Where Danger Lies: The Spatial Priming of Negative Affect

Conditioning research has found that organisms associate negative affect with the location of a previous negative experience. This investigation sought to determine whether spatial factors would also influence priming effects pertaining to evaluative judgments. The authors hypothesized that negative affective primes should bias subsequent evaluations to a greater degree when targets are presented at the same location. Accordingly, participants rated a series of negative and neutral words appearing in either a left or right location on a computer screen. Across 3 studies, targets were evaluated more negatively when they occurred in the same location as a negative prime. Overall, the results are novel in linking spatial and social cognitive factors in the priming of negative affect.     

Affect regulation and temporal discounting: interactions between primed, state, and trait affect

Previous research has largely focused on the influence of experienced affect on decision making; however, other sources of affective information may also shape decisions. In two studies, we examine the interacting influences of affective information, state affect, and personality on temporal discounting rates (i.e., the tendency to choose small rewards today rather than larger rewards in the future). In Study 1, participants were primed with either positive or negative affect adjectives before making reward choices. In Study 2, participants underwent either a positive or negative affect induction before making reward choices. Results in both studies indicate that neuroticism interacts with state unpleasant affect and condition (i.e., positive or negative primes or induction) to predict discounting rates. Moreover, the nature of the interactions depends on the regulatory cues of the affective information available. These results suggest that irrelevant (i.e., primes) and stable (i.e., personality traits) sources of affective information also shape judgments and decision making. Thus, current affect levels are not the only source of affective information that guides individuals when making decisions.     

Evaluative priming from subliminal emotional words: Insights from event-related potentials and individual differences related to anxiety

The present ERP study investigated effects of subliminal emotional words on preference judgments about subsequent visual target stimuli (paintings, portraits). Each target was preceded by a masked 17-ms emotional adjective. Four classes of prime words were distinguished according to the combinations of positive/negative valence and high/low arousal. Targets were liked significantly more after positive-arousing primes (e.g., happy), relative to negative-arousing (brutal), positive-nonarousing (mild), and negative-nonarousing primes (lazy). In the target ERP, amplitude of right-hemisphere positive slow wave was increased after positive-arousing compared to negative-arousing primes. Evaluative priming effects on judgments and ERPs were more pronounced in high state-anxious participants. The results suggest that (1) there is indeed affective/semantic processing of unconscious words, (2) evaluative priming operates relatively late during target processing, (3) to be effective, prime words need to score high on the arousal dimension, and (4) individual differences in state anxiety modulate the susceptibility to subliminal evaluative priming.     

I like the sound of your voice: Affective learning about vocal signals

This paper provides the first demonstration that the content of a talker’s speech is sufficient to imbue the acoustics of his voice with affective meaning. In two studies, participants listened to male talkers utter positive, negative, or neutral words. Next, participants completed a sequential evaluative priming task where a neutral word spoken by one of talkers was presented before each target word to be evaluated. We predicted, and found, that voices served as evaluative primes influencing the speed with which participants evaluated the target words. These two experiments demonstrate that the human voice can take on affective meaning merely based on the positive or negative value words it has spoken. Implications for affective processing, the pragmatics of communication, and person perception are discussed.     

After-affects: How automatic evaluations influence the interpretation of subsequent, unrelated stimuli

Findings from three experiments suggest that participants’ automatic evaluations of subliminally presented objects influenced how they interpreted subsequent, unrelated objects. Participants defined homographs (Experiment 1), categorized objects and people (Experiment 2), and made person judgments (Experiment 3) that all could be disambiguated in either a positive or negative way. Participants’ responses to the ambiguous targets were evaluatively consistent with their automatic evaluations of preceding, semantically unrelated objects. The findings suggest that one’s automatic evaluations can influence deliberate judgments of subsequent stimuli, even when the only shared dimension between the initially evaluated objects and the judged objects is an evaluative one. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to possible mechanisms of evaluative priming as well as previous research concerning evaluative priming effects on social judgment.     

Affective priming with subliminally presented pictures.

