Counter-regulation triggered by emotions: Positive/negative affective states elicit opposite valence biases in affective processing

The present study investigated whether counter-regulation in affective processing is triggered by emotions. Automatic attention allocation to valent stimuli was measured in the context of positive and negative affective states. Valence biases were assessed by comparing the detection of positive versus negative words in a visual search task (Experiment 1) or by comparing interference effects of positive and negative distractor words in an emotional Stroop task (Experiment 2). Imagining a hypothetical emotional situation (Experiment 1) or watching romantic versus depressing movie clips (Experiment 2) increased attention allocation to stimuli that were opposite in valence to the current emotional state. Counter-regulation is assumed to reflect a basic mechanism underlying implicit emotion regulation.     

自闭症儿童对情景事件的情绪理解：基于内隐和外显的测量

该研究旨在采用生态效度更高的情绪情景事件以及内隐和外显两种测量方式考察自闭症儿童的情绪理解。选取自闭症和智商匹配的正常儿童各21名,以序列图片的方式呈现从动画片中截取的不同效价的情景事件,外显任务要求被试直接判断事件主角的情绪、内隐任务要求被试判断事件的一致性。结果发现：1.在外显任务中,自闭症儿童对正性和负性情绪的判断正确率均显著不如正常儿童,尤其是在负性情绪上存在明显的理解缺陷;2.在内隐任务中,正常儿童的正性负性情绪、自闭症儿童的正性情绪都表现出更弱的相对于中性情绪的理解效应;自闭症儿童的负性情绪理解则在两种任务中都接近于无。这些结果意味着自闭症儿童在外显和内隐任务中都存在负性情绪理解缺陷。     

自闭症儿童对情景事件的情绪理解：基于内隐和外显的测量

该研究旨在采用生态效度更高的情绪情景事件以及内隐和外显两种测量方式考察自闭症儿童的情绪理解。选取自闭症和智商匹配的正常儿童各21名,以序列图片的方式呈现从动画片中截取的不同效价的情景事件,外显任务要求被试直接判断事件主角的情绪、内隐任务要求被试判断事件的一致性。结果发现：1.在外显任务中,自闭症儿童对正性和负性情绪的判断正确率均显著不如正常儿童,尤其是在负性情绪上存在明显的理解缺陷;2.在内隐任务中,正常儿童的正性负性情绪、自闭症儿童的正性情绪都表现出更弱的相对于中性情绪的理解效应;自闭症儿童的负性情绪理解则在两种任务中都接近于无。这些结果意味着自闭症儿童在外显和内隐任务中都存在负性情绪理解缺陷。     

面孔表情和声音情绪信息整合对返回抑制的影响

返回抑制(inhibition of return, IOR)与情绪刺激都具有引导注意偏向、提高搜索效率的特点, 但二者间是否存在一定的交互作用迄今为止尚不明确。研究采用“线索-目标”范式并在视听双通道呈现情绪刺激来考察情绪刺激的加工与IOR的交互作用。实验1中情绪刺激以单通道视觉面孔或一致的视听双通道呈现, 实验2通过在视听通道呈现不一致的情绪刺激进一步考察视听双通道情绪一致刺激对IOR的影响是否是由听觉通道一致的情绪刺激导致的, 即是否对听觉通道的情绪刺激进行了加工。结果发现, 视听双通道情绪一致刺激能够削弱IOR, 但情绪不一致刺激与IOR之间不存在交互作用, 并且单双通道的IOR不存在显著差异。研究结果表明仅在视听双通道呈现情绪一致刺激时, 才会影响同一阶段的IOR, 这进一步支持了IOR的知觉抑制理论。     

Positive emotion can protect against source memory impairment

Despite widespread belief that memory is enhanced by emotion, evidence also suggests that emotion can impair memory. Here we test predictions inspired by object-based binding theory, which states that memory enhancement or impairment depends on the nature of the information to be retrieved. We investigated emotional memory in the context of source retrieval, using images of scenes that were negative, neutral or positive in valence. At study each scene was paired with a colour and during retrieval participants reported the source colour for recognised scenes. Critically, we isolated effects of valence by equating stimulus arousal across conditions. In Experiment 1 colour borders surrounded scenes at study: memory impairment was found for both negative and positive scenes. Experiment 2 used colours superimposed over scenes at study: valence affected source retrieval, with memory impairment for negative scenes only. These findings challenge current theories of emotional memory by showing that emotion can impair memory for both intrinsic and extrinsic source information, even when arousal is equated between emotional and neutral stimuli, and by dissociating the effects of positive and negative emotion on episodic memory retrieval.     

