Emotional cues reduce Pavlovian interference in feedback-based go and nogo learning

It is easier to execute a response in the promise of a reward and withhold a response in the promise of a punishment than vice versa, due to a conflict between cue-related Pavlovian and outcome-related instrumental action tendencies in the reverse conditions. This robust learning asymmetry in go and nogo learning is referred to as the Pavlovian bias. Interestingly, it is similar to motivational tendencies reported for affective facial expressions, i.e., facilitation of approach to a smile and withdrawal from a frown. The present study investigated whether and how learning from emotional faces instead of abstract stimuli modulates the Pavlovian bias in reinforcement learning. To this end, 137 healthy adult participants performed an orthogonalized Go/Nogo task that fully decoupled action (go/nogo) and outcome valence (win points/avoid losing points). Three groups of participants were tested with either emotional facial cues whose affective valence was either congruent (CON) or incongruent (INC) to the required instrumental response, or with neutral facial cues (NEU). Relative to NEU, the Pavlovian bias was reduced in both CON and INC, though still present under all learning conditions. Importantly, only for CON, the reduction of the Pavlovian bias effect was adaptive by improving learning performance in one of the conflict conditions. In contrast, the reduction of the Pavlovian bias in INC was completely driven by decreased learning performance in non-conflict conditions. These results suggest a potential role of arousal/salience in Pavlovian-instrumental regulation and cue-action congruency in the adaptability of goal-directed behavior. Implications for clinical application are discussed.

Sadness and fear, but not happiness, motivate inhibitory behaviour: the influence of discrete emotions on the executive function of inhibition

Inhibition, an executive function, is critical for achieving goals that require suppressing unwanted behaviours, thoughts, or distractions. One hypothesis of the emotion and goal compatibility theory is that emotions of sadness and fear enhance inhibitory control. Across Experiments 1-4, we tested this hypothesis by inducing a happy, sad, fearful, and neutral emotional state prior to completing an inhibition task that indexed a specific facet of inhibition (oculomotor, resisting interference, behavioural, and cognitive). In Experiment 4, we included an anger induction to examine whether valence or motivational-orientation best-predicted performance. We found support that fear and sadness enhanced inhibition except when inhibition required resisting interference. We argue that sadness and fear enhance inhibitory control aiding the detection and analysis of problems (i.e. sadness) or threats (i.e. fear) within one's environment. In sum, this work highlights the importance of identifying how negative emotions can be beneficial for and interact with specific executive functions influencing down-stream processing including attention, cognition, and memory.

Broad attention does not buffer the impact of emotionally salient stimuli on performance

It has been claimed that a broad attentional breadth buffers the impact of negative stimuli on human perception and cognition. Here we identify issues with the research on which this claim is based, and then rigorously test the claim. To induce narrow versus broad attentional breadth participants attended to the local versus global elements of Navon stimuli, and to investigate the impact of emotionally salient stimuli on performance we measured the effect of task-irrelevant stimuli of varying emotional salience (negative, neutral, or positive) on task performance. Across a series of experiments, we found that the Navon stimuli were effective in inducing different attentional breadths, and that both negative and positive task-irrelevant stimuli slowed responses relative to neutral stimuli, but that the magnitude of this emotion-induced slowing was invariant to whether attentional breadth was broad or narrow. This indicates that a broad attentional breadth did not buffer against the effect of either negative or positive emotionally salient stimuli. These results challenge the claim the broadening attentional breadth protects against the impact of emotionally salient stimuli.

Don't look now! Emotion-induced blindness: The interplay between emotion and attention

Scientists have long been interested in understanding the influence of emotionally salient stimuli on attention and perception. One experimental paradigm that has shown great promise in demonstrating the effect of such stimuli is emotion-induced blindness. That is, when emotionally salient stimuli are presented in a rapid stream of stimuli, they produce impairments in the perception of task-relevant stimuli, even though they themselves are task irrelevant. This is known as emotion-induced blindness, and it is a profound and robust form of attentional bias. Here, we review the literature on emotion-induced blindness, such as identifying the types of stimuli that elicit it, and its temporal dynamics. We discuss the role of dimensional versus categorical approaches to emotion in relation to emotion-induced blindness. We also synthesize the work examining whether certain individuals, such as those high in anxiety versus psychopathy, succumb to emotion-induced blindness to different extents, and we discuss whether the deficit can be reduced or even abolished. We review the theoretical models that have been proposed to explain the phenomenon. Finally, we identify exciting questions for future research, and elucidate useful frameworks to guide future investigations.

Evaluating website quality: which decision criteria do consumers use to evaluate website quality?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine which design and operational attributes of e-commerce websites consumers use to assess website quality. Cue utilization theory is used to examine the explanatory power, robustness and relevance of the WebQual model. Results indicate which WebQual dimensions are the most relevant and salient to website users. These dimensions are categorized by their perceived and confidence values. A second study is conducted about how website users evaluate and utilize the WebQual dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey methodology was utilized to provide insight into the nomological validity of the WebQual model by examining it through a cue utilization lens.