Affective priming studies have demonstrated that subliminally presented prime words can exert an influence on responses towards positive or negative target stimuli. In the present series of experiments, it was investigated whether these findings can be extended to pictorial stimuli. Ideographically selected positive, neutral, and negative picture primes that were sandwich-masked immediately preceded positive or negative target pictures (Experiment 1) or words (Experiments 2 & 3). Evaluative categorization responses to these target stimuli were significantly influenced by the valence of the prime. First, it was demonstrated that high anxious participants were selectively slowed when the subliminally presented prime was negative (Experiments 1 & 2). Second, the affective congruence between primes and targets also exerted an influence on the responses, but in a direction that is opposite to what is typically observed in affective priming research. These reverse priming effects are situated within a series of recent similar findings, and implications for theories of affective priming are discussed.     

Affective priming as an indirect measure of food preferences acquired through odor conditioning

The present study aimed at investigating affective priming for originally neutral food stimuli that recently acquired their affective meaning through odor conditioning. In a first phase, pictures of different brands of yogurts (CSs) were contingently presented with a positive or negative odor (US). In a subsequent phase, the yogurt CSs were used as primes in an affective priming procedure. Rating data showed that the acquisition procedure resulted in a reliable evaluative learning effect. This could be corroborated by the results of the priming task. Participants responded faster to positive target words and made fewer errors when they were preceded by a CS that had been associated with a positive odor, as compared to a CS that was associated with a negative odor. A reversed pattern was present for negative targets. Based on these findings, it is suggested that affective priming might be used as a demand-free measure of evaluative learning.     

Repeated priming of attachment security influences later views of self and relationships

Research shows that priming attachment security results in positive relationship expectations and affect (Rowe & Carnelley, 2003). We examined whether repetitive priming of attachment security (e.g., experimentally activating cognitive representations of attachment security) would have more lasting effects on relationship‐ and self‐views. Participants provided baseline measures at Time 1. On 3 occasions (across 3 days), we primed participants with attachment security or a neutral prime (Times 2–4). Two days later (Time 5), participants completed trait‐level measures not preceded by a prime. As expected, those repeatedly primed with attachment security reported more positive relationship expectations, more positive self‐views, and less attachment anxiety at Time 5 than at Time 1; those primed with neutral primes showed no change with time. These priming effects last longer than those typically found.     

Individual Differences in Affective Priming Effects: Any Links with Personality and Trait Affectivity?

Processing tendencies refer to individual differences in the automatic processing of affective stimuli. Using the affective priming paradigm one can tap these processing tendencies and differentiate positive and negative affective priming scores. In this study we used a classical evaluative decision task with nouns as primes and adjectives as targets to assess individual differences in positive and negative affective priming in two time points. Using Steyer’s (Steyer et al. in Methods of Psychological Research Online 2(1), 21–33, 1997) true intraindividual change modeling approach, the positive and negative priming scores were defined on a latent level. No significant relationships were found between positive affective priming and trait positive affect nor extraversion, as well as between negative affective priming and trait negative affect and neuroticism. As these findings are not in line with previous research (Robinson et al. in Emotion 10(5), 615–626, 2010; Robinson et al. in Personality and Individual Differences 42(7), 1221–1231, 2007) possible moderating influences are discussed.     

The effects of the concreteness of differently valenced words on affective priming

This study aimed to determine whether affective priming is influenced by the concreteness of emotional words. To address this question, we conducted three experiments using lexical decision-priming task. In Experiment 1, positive-abstract (PA) and positive-concrete (PC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of positive words on affective priming, and in Experiment 2, negative-abstract (NA) and negative-concrete (NC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of negative words on affective priming. Results showed that participants responded faster to affectively congruent-abstract trails than incongruent-abstract trails in PA prime conditions, but for PC or negative word (NC and NA) prime conditions, there were no differences between the response times of congruent trails and incongruent trails. To examine the reliability of the priming effects observed in Experiments 1 and 2, we set up a neutral condition as a baseline in Experiment 3, through which we confirmed the difference in the affective priming effect between positive and negative primes in a concrete–abstract dimension. PA words were found to have the tendency to possess more emotional load and facilitate affective association between the prime and the target. The study finding suggests that aside from arousal and valence, the concreteness of positive words also has an impact on affective priming effect.     

Approach motivation as incentive salience: perceptual sources of evidence in relation to positive word primes

Four experiments (total N = 391) examined predictions derived from a biologically based incentive salience theory of approach motivation. In all experiments, judgments indicative of enhanced perceptual salience were exaggerated in the context of positive, relative to neutral or negative, stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 2, positive words were judged to be of a larger size (Experiment 1) and led individuals to judge subsequently presented neutral objects as larger in size (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, similar effects were observed in a mock subliminal presentation paradigm. In Experiment 4, positive word primes were perceived to have been presented for a longer duration of time, again relative to both neutral and negative word primes. Results are discussed in relation to theories of approach motivation, affective priming, and the motivation-perception interface.     