情绪作为事件性前瞻记忆的附加线索:相反效价增强效应

使用前瞻记忆双任务实验范式,同时操纵当前任务与前瞻任务包含的情绪效价以及前瞻记忆的前瞻成分和回溯成分的情绪效价,考察双任务和两成分效价一致或相反条件对事件性前瞻记忆加工的影响。结果发现,与情绪效价一致时相比,双任务的效价相反时前瞻记忆更能正确执行,两成分情绪效价相反时前瞻成分完成更好。这种相反效价增强前瞻记忆的效应表明情绪作为附加线索影响了事件性前瞻记忆加工过程。     

Repressors' Appraisals of Emotional Stimuli in Threatening and Nonthreatening Positive Emotional Contexts

This research tests a model of repression (Mendolia, Moore, & Tesser, 1996) which posits that repressors are hypersensitive to both negative and positive emotional events but distance themselves from these events only when the situation threatens their self-concept. The following three experiments demonstrate that repressors psychologically distance themselves from their responsiveness in threatening positive emotional contexts. Participants' emotional responsiveness was assessed using their appraisals of facial expressions of emotion (Experiments 1 and 2) and their self-reports of affect (Experiment 3). This model extends the current conceptualization of repression in that it identifies motivation (dispositional emotional sensitivity) and context (situational threats to self-concept) for repressors' distancing of themselves from negative and positive emotional events.     

Facial age cues and emotional expression interact asymmetrically: age cues moderate emotion categorisation

Facial attributes such as race, sex, and age can interact with emotional expressions; however, only a couple of studies have investigated the nature of the interaction between facial age cues and emotional expressions and these have produced inconsistent results. Additionally, these studies have not addressed the mechanism/s driving the influence of facial age cues on emotional expression or vice versa. In the current study, participants categorised young and older adult faces expressing happiness and anger (Experiment 1) or sadness (Experiment 2) by their age and their emotional expression. Age cues moderated categorisation of happiness vs. anger and sadness in the absence of an influence of emotional expression on age categorisation times. This asymmetrical interaction suggests that facial age cues are obligatorily processed prior to emotional expressions. Finding a categorisation advantage for happiness expressed on young faces relative to both anger and sadness which are negative in valence but different in their congruence with old age stereotypes or structural overlap with age cues suggests that the observed influence of facial age cues on emotion perception is due to the congruence between relatively positive evaluations of young faces and happy expressions.     

Delayed reconfiguration of a non-emotional task set through reactivation of an emotional task set in task switching: an ageing study

ABSTRACT

In our everyday life, we frequently switch between different tasks, a faculty that changes with age. However, it is still not understood how emotion impacts on age-related changes in task switching. Using faces with emotional and neutral expressions, Experiment 1 investigated younger (n?=?29; 18–38 years old) and older adults’ (n?=?32; 61–80 years old) ability to switch between an emotional and a non-emotional task (i.e. responding to the face's expression vs. age). In Experiment 2, younger and older adults also viewed emotional and neutral faces, but switched between two non-emotional tasks (i.e. responding to the face's age vs. gender). Data from Experiment 1 demonstrated that switching from an emotional to a non-emotional task was slower when the expression of the new face was emotional rather than neutral. This impairment was observed in both age groups. In contrast, Experiment 2 revealed that neither younger nor older adults were affected by block-wise irrelevant emotion when switching between two non-emotional tasks. Overall, the findings suggest that task-irrelevant emotion can impair task switching through reactivation of the competing emotional task set. They also suggest that this effect and the ability to shield task-switching performance from block-wise irrelevant emotion are preserved in ageing.     

情绪调节在特质与情绪间中介效应模型的年龄差异

研究采用EPQ、ERQ及PANAS收集了青年、中年及老年三个年龄组共870份有效数据, 分析了认知重评和表情抑制在外倾和神经质与正负情绪之间中介效应及发展模型差异。主要结果：(1)外倾−正情绪, 神经质−负情绪之间存在高相关。(2)与青年组和老年组比, 中年组的神经质与负情绪的相关最弱。(3)三个年龄组的认知重评在神经质与负情绪之间都存在显著的中介效应, 中介效应值在中年组为最强。(4) 表情抑制在外倾与正负情绪之间显著的中介效应仅出现在中年组。研究分析, 认知重评和表情抑制是减弱特质−情绪之间密切度的有效调节机制。     

Blue or red? The effects of colour on the emotions of Chinese people

Two experiments were performed to examine the effects of red and blue on the emotional pleasure of Chinese people. Experiment 1 explored the effects of the ‘physical’ colours red and blue on emotion, and the results showed that red induced positive and negative emotion, while blue only induced positive emotion. Experiment 2 further explored the effects of the ‘verbal’ colours red and blue on emotion, and the results showed that red induced only positive emotion, while blue induced neither positive nor negative emotion. The findings indicate that the influence of colour on emotion is rooted in both natural and social associations. For Chinese, the associations between blue and positive emotion, and red and negative emotion, were natural associations; however, the associations between red and positive emotion were social associations. Moreover, physical colour and verbal colour stimuli induced emotions by activating different mechanisms: physical colour induced emotions via both natural and social associations, whereas verbal colour induced emotions via social associations.     

