负性情绪在冲突适应中的作用机制：分离与整合视角

负性情绪如何影响冲突适应一直以来受到领域内研究者们的广泛关注。根据负性情绪产生的源头(冲突外部操纵vs.冲突内部固有), 对于该问题的论述可以分别从认知与情绪的分离与整合视角展开。分离视角下, 操纵于冲突之外的负性情绪(外部负性情绪)独立于冲突加工过程, 通过情绪加工系统或个体自身的动机/唤醒水平影响冲突适应。近些年来的研究发现冲突加工自动产生负性情绪(固有负性情绪), 寓示着认知冲突与负性情绪间的内在关联, 固有负性情绪因此可被视作诱发冲突适应的另一个有效来源。整合视角下, 操纵于冲突内部的(固有)负性情绪高度整合于冲突加工过程, 其功能与冲突信息类似, 通过内在地促进目标导向行为直接诱发冲突适应。对这一主题的论述加深了我们对负性情绪如何作用于冲突适应过程的理解, 也为探索认知与情绪系统的整合过程及作用机制提供了一个全新的视角, 在此基础上, 我们也提出一些未来可行的研究方向。     

Enhanced conflict-driven cognitive control by emotional arousal,not by valence

Emotion is widely agreed to have two dimensions, valence and arousal. Few studies have explored the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation by considering both of these, which could have dissociate influence. The present study aimed to fill the gap as to whether emotional valence and arousal would exert dissociable influence on conflict adaptation. In the experiments, we included positive, neutral, and negative conditions, with comparable arousal between positive and negative conditions. Both positive and negative conditions have higher arousal than neutral ones. In Experiment 1, by using a two-colour-word Flanker task, we found that conflict adaptation was enhanced in both positive and negative contexts compared to a neutral context. Furthermore, this effect still existed when controlling stimulus–response repetitions in Experiment 2, which used a four-colour-word Flanker task. The findings suggest emotional arousal enhances conflict adaptation, regardless of emotional valence. Thus, future studies should consider emotional arousal when studying the effect of emotion on conflict adaptation. Moreover, the unique role of the emotional context in conflict-driven cognitive control is emphasised.     

The influence of approach–avoidance motivational orientation on conflict adaptation

To deal effectively with a continuously changing environment, our cognitive system adaptively regulates resource allocation. Earlier findings showed that an avoidance orientation (induced by arm extension), relative to an approach orientation (induced by arm flexion), enhanced sustained cognitive control. In avoidance conditions, performance on a cognitive control task was enhanced, as indicated by a reduced congruency effect, relative to approach conditions. Extending these findings, in the present behavioral studies we investigated dynamic adaptations in cognitive control—that is, conflict adaptation. We proposed that an avoidance state recruits more resources in response to conflicting signals, and thereby increases conflict adaptation. Conversely, in an approach state, conflict processing diminishes, which consequently weakens conflict adaptation. As predicted, approach versus avoidance arm movements affected both behavioral congruency effects and conflict adaptation: As compared to approach, avoidance movements elicited reduced congruency effects and increased conflict adaptation. These results are discussed in line with a possible underlying neuropsychological model.     

Increasing negative emotions by reappraisal enhances subsequent cognitive control: A combined behavioral and electrophysiological study

To what degree do cognitively based strategies of emotion regulation impact subsequent cognitive control? Here, we investigated this question by interleaving a cognitive task with emotion regulation trials, where regulation occurred through cognitive reappraisal. In addition to obtaining self-reports of emotion regulation, we used the late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential as an objective index of emotion regulation. On each trial, participants maintained, decreased, or increased their emotional response to an unpleasant picture and then responded to a Stroop stimulus. Results revealed that (1) the magnitude of the LPP was decreased with reappraisal instructions to decrease negative emotion and were enhanced with reappraisal instructions to increase negative emotion; (2) after cognitive reappraisal was used to increase the intensity of negative emotion, RT interference in the subsequent Stroop trial was significantly reduced; and (3) increasing negative emotions by reappraisal also modulated the cognitive control-related sustained potential. These results suggest that increasing negative emotions by cognitive reappraisal heightens cognitive control, which may be sustained for a short time after the regulation event.     