Can I trust you? Negative affective priming influences social judgments in schizophrenia

Successful social interactions rely on the ability to make accurate judgments based on social cues as well as the ability to control the influence of internal or external affective information on those judgments. Prior research suggests that individuals with schizophrenia misinterpret social stimuli and this misinterpretation contributes to impaired social functioning. We tested the hypothesis that for people with schizophrenia, social judgments are abnormally influenced by affective information. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy control participants rated the trustworthiness of faces following the presentation of neutral, negative (threat-related), or positive affective primes. Results showed that all participants rated faces following negative affective primes as less trustworthy than faces following neutral or positive primes. Importantly, this effect was significantly more pronounced for participants with schizophrenia, suggesting that schizophrenia may be characterized by an exaggerated influence of negative affective information on social judgment. Furthermore, the extent that the negative affective prime influenced trustworthiness judgments was significantly associated with patients' severity of positive symptoms, particularly feelings of persecution. These findings suggest that for people with schizophrenia, negative affective information contributes to an interpretive bias, consistent with paranoid ideation, when judging the trustworthiness of others. This bias may contribute to social impairments in schizophrenia.     

About the impact of automaticity in the minimal group paradigm: evidence from affective priming tasks

Two experiments examined whether novel, minimal ingroups are automatically associated with positive affect while outgroups do not elicit such positive evaluative default. Participants were assigned to social categories in a typical minimal group setting and subsequently administered a masked priming task, i.e. prime words were not consciously recognized. Following either the presentation of a priori positive or negative words or the presentation of the group labels, participants classified adjectives with regard to their valence (positive/negative). In Experiment 1, a standard affective priming paradigm was realized with response latencies as dependent measures; in Experiment 2, a response window technique was used, with errors as crucial measure. In both studies, significant affective congruency effects emerged similarly for standard primes and category labels, indicating ingroup bias on an implicit level. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The direction of affective priming as a function of trait anxiety when naming target words with regular and irregular pronunciation

Results from an affective priming experiment confirm the previously reported influence of trait anxiety on the direction of affective priming in the naming task (Maier, Berner, & Pekrun, 2003): On trials in which extremely valenced primes appeared, positive affective priming reversed into negative affective priming with increasing levels of trait anxiety. Using valenced target words with irregular pronunciation did not have the expected effect of increasing the extent to which semantic processes play a role in naming, as affective priming effects were not stronger for irregular targets than for regular targets. This suggests the predominant operation of a whole-word nonsemantic pathway in reading aloud in German. Data from neutral priming trials hint at the possibility that negative affective priming in participants high in trait anxiety is due to inhibition of congruent targets.     

Affective priming with liked and disliked persons: Prime visibility determines congruency and incongruency effects

The present research investigated whether the affective priming paradigm from Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, and Kardes (1986) can be used as an implicit measure of person schemata. Names and faces of friends or romantic partners and of a disliked person were used as primes. It was explored whether: (1) stimuli relating to liked and disliked persons elicit congruency priming effects similar to those reported for words; (2) masked and unmasked priming procedures had similar effects; and (3) whether individual differences in the implicit measure were related to explicit measures of relationship quality. For clearly visible primes the expected congruence priming effects were found across names and faces. For marginally visible primes, however, unexpected reverse priming effects were observed for the disliked person. In a second experiment, a confound of the familiarity and evaluation of the significant other primes was removed. Now a reverse priming effect could be demonstrated for masked primes in both liked and disliked person conditions. On the group level, effects were consistent across name and face primes, thus providing strong evidence that priming effects were caused by the activation of person schemata. The reliability of inter-individual differences in person-specific priming effects was found to be unsatisfactory, and correlations with explicit measures were not consistent across name and face priming conditions. An explanation of reverse priming effects is discussed, and measures to improve the psychometric quality of individual affective priming indices are suggested.     