Findings

The first study categorizes the WebQual dimensions on their ability to provide a diagnostic measure of website quality, and consumer confidence in their ability to use these cues when judging the website's overall quality. The second study presents results of each dimension in relation to the quality evaluation of an actual e-commerce website. Additional analysis also revealed gender differences in cue utilization.

Originality/value

This study provided insight into WebQual-based research and identified original differences in cue utilization across genders. Results suggest that it may be beneficial for brand managers to focus on a subset of quality dimensions, rather than assume that consumers are comfortable using all website attributes to formulate quality judgments. These, results contribute to multiple literatures by providing a model that developers can utilize to focus on the deterministic characteristics of overall website quality. Further, the cue utilization perspective provides additional avenues for fruitful further research into consumer decision-making in the e-commerce context.

Both negative and positive task-irrelevant stimuli contract attentional breadth in individuals with high levels of negative affect

Emotionally-salient stimuli can capture attention to their spatial location, even when they are not relevant to a prescribed task. Here we tested whether they can influence the spatial breadth of attention. Experiment 1 tested whether small task-irrelevant emotionally-salient stimuli contracted attentional breadth when the task required a broad focus, while Experiment 2 tested whether large task-irrelevant emotionally-salient stimuli expanded attentional breadth when the task required a narrow focus. Both experiments compared the effect of negative and positive emotionally-salient images against neutral, and examined the role of participants' self-reported experiences of negative affect. Both experiments revealed slower responses following large emotionally-salient images, an effect unrelated to attentional breadth. Experiment 1 demonstrated an interaction between accuracy and negative affect, such that individuals with high levels of negative affect were less accurate at identifying global targets following both negative and positive small images, but not following neutral small images. This suggests that these small task-irrelevant emotionally-salient images contracted attentional breadth. Experiment 2 suggested that large task-irrelevant emotionally-salient images did not expand attentional breadth. We discuss how these results cannot be explained by existing models of emotion-based effects on attention and cognition, and the important implications they have for the practicalities of model-testing.

The effects of emotion on working memory: Valence versus motivation

It is unclear whether the effects of emotional state on working memory (WM) are valence-based or motivation-based since the type of emotions used in previous research differed on both dimensions of emotion. Especially, effects of anger, which is a negative but approach-related emotional state, were mostly overlooked. To distinguish between valence vs. motivation accounts, two experiments were conducted in which participants were induced one of four emotional states to create approach-positive (happiness), avoidance-negative (fear), approach-negative (anger), and control (neutral) conditions, followed by Self-ordered Pointing Task (Experiment 1) or N-Back task (Experiment 2) as WM measures. The main effect of emotion on WM accuracy was not significant in neither experiment. In the second experiment, however, reaction times (RTs) in the avoidance-related emotion condition were significantly faster compared to those in approach-related conditions, without compromising accuracy. Together the two experiments suggest that the motivational dimension of emotional state is more effective on WM than the valence dimension, especially on the RTs, indicating working memory updating efficiency.

Neural and Attentional Correlates of Intrinsic Motivation Resulting from Social Performance Expectancy

Some models of motivation distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. While past work has examined the neural and cognitive correlates of extrinsic motivation, research on intrinsic motivation has relied primarily on behavioral measures of performance and learning. In particular, no past work has examined the neural and cognitive correlates of social performance expectancy, which is linked to intrinsic motivation. The current study manipulated expectancy of difficult (vs. easy) trials on a cued flanker task and assessed attentional scope and performance. EEG was used to examine motor-action preparation as measured by suppression of beta band activity over the motor cortex and feedback processing as measured by the Reward Positivity (RewP). Results revealed expectancy of difficult (vs. easy) trials narrowed attentional scope, reduced beta activity over the motor cortex, and enhanced RewP amplitudes to win feedback. These findings suggest that enhancing intrinsic motivation through expectancies of positive social comparison engages similar neural and cognitive correlates as extrinsic motivators high in motivational intensity.

Resting EEG in alpha and beta bands predicts individual differences in attentional breadth

Whether individuals focus their attention on the global level (the forest), or local elements that make up the stimulus (the trees) remains relatively stable over a period of at least 10 days in multiple global/local measures. Greater attentional approach tendencies and vigilance, which are likely reflected by lower alpha and higher beta power, are associated with narrowed attentional breadth. The current study investigated whether individual differences in the propensity for individuals to focus on the global or local levels (attentional breadth) can be predicted based on EEG power in alpha and its neighbouring frequency bands during a preceding rest period. Greater levels of posterior alpha and preponderance of alpha-to-beta power at rest were associated with greater attentional breadth during the subsequent Navon letters task. These results suggest that neural indices of attentional approach when not engaged in a goal-orientated task are associated with individual differences in attentional breadth.