情绪效价的记忆增强效应:存储或提取优势?

情绪效价和情绪唤醒是描述情绪的两个维度。情绪增强记忆效应表明情绪唤醒事件的记忆往往优于非情绪唤醒事件的记忆,但关于积极情绪记忆和消极情绪记忆哪个在记忆中处于优势仍存在争论。实验以情绪词对和中性词对为实验材料。实验一探讨积极情绪词语或消极情绪词语的记忆优势; 实验二探讨积极情绪环境或消极情绪环境中中性词语的记忆优势。在两种实验条件下,积极情绪下的自由回忆都优于消极情绪下的自由回忆; 多项加工树的存储—提取模型使用实验自由回忆和线索回忆的结果将记忆的存储和提取优势分离开来,结果表明:积极情绪事件记忆优势发生在存储阶段,而积极情绪环境记忆优势发生在存储和提取阶段; 积极情绪事件记忆偏向支持“刺激后编码增强假设”,积极情绪环境记忆偏向支持“唤醒—偏向竞争假设”。     

Young Children's Theory of Mind and Emotion

Abstract

In three experiments, children aged 3 to 7 years were tested for their understanding of the impact of beliefs and desires on emotion. Children watched while animal characters were offered various types of container and then predicted their emotional reaction. In Experiment 1, the children (but not the characters) knew that the desirable contents of each container had been removed. The majority of 6-year-olds and a minority of 4-year-olds understood that the characters would be happy with the gift, given their mistaken belief about its contents. In Experiment 2, characters were given containers apparently containing an object they wanted but really containing an object they did not want, or vice versa. Predictions of emotion based on both the desire and the mistaken belief of the characters increased with age. In Experiment 3, characters were given closed containers that might or might not contain an item they wanted. Both 3-and 5-year-olds grasped that the characters' emotional reaction would depend on both their (unconfirmed) beliefs and desires about its content.

The experiments show that preschool children deploy a theory-like conception of mind in predicting emotional reactions. They understand that the emotional impact of a situation depends not on its objective features but on the beliefs and desires that are brought to it.     

Effect of post-encoding emotion on recollection and familiarity for pictures

Although prior studies have examined the effect of post-encoding emotional arousal on recognition memory for words, it is unknown whether the enhancement effect observed on words generalizes to pictures. Furthermore, prior studies using words have showed that the effect of emotional arousal can be modulated by stimuli valence and delay in emotion induction, but it is unclear whether such modulation can extend to pictures and whether other factors such as encoding method (incidental vs. intentional encoding) can be modulatory. Five experiments were conducted to answer these questions. In Experiment 1, participants encoded a list of neutral and negative pictures and then watched a 3-min neutral or negative video. The delayed test showed that negative arousal impaired recollection regardless of picture valence but had no effect on familiarity. Experiment 2 replicated the above findings. Experiment 3 was similar to Experiment 1 except that participants watched a 3-min neutral, negative, or positive video and conducted free recall before the recognition test. Unlike the prior two experiments, the impairment effect of negative arousal disappeared. Experiment 4, where the free recall task was eliminated, replicated the results from Experiment 3. Experiment 5 replicated Experiments 1 and 2 and further showed that the impairment effects of negative arousal could be modulated by delay in emotion induction but not by encoding method or stimuli valence. Taken together, the current study suggests that the enhancement effect observed on words may not generalize to pictures.     

