State anger and prefrontal brain activity: evidence that insult-related relative left-prefrontal activation is associated with experienced anger and aggression

Research has demonstrated that left-prefrontal cortical activity is associated with positive affect, or approach motivation, and that right-prefrontal cortical activity is associated with negative affect, or withdrawal motivation. In past research, emotional valence (positive-negative) has been confounded with motivational direction (approach-withdrawal), such that, for instance, the only emotions examined were both positive and approach related. Recent research has demonstrated that trait anger, a negative but approach-related emotion, is associated with increased left-prefrontal and decreased right-prefrontal activity, suggesting that prefrontal asymmetrical activity is associated with motivational direction and not emotional valence. The present experiment tested whether state-induced anger is associated with relative left-prefrontal activity and whether this prefrontal activity is also associated with aggression. Results supported these hypotheses.     

Negative affect varying in motivational intensity influences scope of memory

Emotions influence cognitive processes involved in memory. While some research has suggested that cognitive scope is determined by affective valence, recent models of emotion–cognition interactions suggest that motivational intensity, rather than valence, influences these processes. The present research was designed to clarify how negative affects differing in motivational intensity impact memory for centrally or peripherally presented information. Experiments 1 & 2 found that, relative to a neutral condition, high intensity negative affect (anger) enhances memory for centrally presented information. Experiment 3 replicated this effect using another high intensity negative affect (threat). Experiment 4 extended this by finding that, relative to a neutral condition, low intensity negative affect (sadness) enhanced memory for peripherally presented information. Finally, in Experiment 5, the effects of sadness and threat on scope of memory were directly compared, finding that threat narrowed scope of memory, while sadness broadened scope of memory. Together, these results provide additional support for the motivational dimensional model of cognitive scope, in that high intensity emotions narrow cognitive scope, while low intensity emotions broaden cognitive scope.     

The Influence of Affective States on Cognitive Broadening/Narrowing: Considering the Importance of Motivational Intensity

Decades of research suggested that positive affective states broaden cognitive processes, whereas negative affective states narrow cognitive processes. More recent research suggests, however, that these conclusions may be premature. These past experiments often compared positive affects low in motivational intensity with negative affects high in motivational intensity. These past experiments, therefore, may have confounded affective valence with motivational intensity. Recent evidence suggests that motivational intensity rather than affective valence influences cognitive broadening/narrowing. That is, affective states of low motivational intensity (e.g., sadness, postgoal positive affect) broaden cognition, whereas affective states of high motivational intensity (e.g., disgust, pregoal positive affect) narrow cognition. We posit that narrowing occurs during affective states of high motivational intensity to aid organisms in acquiring desirable objects or avoiding aversive ones. In contrast, broadening occurs during affective states of low motivational intensity to open organisms to new opportunities.     

On the selective relation of frontal cortical asymmetry and anger-out versus anger-control

The model of anterior asymmetry and emotion proposes an asymmetric representation of approach and withdrawal systems in the left and right anterior brain regions. Within this framework, 3 different concepts have been related to anterior asymmetry: affective valence, motivational direction, and behavioral activation. The aim of the present study was an empirical investigation into the relation between anterior cortical activity and questionnaire measures related to the 3 dimensions positive versus negative affect, approach versus withdrawal motivation, and behavioral activation versus inhibition. Subjects with relative greater left than right frontal cortical activity showed higher anger-out scores and lower anger-control scores. These results support the hypothesis that motivational direction is related to frontal asymmetry (approach-left and withdrawal-right). Furthermore, subjects with greater bilateral (left and right) frontal cortical activity showed higher behavioral activation scores. This finding might suggest that behavioral activation is related to approach and withdrawal motivation.     

On the relationship of frontal brain activity and anger: Examining the role of attitude toward anger

Activity in the left frontal cortex has been associated with positive affective traits, and activity in the right frontal cortex has been associated with negative affective traits. However, in this past research, the valence of the affect (positive vs. negative) was confounded with the direction of the motivation (approach vs. withdrawal). Recent research found that trait anger, a negative affect with approach tendencies, relates to increased left frontal activity. The present research addressed an alternative explanation for these past results—that the relationship between anger and increased left frontal activity is due to anger being regarded as a positive feeling. After developing a reliable and valid instrument that measures attitude toward anger, research indicated that trait anger related to relative left frontal activity and this relationship was not due to the anger being associated with a positive attitude toward anger.     

