In multiple linear regression analyses, the mean accuracy scores for items with positive, negative, and neutral valences were included as predictors of HRV. As a follow-up analysis, we tested whether a general tendency to interpret negative stimulus as positive, that is, a positivity bias, predicted HRV. Higher accuracy on items with negative emotional valence predicted lower HRV. There was no association between accuracy scores on items of positive or neutral valence and HRV. Higher positivity bias predicted higher HRV. The present findings suggest that a dispositional valence bias relates to levels of HRV and, as such, is influenced by the functioning of the vagal system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Think again: the role of reappraisal in reducing negative valence bias

ABSTRACT Stimuli such as surprised faces are ambiguous in that they are associated with both positive and negative outcomes. Interestingly, people differ reliably in whether they evaluate these and other ambiguous stimuli as positive or negative, and we have argued that a positive evaluation relies in part on a biasing of the appraisal processes via reappraisal. To further test this idea, we conducted two studies to evaluate whether increasing the cognitive accessibility of reappraisal through a brief emotion regulation task would lead to an increase in positive evaluations of ambiguity. Supporting this prediction, we demonstrated that cuing reappraisal, but not in three other forms of emotion regulation (Study 1a-d; n = 120), increased positive evaluations of ambiguous faces. In a sign of robustness, we also found that the effect of reappraisal generalised from ambiguous faces to ambiguous scenes (Study 2; n = 34). Collectively, these findings suggest that reappraisal may play a key role in determining responses to ambiguous stimuli. We discuss these findings in the context of affective flexibility, and suggest that valence bias (i.e. the tendency to evaluate ambiguity more positively or negatively) represents a novel approach to measuring implicit emotion regulation.

Tendency to share positive emotions buffers loneliness-related negativity in the context of shared adversity

Loneliness is associated with adverse outcomes, and the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to increase loneliness. How loneliness-related outcomes unfold, though, varies across individuals. Individuals’ sense of social connectedness and engagement with others to regulate emotional experiences (interpersonal emotion regulation; IER) may modulate loneliness-related outcomes. Individuals failing to maintain social connectedness and/or regulate emotions may be at heightened risk. We assessed how loneliness, social connectedness, and IER related to valence bias, a tendency to categorize ambiguity as more positive or negative. Loneliness was associated with a more negative valence bias among individuals reporting above average social connectedness but who shared positive emotion less often (z = -3.19, p =.001). These findings suggest that sharing positive emotional experiences may buffer loneliness-related outcomes during shared adverse experiences.

Supplemental Material for Low Heart Rate Variability Is Associated With a Negativity Valence Bias in Interpreting Ambiguous Emotional Expressions

Supplemental Material for Low Heart Rate Variability Is Associated With a Negativity Valence Bias in Interpreting Ambiguous Emotional Expressions

Mindfulness-based stress reduction triggers a long-term shift toward more positive appraisals of emotional ambiguity.

Reducing negative impacts of stress, for example through mindfulness training, benefits physical and psychological well-being and is becoming ever more crucial owing to large-scale societal uncertainties (e.g., COVID-19). Whereas extensive research has focused on mindfulness-related reductions in self-reported negativity, essentially no research has targeted task-based behavioral outcomes throughout long-term mindfulness trainings. Responses to emotionally ambiguous signals (e.g., surprised expressions), which might be appraised as either positive or negative, provide a nuanced assessment of one's emotional bias across diverse contexts, offering unique leverage for assessing the effects of mindfulness. Here, we compared the effects of short- and long-term training via Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on ratings of faces with a relatively clear (angry, happy) and ambiguous (surprised) valence. Ratings became more positive for ambiguity from the start (Week 1) to end of training (Week 8; p < .001), but there were no short-term effects (from a single class session). This shift toward positivity continued through an additional 8-week follow-up (Week 16; p < .001). Notably, posttraining valence bias (Week 8) was uniquely predicted by the nonreactivity facet of mindfulness (p = .01). Together, mindfulness promotes a relatively long-lasting shift toward positivity bias, which is uniquely supported by reduced emotional reactivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Political identity biases Americans' judgments of outgroup emotion

Social group identity plays a central role in political polarization and inter-party conflict. Here, we use ambiguously valenced faces to measure bias in the processing of political ingroup and outgroup faces, while also accounting for inter-party differences in judgments of emotion at baseline. Participants identifying as Democrats and Republicans judged happy, angry, and surprised faces as positive or negative. Whereas happy and angry faces convey positive and negative valence respectively, surprised faces are ambiguous in that they readily convey positive and negative valence. Thus, surprise is a useful tool for characterizing valence bias (i.e., the tendency to judge ambiguous stimuli as negative). Face stimuli were assigned to the participants' political ingroup or outgroup, or a third group with an unspecified affiliation (baseline). We found a significant interaction of facial expression and group membership, such that outgroup faces were judged more negatively than ingroup and baseline, but only for surprise. There was also an interaction of facial expression and political affiliation, with Republicans judging surprise more negatively than Democrats across all group conditions. However, we did not find evidence for party differences in outgroup negativity. Our findings demonstrate the utility of judgments of surprised faces as a measure of intergroup bias, and reinforce the importance of outgroup negativity (relative to ingroup positivity) for explaining inter-party biases.