Positive emotion impedes emotional but not cognitive conflict processing

Cognitive control enables successful goal-directed behavior by resolving a conflict between opposing action tendencies, while emotional control arises as a consequence of emotional conflict processing such as in irony. While negative emotion facilitates both cognitive and emotional conflict processing, it is unclear how emotional conflict processing is affected by positive emotion (e.g., humor). In 2 EEG experiments, we investigated the role of positive audiovisual target stimuli in cognitive and emotional conflict processing. Participants categorized either spoken vowels (cognitive task) or their emotional valence (emotional task) and ignored the visual stimulus dimension. Behaviorally, a positive target showed no influence on cognitive conflict processing, but impeded emotional conflict processing. In the emotional task, response time conflict costs were higher for positive than for neutral targets. In the EEG, we observed an interaction of emotion by congruence in the P200 and N200 ERP components in emotional but not in cognitive conflict processing. In the emotional conflict task, the P200 and N200 conflict effect was larger for emotional than neutral targets. Thus, our results show that emotion affects conflict processing differently as a function of conflict type and emotional valence. This suggests that there are conflict- and valence-specific mechanisms modulating executive control.     

The effect of working memory capacity on conflict monitoring

The conflict adaptation effect, a reduced interference effect upon the detection of a conflict signal (e.g., following an incongruent trial), has been interpreted as evidence for active regulation of top-down cognitive control. We hypothesized that the extent of conflict adaptation should be related to individuals' working memory capacity (WMC), which has been repeatedly demonstrated to reflect the level of cognitive control. Using the Simon task, in Experiment 1, we quantified the conflict adaptation ratio (CAR) transiently as the ratio of the conflict effect following an incongruent trial to the conflict effect following a congruent trial, controlling for the reaction time that often correlates with WMC. We observed that the CAR varied from highly negative with low WMC scores to near-zero with high WMC scores. This result suggests that high WMC individuals, when detecting conflict, adjust the level of cognitive control optimally so that their performance is less susceptible to the presence of a distractor. In Experiment 2, we quantified the CAR in a sustained manner as the ratio of the conflict effect from predominantly incongruent blocks to the conflict effect from predominantly congruent blocks. Again, the CAR varied from negative to zero as WMC increased. These results suggest that WMC may reflect, in addition to the ability to maintain a level of control, the ability to adjust the level of control appropriately to the contextual demands.     

Dissociating proportion congruent and conflict adaptation effects in a Simon–Stroop procedure

Proportion congruent and conflict adaptation are two well known effects associated with cognitive control. A critical open question is whether they reflect the same or separate cognitive control mechanisms. In this experiment, in a training phase we introduced a proportion congruency manipulation for one conflict type (i.e. Simon), whereas in pre-training and post-training phases two conflict types (e.g. Simon and Spatial Stroop) were displayed with the same incongruent-to-congruent ratio. The results supported the sustained nature of the proportion congruent effect, as it transferred from the training to the post-training phase. Furthermore, this transfer generalized to both conflict types. By contrast, the conflict adaptation effect was specific to conflict type, as it was only observed when the same conflict type (either Simon or Stroop) was presented on two consecutive trials (no effect was observed on conflict type alternation trials). Results are interpreted as supporting the reactive and proactive control mechanisms distinction.     

Timing matters: Negative emotion elicited 5 min but not 30 min or 45 min after learning enhances consolidation of internal-monitoring source memory

Two experiments examined the time-dependent effects of negative emotion on consolidation of item and internal-monitoring source memory. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 121) learned a list of words. They were asked to read aloud half of the words and to think about the remaining half. They were instructed to memorize each word and its associative cognitive operation (“reading” versus “thinking”). Immediately following learning they conducted free recall and then watched a 3-min either neutral or negative video clip when 5 min, 30 min or 45 min had elapsed after learning. Twenty-four hours later they returned to take surprise tests for item and source memory. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except that participants, without conducting an immediate test of free recall, took tests of source memory for all encoded words both immediately and 24 h after learning. Experiment 1 showed that negative emotion enhanced consolidation of item memory (as measured by retention ratio of free recall) regardless of delay of emotion elicitation and that negative emotion enhanced consolidation of source memory when it was elicited at a 5 min delay but reduced consolidation of source memory when it was elicited at a 30 min delay; when elicited at a 45 min delay, negative emotion had little effect. Furthermore, Experiment 2 replicated the enhancement effect on source memory in the 5 min delay even when participants were tested on all the encoded words. The current study partially replicated prior studies on item memory and extends the literature by providing evidence for a time-dependent effect of negative emotion on consolidation of source memory based on internal monitoring.     