Aging and motivated cognition: the positivity effect in attention and memory

As people get older, they experience fewer negative emotions. Strategic processes in older adults' emotional attention and memory might play a role in this variation with age. Older adults show more emotionally gratifying memory distortion for past choices and autobiographical information than younger adults do. In addition, when shown stimuli that vary in affective valence, positive items account for a larger proportion of older adults' subsequent memories than those of younger adults. This positivity effect in older adults' memories seems to be due to their greater focus on emotion regulation and to be implemented by cognitive control mechanisms that enhance positive and diminish negative information. These findings suggest that both cognitive abilities and motivation contribute to older adults' improved emotion regulation.     

The effect of embodied emotive states on cognitive categorization

Research has uncovered that positive affect broadens cognitive categorization. The motivational dimensional model, however, posits that positive affect is not a unitary construct with only one cognitive consequence. Instead, this model puts forth that there are different positive affects varying in approach motivational intensity. According to this model, only positive affects lower in motivational intensity should broaden cognitive processes, whereas positive affects higher in motivational intensity should narrow cognitive processes. Consistent with these predictions, high approach positive affect has been shown to narrow attention, whereas low approach positive affect has been shown to broaden it (Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2008). High approach positive affect, therefore, might narrow categorization. Two experiments investigated this possibility by having participants respond to cognitive categorization tasks in 3 body postures designed to elicit different levels of approach motivation: reclining backward, which should evoke low approach motivation; sitting upright, which should evoke moderate approach motivation; and leaning forward, which should evoke high approach motivation. Participants smiled while in each posture in order to experience positive affect. Experiment 1 provided initial support for the idea that high approach positive affect narrows categorization and low approach positive affect broadens categorization. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with improved smiling instructions. These results extend previous work by showing that the motivational model's predictions hold for basic attentional processes as well as higher level cognitive processes such as categorization.     

Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice

Most theories of affective influences on judgement and choice take a valence-based approach, contrasting the effects of positive versus negative feeling states. These approaches have not specified if and when distinct emotions of the same valence have different effects on judgement. In this article, we propose a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. We posit that each emotion is defined by a tendency to perceive new events and objects in ways that are consistent with the original cognitive-appraisal dimensions of the emotion. To pit the valence and appraisal-tendency approaches against one another, we present a study that addresses whether two emotions of the same valence but differing appraisals—anger and fear—relate in different ways to risk perception. Consistent with the appraisal-tendency hypothesis, fearful people made pessimistic judgements of future events whereas angry people made optimistic judgements. In the Discussion we expand the proposed model and review evidence supporting two social moderators of appraisal-tendency processes.     

情绪的动机维度对趋避行为的影响

基于Gable和Harmone-Jones提出的情绪的动机维度模型,本研究采用改进的模拟“小人”任务实验范式考察了情绪的动机维度如何影响趋避行为。研究结果表明：（1）改进的模拟“小人”任务范式能较好地考察情绪对趋避行为的影响;（2）对情绪图片的有意识和无意识加工均出现了“趋利避害的相容效应”,较好地解决了动机定向理论和事件编码理论的纷争;（3）和低动机强度积极情绪相比,高动机强度积极情绪对趋近行为的易化程度更高;和低动机强度消极情绪相比,高动机强度消极情绪对回避行为的易化程度更髙。     

情绪设计对多媒体学习的影响

通过两个实验探讨多媒体学习中情绪设计对学习者情绪、认知过程和学习结果的影响。实验1将内部情绪设计与外部情绪诱发两种方式结合起来,探讨多媒体学习环境中不同方式诱发的积极情绪对学习的影响。实验2进一步聚焦于内部情绪设计,考察颜色和拟人化这两个特定的情绪设计元素对学习者情绪和学习的影响。结果发现:(1)积极的外部情绪诱发和内部情绪设计可以诱发积极情绪,并促进学习迁移。(2)对学习材料进行内部积极情绪设计可以诱发学习者积极情绪,增强学习者的学习动机,降低学习者感知到的学习材料的难度,并促进学习迁移。其中,彩色设计可以诱发学习者积极情绪,但拟人化只有与彩色结合才能诱发学习者积极情绪;在拟人化条件下,彩色设计可以增强学习者学习动机;彩色设计可降低学习者对学习材料感知到的难度;彩色和拟人化都可以促进学习迁移。     

Effects of approach and withdrawal motivation on interactive economic decisions

Although recent economic models of human decision making have recognised the role of emotion as an important biasing factor, the impact of incidental emotion on decisions has remained poorly explored. To address this question, we jointly explored the role of emotional valence (i.e., positive vs. negative) and motivational direction (i.e., approach vs. avoidance) on performance in a well-known economic task, the Ultimatum Game. Participants had to either accept or reject monetary offers from other players, offers that vary in their degree of unfairness. A main effect of motivational direction, but not valence, was observed, with withdrawal-based emotion (disgust and serenity) prompting more rejections relative to approach-based emotion (anger and amusement) and a neutral state. These results further confirm that subtle incidental moods can bias decision making, and suggest that motivational state may be a useful framework to study such decisions. Implications with regard to emotion, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical psychology are discussed.     