情绪场景图片的注意偏向：眼动研究

注意实验中,与不带情绪色彩的刺激相比,具有情绪意义的刺激可引起注意偏向。本研究以情绪场景图片为材料,通过眼动技术分别记录被试在反向眼跳任务和Go/No-go任务中的眼动数据,考察了情绪图片的注意偏向。结果发现：反向眼跳任务中,对情绪图片的眼跳潜伏期比中性图片更长,眼跳错误率也更高;在Go任务中,相对于呈现在中央的中性图片,情绪图片引起的对靶子的眼跳潜伏期更长;在No-go任务中,相对于呈现在中央的中性图片,情绪图片引起的眼跳错误率更低。实验结果说明,情绪图片可引起注意偏向,表现为更快的捕获注意并且注意更难从情绪图片上转移。     

Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing

Emotional factors have been found to be an important influence on memory. The current study investigated the influence of emotional salience and age on a laboratory measure of prospective memory (PM); Virtual Week. Thirty young and 30 old adults completed Virtual Week, in which the emotional salience of the tasks at encoding was manipulated to be positive, negative or neutral in content. For event-based, but not time-based tasks, positivity enhancement in both age groups was seen, with a greater number of positive PM tasks being performed relative to neutral tasks. There was no negativity enhancement effect. Older adults showed generally poorer levels of PM, but they also demonstrated greater beneficial effects of positive valence compared to young. These effects of emotion on PM accuracy do not appear to reflect the retrospective component of the task as a different pattern of emotion effects was seen on the recall of PM content. Results indicate that older adults' difficulties in prospective remembering can be reduced where the tasks to be remembered are positive.     

From terror to joy: automatic tuning to positive affective information following mortality salience

Reminders of death tend to produce strong cognitive and behavioral responses, but little or no emotional response. In three experiments, mortality salience produced an automatic coping response that involved tuning to positive emotional information. Subjects showed increased accessibility of positive emotional information (Experiments 1 and 3) and gave more weight to positive emotion in their judgments of word similarity (Experiment 2) after contemplating death than after thinking about dental pain. This automatic coping response was found both after a delay (Experiments 1 and 2) and directly after the mortality-salience manipulation (Experiment 3), which suggests that the coping process begins immediately. Tuning to positive emotional information in response to mortality salience was unconscious and counterintuitive (Experiment 3). These findings shed light on the coping process that ensues immediately following mortality salience and help to explain why a delay is often necessary to produce effects in line with terror management theory.     

Are You Really Happy? Children’s Understanding of Real vs. Pretend Emotions

This paper studies children’s capacity to understand that the emotions displayed in pretend play contexts do not necessarily correspond to internal emotions, and that pretend emotions may create false beliefs in an observer. A new approach is taken by asking children about pretend emotions in terms of pretence-reality instead of appearance-reality. A total of 37 four-year-olds and 33 six-year-olds were asked to participate in tasks where they had to pretend an emotion or where they were told stories in which the protagonists pretended an emotion. In each task children were asked: a) if the pretend emotion was real or just pretended and b) if an observer would think that the emotional expression was real or just pretended. Results showed that four-year-olds are capable of understanding that pretend emotions are not necessarily real. Overall, six-year-olds performed better than younger children. Furthermore, both age groups showed difficulty in understanding that pretend emotions might unintentionally mislead an observer. Results are discussed in relation to previous research on children’s ability to understand pretend play and the emotional appearance-reality distinction.     

The influence of motivational priority on younger and older adults’ positive gaze preferences

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated whether manipulating emotional goal priority within a series of divided attention tasks influenced the presence or absence of age-related positive gaze preferences. Across two experiments, participants viewed image pairs while performing an auditory version of a 3-back n-back task. In Experiment 1, four conditions were presented: full attention viewing, emotion regulation priority, n-back task priority, and equal priority. The same conditions were included for Experiment 2, with the addition of a “no priority” divided attention condition and full attention n-back condition. Both age groups demonstrated greater positive relative to negative preferences when emotion regulation goals were prioritized, in spite of the challenge presented by a secondary task in divided attention. The present findings are discussed in terms of how positive emotional processing preferences may emerge despite cognitive control constraints in old age. Implications for the role of explicit motivations for older adults’ positivity preferences are discussed.     

Time course and task dependence of emotion effects in word processing

The emotional content of stimuli influences cognitive performance. In two experiments, we investigated the time course and mechanisms of emotional influences on visual word processing in various tasks by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The stimuli were verbs of positive, negative, and neutral valence. In Experiment 1, where lexical decisions had to be performed on single verbs, both positive and negative verbs were processed more quickly than neutral verbs and elicited a distinct ERP component, starting around 370 msec. In Experiment 2, the verbs were embedded in a semantic context provided by single nouns. Likewise, structural, lexical, and semantic decisions for positive verbs were accelerated, and an ERP effect with a scalp distribution comparable to that in Experiment 1 now started about 200 msec earlier. These effects may signal an automatic allocation of attentional resources to emotionally arousing words, since they were not modulated by different task demands. In contrast, a later ERP effect of emotion was restricted to lexical and semantic decisions and, thus, appears to indicate more elaborated, task-dependent processing of emotional words.