不同SOA条件下的情感启动效应研究

在150ms和250ms两种SOA条件下,以彩色图片为启动刺激,以汉语双字词为目标刺激,通过评价分类任务考察情感启动效应。结果表明在两种SOA条件下均存在显著的情感启动效应;积极启动和消极启动对目标词产生了不同的影响。类似Stroop效应的反应冲突机制可解释本研究所获得的结果。     

Interaction of prime and target in the subliminal affective priming effect

It has been found that an emotional stimulus such as a facial expression presented subliminally can affect subsequent information processing and behavior, usually by shifting evaluation of a subsequent stimulus to a valence congruent with the previous stimulus. This phenomenon is called subliminal affective priming. The present study was conducted to replicate and expand previous findings by investigating interaction of primes and targets in the affective priming effect. Two conditions were used. Prime (subliminal presentation 35 msec.) of an angry face of a woman and a No Prime control condition. Just after presentation of the prime, an ambiguous angry face or an emotionally neutral face was presented above the threshold of awareness (500 msec.). 12 female undergraduate women judged categories of facial expressions (Anger, Neutral, or Happiness) for the target faces. Analysis indicated that the Anger primes significantly facilitated judgment of anger for the ambiguous angry faces; however, the priming effect of the Anger primes was not observed for neutral faces. Consequently, the present finding suggested that a subliminal affective priming effect should be more prominent when affective valence of primes and targets is congruent.     

The more you ignore me the closer I get: An ERP study of evaluative priming

We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to investigate the various mental processes contributing to evaluative priming—that is, more positive judgments for targets preceded by affectively positive, as opposed to negative, prime stimuli. To ensure ecological validity, we employed a priori meaningful landscape pictures as targets and emotional adjectives as visual primes and presented both primes and targets for relatively long durations (>1 s). Prime-related lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) revealed response priming as one source of the significant evaluative priming effect. On the other hand, greater right-frontal positive slow wave in the ERP for pictures following negative, as compared with positive, primes indicated altered impression formation, thus supporting automatic spreading activation and/or affect misattribution accounts. Moreover, target LRPs suggested conscious counter-control to reduce the evaluative priming net effect. Finally, when comparing prime ERPs for two groups of participants showing strong versus weak evaluative priming, we found strong evidence for the role of depth of prime processing: In the weak-effect group, prime words evoked an increased visual P1/N1 complex, a larger posterior P2 component, and a greater left-parietal processing negativity presumably reflecting semantic processing. By contrast, a larger medial-frontal P2/N2 complex in the strong-effect group suggested top-down inhibition of the prime’s emotional content. Thus, trying to ignore the primes can actually increase, rather than decrease, the evaluative priming effect.     

Semantic priming of different affective categories

The authors investigated affective semantic priming using a lexical decision task with 4 affective categories of related word pairs: neutral, happy, fearful, and sad. Results demonstrated a striking and reliable effect of affective category on semantic priming. Neutral and happy prime-targets yielded significant semantic priming. Fearful pairs showed no or modest priming facilitation, and sad primes slowed reactions to sad targets. A further experiment established that affective primes do not have generalized facilitatory-inhibitory effects. The results are interpreted as showing that the associative mechanisms that support semantic priming for neutral words are also shared by happy valence words but not for negative valence words. This may reflect increased vigilance necessary in adverse contexts or suggest that the associative mechanisms that bind negative valence words are distinct.     

Boundary conditions for the influence of unfamiliar non-target primes in unconscious evaluative priming: The moderating role of attentional task sets

Evaluative priming by masked emotional stimuli that are not consciously perceived has been taken as evidence that affective stimulus evaluation can also occur unconsciously. However, as masked priming effects were small and frequently observed only for familiar primes that there also presented as visible targets in an evaluative decision task, priming was thought to reflect primarily response activation based on acquired S–R associations and not evaluative semantic stimulus analysis. The present study therefore assessed across three experiments boundary conditions for the emergence of masked evaluative priming effects with unfamiliar primes in an evaluative decision task and investigated the role of the frequency of target repetition on priming with pictorial and verbal stimuli. While familiar primes elicited robust priming effects in all conditions, priming effects by unfamiliar primes were reliably obtained for low repetition (pictures) or unrepeated targets (words), but not for targets repeated at a high frequency. This suggests that unfamiliar masked stimuli only elicit evaluative priming effects when the task set associated with the visible target involves evaluative semantic analysis and is not based on S–R triggered responding as for high repetition targets. The present results therefore converge with the growing body of evidence demonstrating attentional control influences on unconscious processing.