Cognitive fusion and emotion differentiation: does getting entangled with our thoughts dysregulate the generation,experience and regulation of emotion?

We tested whether cognitive fusion impairs emotion differentiation and thereby mediates relations between cognitive fusion and depression and panic symptoms among 55 adults (M_age?=?26.8 (3.9), 50.9% women). Using visual stimuli, we elicited multiple emotion states and measured (a) emotional intensity – the subjective emotion intensity of elicited emotions (i.e. Specific Emotion Intensity – SEI), as well as (b) emotional differentiation – the degree of co-activation of multiple negative emotions when a specific emotion was elicited (i.e. Multiple Emotion Co-Activation – MECA). First, as hypothesised, we found that cognitive fusion predicted lower levels of emotion differentiation (MECA). In contrast, as hypothesised, these effects were significantly greater than the (null) effects of cognitive fusion on emotion intensity (SEI). Second, as predicted, MECA, but not SEI, predicted depression and panic symptoms. Finally, we found that MECA mediated the effects of cognitive fusion on depression and panic symptoms. The present findings contribute novel, preliminary empirical insight into associations between cognitive fusion, impaired emotion differentiation and mental ill-health.     

情绪对项目记忆和来源记忆的影响

最近几十年以来, 情绪对记忆的影响越来越受到认知心理学家的关注。本文总结了我在中科院心理研究所师从傅小兰研究员攻读博士学位期间所开展的主要研究工作。我的研究以中文词语为学习材料, 分别考察了在编码过程中和编码结束后诱发情绪对项目记忆和来源记忆的影响。当情绪在编码阶段被诱发, 主要的研究发现如下：1)负性情绪增强自由回忆, 但正性情绪只呈现出增强自由回忆的趋势。2)负性情绪降低总体再认记忆, 但正性情绪对总体再认记忆没有影响。此外, 正性和负性情绪均不影响“记得”反应的正确率; 然而, 负性情绪降低了“知道”反应的正确率, 正性情绪对“知道”反应的正确率没有影响。3)正性和负性情绪均对来源记忆(即对词语字体颜色的记忆)没有影响。当情绪在编码结束后被诱发, 主要的研究发现如下：1)对女性被试而言, 负性情绪增强了项目记忆的巩固, 然而, 对男性被试而言, 正性和负性情绪均不影响项目记忆的巩固。2)无论对男性还是女性被试, 正性和负性情绪对来源记忆的巩固均没有影响。本研究的上述发现对建立情绪和记忆的关系具有理论意义, 对如何在教学情境中如何利用情绪诱发促进学生的记忆巩固也具有现实指导意义。     

Cognitive Control in the Face of Fear: Reduced Cognitive-Emotional Flexibility in Women with a History of Child Abuse

Child abuse can negatively affect neurobiological systems involved in regulating emotions. Adults who were maltreated as children show diminished capacity to flexibly integrate the prefrontal and limbic circuits underlying emotion regulation. Using a facial identification Stroop task with nonemotional and emotional stimuli, we found that women who reported more childhood abuse (N = 44) were no different from women reporting less childhood abuse (N = 45) on nonemotional conflict adaptation, but were significantly less able to adapt to emotional conflict. Women who reported more abuse were especially impaired in adapting to emotional conflict when incongruent stimuli involved a fearful face. These results help characterize the relation between cognitive control and emotion regulation and highlight the far-reaching effects of childhood abuse on cognitive-emotional flexibility.     

