Does sunshine prime loyal … or summer? Effects of associative relatedness on the evaluative priming effect in the valent/neutral categorisation task

After 30 years of research, the mechanisms underlying the evaluative priming effect are still a topic of debate. In this study, we tested whether the evaluative priming effect can result from (uncontrolled) associative relatedness rather than evaluative congruency. Stimuli that share the same evaluative connotation are more likely to show some degree of non-evaluative associative relatedness than stimuli that have a different evaluative connotation. Therefore, unless associative relatedness is explicitly controlled for, evaluative priming effects reported in earlier research may be driven by associative relatedness instead of evaluative relatedness. To address this possibility, we performed an evaluative priming study in which evaluative congruency and associative relatedness were manipulated independently from each other. The valent/neutral categorisation task was used to ensure evaluative stimulus processing in the absence of response priming effects. Results showed an effect of associative relatedness but no (overall) effect of evaluative congruency. Our findings highlight the importance of controlling for associative relatedness when testing for evaluative priming effects.     

阈下情绪启动效应的衰退和反应竞争模型

研究包含两个实验,均采用反应时测量的方法。第一个实验考查并验证了阈下情绪启动效应衰退的现象;第二个实验的结果则支持反应时指标测量情绪启动效应发生机制的反应竞争的观点,并提出阈下情绪启动效应的内在机制模型。文章最后用反应竞争的观点对第一个实验中的现象进行了解释,提示内隐学习可能在效应衰退现象中发挥作用。     

青少年依恋环境的情绪启动和注意恢复功能

以往研究发现自然环境能激发个体积极情绪,恢复集中注意。当个体对自然环境的依恋程度不同时,环境的情绪启动和注意恢复功能是否存在差异?研究以96名初一学生为被试考察地方依恋对环境的情绪和注意恢复作用是否产生影响。根据被试对某自然环境的依恋水平将其分为高依恋和低依恋组,并在被试参加情绪启动实验(实验1)和集中注意实验(实验2)时将其分为实验组和控制组以考察对环境依恋水平不同的被试观看该环境图片后情绪启动和注意恢复状况是否存在差异。实验1显示低依恋实验组对厌恶的反应时显著短于其他三组;实验2结果表明高依恋实验组被试在观看自然环境图片后在注意后测任务上的反应时显著短于低依恋实验组和控制组。     

Affect in the eyes: explicit and implicit evaluations

The present study investigated whether another individual’s gaze direction influences an observer’s affective responses. In Experiment 1, subjective self-ratings and an affective priming paradigm were employed to examine how participants explicitly and implicitly, respectively, evaluated the affective valence of direct gaze, averted gaze, and closed eyes. The explicit self-ratings showed that participants evaluated closed eyes more positively than direct gaze. However, the implicit priming task showed an inverse pattern of results indicating that direct gaze was automatically evaluated more positively than closed eyes were. Experiment 2 confirmed that the opposite patterns of results between the two tasks were not due to differences in presentation times of the gaze stimuli. The results provide evidence for automatic affective reactions to eye gaze and indicate a dissociation between explicit and implicit affective evaluations of eyes and gaze direction.     

Controllability and resource dependence in automatic evaluation

Two studies addressed automaticity features of evaluative priming. In Study 1, participants could strategically eliminate and partially reverse priming effects although stimulus onset asynchrony between prime and target was short (275 ms) and time pressure considerable. In Study 2, priming effects under a concurrent memory load increased as measured working-memory capacity decreased. The results bear on the interpretation of evaluative priming as a measure of spontaneous evaluation, and they support an account of evaluative priming in terms of Stroop-like response conflict and synergy.     

无意识情绪启动研究新进展

本文对目前无意识情绪启动的两种方式、无意识情绪启动在认知领域和人格领域实证研究、无意识情绪启动的神经生理的研究以及无意识情绪启动模型理论研究进行理论的综述;同时对无意识情绪启动研究不足之处以及今后研究方向作了简评。     

Expectancy-learning and evaluative learning in human classical conditioning: affective priming as an indirect and unobtrusive measure of conditioned stimulus valence

It has been argued that in classical conditioning two processes might be operative. First, one may learn that the conditioned stimulus (CS+) is a valid predictor for the occurrence of the biologically negative or positive event (US; expectancy-learning). Second, one may learn to perceive the conditioned stimulus itself as a negative or positive stimulus, depending on the valence of the event it has been associated with (evaluative learning). Until the present, however, both forms of learning have been investigated using rather different conditioning procedures. Using a differential aversive conditioning preparation with pictures of human faces as CSs and an electrocutaneous stimulus as US, we were able to demonstrate that both forms of learning can co-occur. Moreover, the extent of evaluative learning in this aversive conditioning procedure did not significantly differ from the amount of evaluative learning in an evaluative conditioning procedure with positive and negative adjectives as USs, which was administered to the same participants. In the present study evaluative learning was not only indexed by direct evaluative ratings, but we introduced affective priming as an indirect and unobtrusive, reaction time based measure of stimulus valence. Finally, imagery instructions during acquisition did not facilitate expectancy-learning nor evaluative learning.     

