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.     

“Use your common sense to navigate,and you're gonna get along okay”: Exploring the sensorial politics of attunement,survival, and resistance in Canadian federal prisons

What does prison feel like? This question has generated a theoretically and epistemologically innovative body of literature known as sensory criminology. However, due to the bureaucratic barriers that researchers experience in trying to access prison spaces and incarcerated people, much of this literature is written about/from the privileged experiences of prison ethnographers, undoubtedly missing many of the sensory nuances of prison life. To collapse the distance, and to prioritize the value of the sensory from the perspective of incarcerated people, we use qualitative data gleaned from 57 semi-structured interviews with former federally incarcerated people in Canada to examine the sensory dynamics of prison life as they are grounded in lived experiences. To concentrate our discussion, we focus analytic attention on the sensorial politics of survival and resistance, highlighting how incarcerated people must first become affectively and sensorially attuned to the prison environment to survive and resist the state-sanctioned violence of incarceration. After contextualizing our project – Feeling the Carceral – we analyze what incarcerated people describe as the shocking and tumultuous process of affective attunement to the prison environment. Next, we demonstrate how incarcerated people use their sensory interpretations of prison spaces to both protect themselves from, and resist, state-sanctioned violence, ultimately questioning the ethics and usefulness of carceral intervention. Specifically, we contend that attending to the ways incarcerated people sensorially decipher and interpret the prison environment not only demonstrates the intelligence and resourcefulness of criminalized people, but it also reveals more subtle, yet nonetheless totalizing, forms of prison violence that have been previously overlooked in the literature.     

Development and psychometric validation of the verbal affective memory test

We here present the development and validation of the Verbal Affective Memory Test-24 (VAMT-24). First, we ensured face validity by selecting 24 words reliably perceived as positive, negative or neutral, respectively, according to healthy Danish adults’ valence ratings of 210 common and non-taboo words. Second, we studied the test's psychometric properties in healthy adults. Finally, we investigated whether individuals diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) differed from healthy controls on seasonal changes in affective recall. Recall rates were internally consistent and reliable and converged satisfactorily with established non-affective verbal tests. Immediate recall (IMR) for positive words exceeded IMR for negative words in the healthy sample. Relatedly, individuals with SAD showed a significantly larger decrease in positive recall from summer to winter than healthy controls. Furthermore, larger seasonal decreases in positive recall significantly predicted larger increases in depressive symptoms. Retest reliability was satisfactory, rs?≥?.77. In conclusion, VAMT-24 is more thoroughly developed and validated than existing verbal affective memory tests and showed satisfactory psychometric properties. VAMT-24 seems especially sensitive to measuring positive verbal recall bias, perhaps due to the application of common, non-taboo words. Based on the psychometric and clinical results, we recommend VAMT-24 for international translations and studies of affective memory.     

A Mixed Model to Disentangle Variance and Serial Autocorrelation in Affective Instability Using Ecological Momentary Assessment Data

Affective instability, the tendency to experience emotions that fluctuate frequently and intensively over time, is a core feature of several mental disorders including borderline personality disorder. Currently, affect is often measured with Ecological Momentary Assessment protocols, which yield the possibility to quantify the instability of affect over time. A number of linear mixed models are proposed to examine (diagnostic) group differences in affective instability. The models contribute to the existing literature by estimating simultaneously both the variance and serial dependency component of affective instability when observations are unequally spaced in time with the serial autocorrelation (or emotional inertia) declining as a function of the time interval between observations. In addition, the models can eliminate systematic trends, take between subject differences into account and test for (diagnostic) group differences in serial autocorrelation, short-term as well as long-term affective variability. The usefulness of the models is illustrated in a study on diagnostic group differences in affective instability in the domain of eating disorders. Limitations of the model are that they pertain to group (and not individual) differences and do not focus explicitly on circadian rhythms or cycles in affect.     