The effect of cognitive reappraisal on long‐term emotional experience and emotional memory

One's ability to properly regulate emotion is critical to psychological and physical well‐being. Among various strategies to regulate emotion, cognitive reappraisal has been shown to modulate both emotional experience and emotional memory. However, most studies of reappraisal have focused on reappraisal of negative situations, with reappraisal of positive emotion receiving considerably less attention. In addition, the effects of reappraisal on emotional reactions to stimuli are typically only assessed either immediately or after a short delay, and it remains unclear whether reappraisal effects persist over longer time periods. We investigated the effect of cognitive reappraisal on emotional reactions and long‐term episodic memory for positive and negative stimuli. Men and women viewed emotionally negative, positive, and neutral pictures while they were instructed to either increase, decrease, or maintain the initial emotional reactions elicited by the pictures. Subjective ratings of emotional valence and arousal were assessed during the regulation task and again after 1 week. Memory for the pictures was assessed with free recall. Results indicated that pictures accompanied by instructions to increase emotion were better recalled than pictures reappraised to decrease emotion. Modulation of emotional arousal elicited by stimuli persisted over a week, but this effect was observed only for men. These findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal can have long‐lasting effects on emotional reactions to stimuli. However, the sex differences observed for the effects of reappraisal on emotional reactions highlight the importance of considering individual differences in the effects of regulation.     

维度改变卡片分类任务中的负启动效应及其发生的条件

为了探讨负启动效应在学前儿童规则灵活转换中的作用, 用几个不同负启动版本的维度改变卡片分类任务(DCCS)研究了DCCS中的负启动效应及其在3、4岁儿童中的发展。实验一验证了儿童在负启动版本DCCS任务中的年龄发展趋势, 发现与标准版本一样, 大多数3、4岁儿童都不能通过, 但随着年龄增长负启动会逐渐减少, 更多的儿童能够顺利通过任务。实验二考察了DCCS中负启动发生的条件, 发现在任务的转换前阶段, 无论分类规则间存在冲突还是目标卡片与测试卡片间无关维度值上存在冲突, 负启动都会发生, 由此揭示出能引起选择性注意和主动抑制的冲突是负启动发生的关键。实验三探讨了负启动时主动抑制发生的层面, 发现儿童主动抑制的并非是无关维度中一个或某几个特定的值, 而是整个无关的维度, 表明抑制发生在维度这一更抽象的上位水平上。说明由抑制而产生的负启动或许也应成为儿童认知灵活性发展中需要克服的一个问题。     

Cognitive reappraisal and acceptance: an experimental comparison of two emotion regulation strategies

The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of cognitive reappraisal and acceptance on subjective distress, physiological reactions and behavioral avoidance in relation to aversive emotional states elicited by film-clips. Ninety-four participants were randomized to one of three groups. The Reappraisal group was instructed to think about what they saw in a way that minimized negative emotional reactions, the Acceptance group was told to let their feelings come and go without trying to control or avoid them, while the Watch (control) group was told just to watch the film-clips. Compared to the control condition, both reappraisal and acceptance led to significant reductions of subjective distress, physiological reactions associated with aversive emotions and behavioral avoidance. On the three types of measures there were few significant differences between the Reappraisal and Acceptance groups, but when such differences existed they were to the benefit of the Reappraisal condition. In the reappraisal condition there was however a positive correlation between elicited aversive emotion and avoidance, while no such correlation existed in the acceptance condition. The results are interpreted and discussed in relation to the theories underlying reappraisal and acceptance as well as the conceptual framework for emotion regulation established by Gross (2007).     

The effect of induced anxiety on cognition: threat of shock enhances aversive processing in healthy individuals

Individuals with anxiety disorders demonstrate altered cognitive performance including (1) cognitive biases towards negative stimuli (affective biases) and (2) increased cognitive rigidity (e.g., impaired conflict adaptation) on affective Stroop tasks. Threat of electric shock is frequently used to induce anxiety in healthy individuals, but the extent to which this manipulation mimics the cognitive impairment seen in anxiety disorders is unclear. In this study, 31 healthy individuals completed an affective Stroop task under safe and threat-of-shock conditions. We showed that threat (1) enhanced aversive processing and abolished a positive affective bias but (2) had no effect on conflict adaptation. Threat of shock thus partially models the effects of anxiety disorders on affective Stroop tasks. We suggest that the affective state of anxiety—which is common to both threat and anxiety disorders—modulates the neural inhibition of subcortical aversive processing, whilst pathologies unique to anxiety disorders modulate conflict adaptation.     