Transfer of newly acquired stimulus valence between identities in dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Patients with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) frequently report episodes of interidentity amnesia, that is amnesia for events experienced by other identities. The goal of the present experiment was to test the implicit transfer of trauma-related information between identities in DID. We hypothesized that whereas declarative information may transfer from one identity to another, the emotional connotation of the memory may be dissociated, especially in the case of negative, trauma-related emotional valence. An evaluative conditioning procedure was combined with an affective priming procedure, both performed by different identities. In the evaluative conditioning procedure, previously neutral stimuli come to refer to a negative or positive connotation. The affective priming procedure was used to test the transfer of this acquired valence to an identity reporting interidentity amnesia. Results indicated activation of stimulus valence in the affective priming task, that is transfer of emotional material between identities.     

Extinction of likes and dislikes: effects of feature-specific attention allocation

The evaluative conditioning (EC) effect refers to the change in the liking of a neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS) due to its pairing with another stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, US). We examined whether the extinction rate of the EC effect is moderated by feature-specific attention allocation. In two experiments, CSs were abstract Gabor patches varying along two orthogonal, perceptual dimensions (i.e. spatial frequency and orientation). During the acquisition phase, one of these dimensions was predictive of the valence of the USs. During the extinction phase, CSs were presented alone and participants were asked to categorise the CSs either according to their valence, the perceptual dimension that was task-relevant during the acquisition phase, or a perceptual dimension that was task-irrelevant during the acquisition phase. As predicted, explicit valence measures revealed a linear increase in the extinction rate of the EC effect as participants were encouraged to assign attention to non-evaluative stimulus information during the extinction phase. In Experiment 1, Affect Misattribution Paradigm (AMP) data mimicked this pattern of results, although the effect just missed conventional levels of significance. In Experiment 2, the AMP data revealed an increase of the EC effect if attention was focused on evaluative stimulus information. Potential mechanisms to explain these findings are discussed.     

情感启动行为研究概述

在西方心理学界,情感启动的研究是近20年来的一个比较活跃的研究领域,研究者们采用多种实验任务和研究方法进行了大量实验,取得了一定的研究成果,证明了人的态度能够被自动激活,并提出了三种对情感启动效应的理论解释：激活扩散机制,反应冲突机制,情感匹配机制。但到目前为止,不同的研究之间仍然存在着一定的分歧。今后的研究应该重点探讨评价自动激活的内在机制,从而促进情感启动的无意识研究。     

阈下情绪启动效应和Stroop效应之对比实验研究

采用同一批正常成人被试,在相同的情绪刺激启动下,进行颜色判断和对模糊刺激表情判断,以考察在一定条件下情绪对认知效率和认知偏向的影响差异。结果未见显著的情绪Stroop效应,但发现消极情绪刺激启动使被试对模糊刺激的判断发生显著的情绪一致性偏向。讨论将该结果归因于被试面对颜色判断任务采取直接进入策略而对于模糊刺激则采取启发式策略所致。分析认为对情绪一认知关系进行发展性研究会富有成效,另外也指出在我们注重效率的今天可能忽视隐性环境扭曲我们认知的可能。     

Stimulus competition in pre/post and online ratings in an evaluative learning design

Evaluative learning is said to differ from Pavlovian associative learning in that it reflects stimulus contiguity, not contingency. Thus, evaluative learning should not be subject to stimulus competition, a proposal tested in the current experiments. Participants were presented in elemental and compound training phases with pictures of shapes as CSs. Each shape/pair of shapes was followed by a picture of a happy or an angry face as the US. In Experiments 1 and 2, evaluative ratings were collected before and after the experiment, and, in Experiment 3, participants provided evaluations online. Stimulus competition was evident in all experiments confirming that evaluative learning is sensitive to stimulus contingencies.     

情绪启动研究的实验范式

情绪启动是探讨情绪和态度自动激活的有效方法,近期其研究范式有了较大的发展,相继产生了经典情绪启动实验、阈下情绪启动实验、向后情绪启动实验以及情绪启动与其他范式相结合的实验等较有影响的研究范式。文章分别梳理了这些范式及其研究结果,并在此基础上,总结研究所采用的范式并展望今后研究的发展趋势。