Age similarities in matching pro- and contra-hedonic emotional strategies to everyday scenarios

ABSTRACT

Older adults are motivated to maximize positive affect in the present. Young adults will purposely feel negative and high arousal emotions in order to achieve a goal. However, this type of contra-hedonic emotional alignment has not been extensively studied with older adults. We expected older adults are less likely than young adults to select high arousal and negative emotions within specific scenarios where those states could be useful. In two studies, participants selected the emotion they preferred in hypothetical problems that varied on the arousal and valence best suited for goal achievement. Young and older adults were equally likely to endorse affective strategies that matched both pro and contra-hedonic scenarios. While older adults may be generally motivated to avoid negative and high-arousing emotions, they are just as likely as young adults to indicate that these states could be helpful in certain situations.     

Emotions naturally and laboriously expressed: Antecedents,consequences, and the role of valence

The emotion regulation literature has focused primarily on comparing the methods of surface acting and deep acting, yet scholars have also noted the importance of naturally felt emotions as a means for achieving a desired emotional display. The literature has also mainly examined positive displays, yet there are many situations that call for the display of negative emotions. To advance theory and research, we draw from theory on central principles of approach/avoidance motivation to understand why an individual would choose a given emotional display method, as well as the extent to which a given method is beneficial versus harmful to individuals. In doing so, we identify the valence of the emotion being displayed as a critical factor influencing the benefits and detriments of emotional display methods. Results of a 3-week experience-sampling study of 218 employees revealed that mood was associated with the natural display of positive emotion, promotion focus was associated with deep acting, and prevention focus was associated with surface acting. In positive display contexts, displaying emotion naturally was most beneficial (in terms of effects on emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and work withdrawal), whereas surface acting was most detrimental. In negative contexts, this relationship pattern was reversed.     

The impact of changes in spatial distance on emotional responses

Drawing on motivational approaches to emotion, the authors propose that the perceived change in spatial distance to pictures that arouse negative emotions exerts an influence on the significance of these pictures. Two experiments induced the illusion that affective pictures approach toward the observer, recede from the observer, or remain static. To determine the motivational significance of the pictures, emotional valence and arousal ratings as well as startle responses were assessed. Approaching unpleasant pictures were found to exert an influence on both the valence and the arousal elicited by the pictures. Furthermore, movement of pleasant or neutral pictures did not influence startle responses, while the second experiment showed that approaching unpleasant pictures elicited enhanced startle responses compared to receding unpleasant pictures. These findings support the view that a change of spatial distance influences motivational significance and thereby shapes emotional responses.     

Dissociable influences of reward motivation and positive emotion on cognitive control

It is becoming increasingly appreciated that affective and/or motivational influences contribute strongly to goal-oriented cognition and behavior. An unresolved question is whether emotional manipulations (i.e., direct induction of affectively valenced subjective experience) and motivational manipulations (e.g., delivery of performance-contingent rewards and punishments) have similar or distinct effects on cognitive control. Prior work has suggested that reward motivation can reliably enhance a proactive mode of cognitive control, whereas other evidence is suggestive that positive emotion improves cognitive flexibility, but reduces proactive control. However, a limitation of the prior research is that reward motivation and positive emotion have largely been studied independently. Here, we directly compared the effects of positive emotion and reward motivation on cognitive control with a tightly matched, within-subjects design, using the AX-continuous performance task paradigm, which allows for relative measurement of proactive versus reactive cognitive control. High-resolution pupillometry was employed as a secondary measure of cognitive dynamics during task performance. Robust increases in behavioral and pupillometric indices of proactive control were observed with reward motivation. The effects of positive emotion were much weaker, but if anything, also reflected enhancement of proactive control, a pattern that diverges from some prior findings. These results indicate that reward motivation has robust influences on cognitive control, while also highlighting the complexity and heterogeneity of positive-emotion effects. The findings are discussed in terms of potential neurobiological mechanisms.     