Now you see it, now you don't: controlling for contingencies and stimulus repetitions eliminates the Gratton effect

The Gratton (or sequential congruency) effect is the finding that conflict effects (e.g., Stroop and Eriksen flanker effects) are larger following congruent trials relative to incongruent trials. The standard account given for this is that a cognitive control mechanism detects conflict when it occurs and adapts to this conflict on the following trial. Others, however, have questioned the conflict adaptation account and suggested that sequential biases might account for the Gratton effect. In two experiments, contingency biases were removed from the task and stimulus repetitions were deleted to control for stimulus bindings. This eliminated the Gratton effect in the response times in both experiments, supporting a non-conflict explanation of the Gratton effect. A Gratton effect did persist in the errors of Experiment 1; however, this effect was not produced by the type of errors (word reading errors) that a conflict adaptation account should predict. Instead, tentative support was found for a congruency switch cost hypothesis. In all, the conflict adaptation account failed to account for any of the reported data. Implications for future work on cognitive control are discussed.     

不同任务难度条件下认知老化对冲突适应能力的影响

采用任务冲突范式考察在不同任务难度条件下认知老化对个体冲突适应能力的影响。实验1采用经典Flanker任务考察在需要较少认知资源的低难度任务上,老年人与年轻人的冲突适应能力是否有差异;实验2则进一步采用Flanker与Simon任务的交叉整合任务,探讨在需要更多认知资源的高难度任务上,认知老化对冲突适应能力的影响。结果表明在低难度任务条件下,认知老化并未对冲突适应能力产生影响;而当冲突调控所需认知资源超出老化大脑最大代偿潜能时,老年人的冲突适应能力受损严重,认知老化会显著影响冲突适应能力。本研究最终支持了脑功能代偿说和资源限制理论。     

Cognitive control outside of conscious awareness

To test whether cognitive control can operate fully unconsciously on conflicts arising between two interfering subliminal stimuli, we designed a priming paradigm in which a subliminal reverse Color-Word Stroop item (a color word written on a congruent/incongruent color rectangle) preceded a supraliminal one in each trial. We found (a) a conflict adaptation effect, with a smaller reverse Stroop effect on the visible probe items after incongruent than after congruent subliminal prime items and (b) a negative priming effect, with longer reaction-times on incongruent visible probe items when the color word corresponded to the color of the rectangle in the preceding subliminal prime item than when it was not. These effects replicate the ones classically reported in studies using visible items and suggest that cognitive control was transferred from the subliminal prime to the visible probe items. Taken together, our results demonstrate that cognitive control can operate on conflicting subliminal information.     

情绪调节对消极元刻板印象激活的认知效应的影响

以101名中职生为被试,采用不同难度的工作记忆任务,探讨认知重评与表达抑制两种情绪调节策略对消极元刻板印象激活的认知效应的影响。结果发现:(1)情绪调节策略对元刻板印象激活的认知效应具有影响,且与认知任务的难度有关;(2)在低难度工作记忆任务中,情绪调节策略对元刻板印象激活的认知效应没有影响,在中等难度任务中,认知重评减弱了激活的认知效应,但表达抑制没有影响,在高难度任务中,认知重评没有影响,表达抑制反而增强了激活的认知效应。总之,不同情绪调节策略会对消极元刻板印象激活的认知效应产生不同的作用。     

冲突适应独立于意识：来自行为和ERP的证据

尽管已有研究发现诸如抑制控制和任务转换等认知控制功能独立于意识, 但是对冲突适应是否需要意识的参与目前还存在激烈的争论。为了进一步探讨此问题, 本研究记录了18名被试在完成箭头偏对比掩蔽任务(meta-contrast masking task)时的行为和脑电数据。结果显示, 在有意识和无意识条件下在反应时和额中N2和中顶P3波幅上均表现出了显著的冲突适应效应。这不仅表明冲突控制独立于意识, 而且也表明先前无意识经验对人类信息加工系统的适应性调节作用。本研究对认识认知控制和意识的本质具有重要意义, 也为建构认知控制与意识关系的理论提供了启示。