Interpersonal emotion regulation mitigates the link between trait neuroticism and a more negative valence bias

Emerging research suggests that trait neuroticism is associated with enhanced attention to and perception of negative emotional stimuli, increasing the risk for multiple forms of psychopathology including depression and anxiety. However, modifiable factors such as certain forms of emotion regulation have the potential to weaken this association. In a large sample (N = 1252), we investigated the link between neuroticism and valence bias in response to stimuli that have the potential for both positive and negative interpretations and examined the moderating role of interpersonal emotion regulation. Primary tests of hypotheses demonstrated that increased neuroticism was associated with a more negative valence bias in response to ambiguity, but only for individuals who are less likely to rely on interpersonal resources to regulate negative affect. Supplemental analyses suggest that this moderation effect of interpersonal emotion regulation might depend on the nature of the stimuli, and that regulation of positive emotions—not just negative affect—can also contribute to a less negative valence bias. Taken together, results suggest that individuals who are high in neuroticism, but consistently rely on interpersonal relationships to regulate their emotions, are better able to override the bias toward negativity that can occur when appraising ambiguity.

Stage 2 Registered Report: How responsibility attributions to self and others relate to outcome ownership in group decisions.

Background: Responsibility judgements have important consequences in human society. Previous research focused on how someone's responsibility determines the outcome they deserve, for example, whether they are rewarded or punished. Here, in a pre-registered study (Stage 1 Registered Report: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16480.2), we investigate the opposite link: How outcome ownership influences responsibility attributions in a social context. Methods: In an online study, participants in a group of three perform a majority vote decision-making task between gambles that can lead to a reward or no reward.Only one group member receives the outcome and participants evaluate their and the other players' responsibility for the obtained outcome. Results: We found that outcome ownership increases responsibility attributions even when the control over an outcome is similar.Moreover, ownership had an effect on the valence bias: participants' higher responsibility attributions for positive vs negative outcomes was stronger for players who received the outcome. Finally, this effect was more pronounced when people rated their own responsibility as compared to when they were rating another's player responsibility. Conclusions: The findings of this study reveal how credit attributions can be biased toward particular individuals who receive outcomes as a result of collective work, both when people judge their own and someone else's responsibility.

Positive Valence Bias in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: Evidence From Chinese Emotion Idioms.

Positive valence bias refers to speakers responding faster to positive than negative information in L2 emotion words. Few researchers paid attention to the initial learning phase of L2 Chinese emotion idioms in which whether positive valence bias was acquired, based on the three-stage model of L2 vocabulary acquisition. Besides, whether the semantic information would modulate positive valence bias at the initial learning phase remained unclear. This study reports two experiments on speakers learning Chinese as a second language (CSL) to investigate positive valence bias in the initial learning phase of new Chinese emotion idioms and the modulation of semantic information on positive valence bias. Chinese as a second language speakers, who had acquired new Chinese emotion idioms and passed the test for learned Chinese idioms with a high accuracy rate before formal experiments, participated in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 1, target materials were new Chinese idioms with positive and negative information. Positive valence bias at the initial learning phase of Chinese idioms was investigated with valence judgments. Experiment 2 used a semantic relatedness decision task further to explore the semantic effect on positive valence bias. The result in the first experiment showed that positive valence bias appeared in Chinese emotion idioms even at the initial learning phase of the acquisition. Meanwhile, semantic information of Chinese emotion idioms appeared to affect positive valence bias in the infant learning phase in Experiment 2. The findings revealed that semantic information would affect the performance of positive valence bias, suggesting that the semantic processing would automatically access the valence at the infant learning phase L2 Chinese emotion idioms. The research results provided evidence that positive valence bias would form in the infant learning phase of Chinese emotion idiom acquisition, based on the L2 vocabulary acquisition model.

Stage 2 Registered Report: How responsibility attributions to self and others relate to outcome ownership in group decisions

Background: Responsibility judgements have important consequences in human society. Previous research focused on how someone's responsibility determines the outcome they deserve, for example, whether they are rewarded or punished. Here, in a pre-registered study (Stage 1 Registered Report: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16480.2), we investigate the opposite link: How outcome ownership influences responsibility attributions in a social context. Methods: In an online study, participants in a group of three perform a majority vote decision-making task between gambles that can lead to a reward or no reward. Only one group member receives the outcome and participants evaluate their and the other players' responsibility for the obtained outcome. Results: We found that outcome ownership increases responsibility attributions even when the control over an outcome is similar. Moreover, ownership had an effect on the valence bias: participants’ higher responsibility attributions for positive vs negative outcomes was stronger for players who received the outcome. Finally, this effect was more pronounced when people rated their own responsibility as compared to when they were rating another’s player responsibility. Conclusions: The findings of this study reveal how credit attributions can be biased toward particular individuals who receive outcomes as a result of collective work, both when people judge their own and someone else’s responsibility.

Stage 2 Registered Report: How responsibility attributions to self and others relate to outcome ownership in group decisions.

Background: Responsibility judgements have important consequences in human society. Previous research focused on how someone's responsibility determines the outcome they deserve, for example, whether they are rewarded or punished. Here, in a pre-registered study (Stage 1 Registered Report: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16480.2), we investigate the opposite link: How outcome ownership influences responsibility attributions in a social context. Methods: In an online study, participants in a group of three perform a majority vote decision-making task between gambles that can lead to a reward or no reward.Only one group member receives the outcome and participants evaluate their and the other players' responsibility for the obtained outcome. Results: We found that outcome ownership increases responsibility attributions even when the control over an outcome is similar.Moreover, ownership had an effect on the valence bias: participants' higher responsibility attributions for positive vs negative outcomes was stronger for players who received the outcome. Finally, this effect was more pronounced when people rated their own responsibility as compared to when they were rating another's player responsibility. Conclusions: The findings of this study reveal how credit attributions can be biased toward particular individuals who receive outcomes as a result of collective work, both when people judge their own and someone else's responsibility.