Assessing collective affect recognition via the Emotional Aperture Measure

Curiosity about collective affect is undergoing a revival in many fields. This literature, tracing back to Le Bon's seminal work on crowd psychology, has established the veracity of collective affect and demonstrated its influence on a wide range of group dynamics. More recently, an interest in the perception of collective affect has emerged, revealing a need for a methodological approach for assessing collective emotion recognition to complement measures of individual emotion recognition. This article addresses this need by introducing the Emotional Aperture Measure (EAM). Three studies provide evidence that collective affect recognition requires a processing style distinct from individual emotion recognition and establishes the validity and reliability of the EAM. A sample of working managers further shows how the EAM provides unique insights into how individuals interact with collectives. We discuss how the EAM can advance several lines of research on collective affect.     

Processing negative valence of word pairs that include a positive word

Previous research has suggested that cognitive performance is interrupted by negative relative to neutral or positive stimuli. We examined whether negative valence affects performance at the word or phrase level. Participants performed a semantic decision task on word pairs that included either a negative or a positive target word. In Experiment 1, the valence of the target word was congruent with the overall valence conveyed by the word pair (e.g., fat kid). As expected, response times were slower in the negative condition relative to the positive condition. Experiment 2 included target words that were incongruent with the overall valence of the word pair (e.g., fat salary). Response times were longer for word pairs whose overall valence was negative relative to positive, even though these word pairs included a positive word. Our findings support the Cognitive Primacy Hypothesis, according to which emotional valence is extracted after conceptual processing is complete.     

Callous-unemotional traits and empathy deficits: Mediating effects of affective perspective-taking and facial emotion recognition

Although empathy deficits are thought to be associated with callous-unemotional (CU) traits, findings remain equivocal and little is known about what specific abilities may underlie these purported deficits. Affective perspective-taking (APT) and facial emotion recognition may be implicated, given their independent associations with both empathy and CU traits. The current study examined how CU traits relate to cognitive and affective empathy and whether APT and facial emotion recognition mediate these relations. Participants were 103 adolescents (70 males) aged 16–18 attending a residential programme. CU traits were negatively associated with cognitive and affective empathy to a similar degree. The association between CU traits and affective empathy was partially mediated by APT. Results suggest that assessing mechanisms that may underlie empathic deficits, such as perspective-taking, may be important for youth with CU traits and may inform targets of intervention.     

Assembling human empathy towards care robots: The human labor of robot sociality

This paper conceptualizes human to robot empathy as empathetic arrangements configured in caring spaces. Analyzing empathy towards care robots as arrangements comprising robots, spaces, discourses, bodies and institutions enables recognition of the way empathy is about self-other relationships while eschewing an understanding of empathy in terms of a reciprocal relationship between human and robot. Situating the therapeutic, zoomorphic robot, Paro and the health care support robot, Care-O-Bot as part of empathetic arrangements draws attention to how the cultivation of empathy towards robots governs and regulates patient sociality. In particular, it shows that these robots do not function as substitutes for human carers but instead are dependent on human labor if they are to deliver therapy ethically and effectively. They rely on the affective labor of the patient and the labor of carers and others in the arrangement.     

Exploring the interactions between modal options,destination access,and travel mood

A good understanding of subjectively experienced well-being in daily travel is critical for the design and evaluation of transportation policies and programs. Numerous studies have examined the relationship between how we travel and how we feel during travel. However, people’s travel mood is not only determined by their trip characteristics but also their potential mobility—the capacity of being mobile. Using the data collected via a smartphone application in Minneapolis-St. Paul area, we measure potential mobility in two aspects—modal options and destination access and reveal that people in households with better access to cars and alternative transportation modes are, all else equal, more likely to report more positive moods and fewer negative moods during travel. In addition, people living in neighborhoods with greater access to destinations are less likely to feel stress when traveling. We also find that associations between mode and mood are moderated by modal options and destination access. These findings confirm the importance of explicitly considering modal options and destination access in policy debates and planning initiatives addressing transportation and well-being. In doing so, they demonstrate the relevance of Sen’s Capabilities Approach to transportation planning.