Emotion Regulation Across the Life Span: An Integrative Perspective Emphasizing Self-Regulation,Positive Affect,and Dyadic Processes

In this commentary, we build upon the papers featured in this 2-part special issue to advance an integrative perspective on emotion regulation that emphasizes the developmentally specific goal-contexts of emotional phenomena. We highlight the importance of (1) multilevel longitudinal investigations of interactions among biological, affective, cognitive, and behavioral processes with respect to emotion regulation; (2) the integration of emotion-regulation processes with self-regulatory processes across the life course; (3) the dynamic relationship between positive and negative affect and their respective influence on regulatory processes; and (4) greater consideration of the dyadic context of emotion-regulation processes. From this perspective, the optimal developmental outcome with respect to emotion regulation is not affective homeostasis, but rather a dynamic flexibility in emotional experience, the ability to pursue and prioritize different goals, and the capacity to selectively and proactively mobilize emotions and cognitions in the service of context-specific and developmentally specific goals.     

否定情绪词的具身动态模拟过程

实验1和实验2分别以“（不）+积极/消极情绪词”和“（不）+愤怒/悲伤情绪词”形式的情绪词语或否定短语作为实验材料,分别采取词-图匹配范式和趋近-回避范式,以否定加工的早期（250ms）和中后期（1000ms）两种探测时间,探讨否定对情绪词效价与动机维度加工是否符合否定的两步模拟假设。结果发现,否定情绪效价部分符合否定的两步模拟假设,早期以被否定的情绪状态模拟为主,即不高兴会首先激活高兴;中后期,否定消极词和积极词都被理解为积极;否定情绪动机维度并不符合否定的两步模拟假设,否定对愤怒与悲伤的趋近－回避的影响出现在否定加工中后期,否定改变愤怒的动机方向,由趋近变为回避,却没有改变悲伤的动机方向,悲伤仍表现为回避。本研究证明否定对情绪词的效价和动机维度部分符合两步模拟假设,否定情绪词有其特定的加工过程,各维度加工有所不同。     

情绪对延迟折扣的影响：现状、机制与展望

延迟折扣研究领域日益重视情绪的影响作用。本文基于三类研究取向对情绪与延迟折扣关系研究进行了回顾。情绪效价和唤醒度均影响延迟折扣,但是研究结果并不一致;具体情绪类型不同,其对延迟折扣影响也存在差异。除此之外,本文就情绪信息理论、情绪动机维度理论和评估倾向理论如何解释延迟折扣进行了详细阐述。未来的研究需要进一步深入考察情绪影响延迟折扣的认知神经机制,从而为延迟折扣的负性情绪效应的干预提供可靠的科学依据。     

情感一致性及其对认知加工的影响

具身情绪观认为情感的核心功能是评价,这种评价信息会同时表征在低层感知系统和高层认知系统中,它们相互影响、互为因果。情感一致性反映的是情感具身反应（心理感受、情感相关的身体动作和表情等）与情感认知评价（情感的观念性内容,积极与消极）在效价上的耦合关系。这种关系突出的表现为效价上是否一致,情感一致促进其后的认知加工,情感不一致的作用相反。该观点在短时记忆、叙事建构、刻板印象和说服效果等领域得到了证实。未来的研究应重视情感一致性的情感意义,扩展情感一致性定义及假设,并检验情感一致性的评价本质。     

Smiling faces and cash bonuses: Exploring common affective coding across positive and negative emotional and motivational stimuli using fMRI

Although it is clear that emotional and motivational manipulations yield a strong influence on cognition and behaviour, these domains have mostly been investigated in independent research lines. Therefore, it remains poorly understood how far these affective manipulations overlap in terms of their underlying neural activations, especially in light of previous findings that suggest a shared valence mechanism across multiple affective processing domains (e.g., monetary incentives, primary rewards, emotional events). This is particularly interesting considering the commonality between emotional and motivational constructs in terms of their basic affective nature (positive vs. negative), but dissociations in terms of instrumentality, in that only reward-related stimuli are typically associated with performance-contingent outcomes. Here, we aimed to examine potential common neural processes triggered by emotional and motivational stimuli in matched tasks within participants using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Across tasks, we found shared valence effects in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus (part of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), with increased activity for positive and negative stimuli, respectively. Despite this commonality, emotion and reward tasks featured differential behavioural patterns in that negative valence effects (performance costs) were exclusive to emotional stimuli, while positive valence effects (performance benefits) were only observed for reward-related stimuli. Overall, our data suggest a common affective coding mechanism across different task domains and support the idea that monetary incentives entail signed basic valence signals, above and beyond the instruction to perform both gain and loss trials as accurately as possible to maximise the outcome.