Affect and cognitive control: Insights from research on effort mobilization

We present theory and research on effort mobilization that is relevant for understanding the role of affect in cognitive control. We posit that cognitive control and effort are closely related and introduce motivational intensity theory and supporting empirical evidence mainly based on cardiovascular measures of effort. Most important, we discuss the role of affect in the context of effort mobilization and cognitive control from different perspectives. We first present theories predicting affective influences on effort, namely the mood-behavior-model and the implicit-affect-primes-effort model, and supporting empirical evidence. Second, we discuss further implications of the resource conservation principle highlighting the aversive aspect of effort and review evidence for the impact of value and its affective component on effort and cognitive control. Finally, we present a recent integration of the neural mechanisms underlying both effort and cognitive control. We conclude that affective processes are necessary and instrumental for both effort mobilization and cognitive control.

Looming fear stimuli broadens attention in a local-global letter task

This chapter provides an overview of the literature on emotion and global/local processing and presents an empirical study exploring how the combination of motion and emotion influences the focus of attention. In two experiments, fear-related pictures either loomed toward the observer or were stationary, and in one of these experiments the emotional content was masked (i.e., scrambled pictures). In the context of fearful pictures, it was expected that the additional element of looming motion would further focus attention based on looming motion's behaviorally urgent properties. However, the combination of a fearful image and looming motion was shown to broaden as opposed to narrow attention. This effect did not occur with simply neutral/looming or fearful/static images. Further, the separation of the emotional content from looming motion (scrambled pictures) revealed no effect on attentional breadth. This suggests that it is the unique combination of the fear-related content and the looming motion, which is broadening attention.

Evidence for a general factor of behavioral activation system sensitivity

Individual differences in one's propensity to engage the behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) have primarily been studied with Caver and White's (1994) BIS/BAS scale. Whereas, Carver and White identified the BIS as a unidimensional scale, they identified three separable BAS group factors - drive, fun seeking, and reward responsiveness -which Carver urged against combining into a BAS total score. Despite this, a BAS total score has been used extensively although researchers have yet to test whether a BAS general factor exists and, if so, whether a BAS total score can be interpreted as primarily being a measure of the general factor. The current study observed that the best fitting BAS factor model of those we tested was a hierarchical model with three group facets and a general factor. This model was largely invariant across both sex and race/ethnicity. We show, for the first time, that a general factor accounts for the majority of the variance in BAS total scores. Due to the superior fit of the hierarchical model and variance accounted for by the general factor, we conclude that researchers are psychometrically justified in using a BAS total score.

Does Cognitive Broadening Reduce Anger?

Past theory and research have suggested that motivationally intense affective states narrow cognitive scope. Research has also suggested manipulations that broaden cognitive scope reduce responses to appetitive positive affective stimuli and disgusting stimuli, thus suggesting that cognitive broadening reduces motivational intensity. This led to the hypothesis that cognitive broadening would reduce the approach-motivated negative emotion of anger. Seven studies assessed the effect of cognitive broadening on reported trait anger, state anger, attitudes toward anger, attributions of anger to ambiguous pictures, and accessibility of aggressive words. Results from individual studies found mixed support for these predictions. A meta-analysis, however, suggested a small but significant effect on trait anger/aggression and attitudes toward anger across studies. These results may indicate that cognitive scope, as manipulated in these studies, has a small effect on anger-related responses. Discussion speculates on potential explanations of these findings, and their importance for informing future research.

Motivated Cognition: Effects of Reward, Emotion, and Other Motivational Factors Across a Variety of Cognitive Domains

A growing body of literature has demonstrated that motivation influences cognitive processing. The breadth of these effects is extensive and span influences of reward, emotion, and other motivational processes across all cognitive domains. As examples, this scope includes studies of emotional memory, value-based attentional capture, emotion effects on semantic processing, reward-related biases in decision making, and the role of approach/avoidance motivation on cognitive scope. Additionally, other less common forms of motivation–cognition interactions, such as self-referential and motoric processing can also be considered instances of motivated cognition. Here I outline some of the evidence indicating the generality and pervasiveness of these motivation influences on cognition, and introduce the associated ‘research nexus’ at Collabra: Psychology.

I don't know where to look: the impact of intolerance of uncertainty on saccades towards non-predictive emotional face distractors

Attentional bias to uncertain threat is associated with anxiety disorders. Here we examine the extent to which emotional face distractors (happy, angry and neutral) and individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU), impact saccades in two versions of the "follow a cross" task. In both versions of the follow the cross task, the probability of receiving an emotional face distractor was 66.7%. To increase perceived uncertainty regarding the location of the face distractors, in one of the tasks additional non-predictive cues were presented before the onset of the face distractors and target. We did not find IU to impact saccades towards non-cued face distractors. However, we found IU, over Trait Anxiety, to impact saccades towards non-predictive cueing of face distractors. Under these conditions, IU individuals' eyes were pulled towards angry face distractors and away from happy face distractors overall, and the speed of this deviation of the eyes was determined by the combination of the cue and emotion of the face. Overall, these results suggest a specific role of IU on attentional bias to threat during uncertainty. These findings highlight the potential of intolerance of uncertainty-based mechanisms to help understand anxiety disorder pathology and inform potential treatment targets.

Heavy drinking, impulsivity and attentional narrowing following alcohol cue exposure

RATIONALE

Research shows that alcohol-related stimuli have the propensity to capture attention among individuals motivated to consume alcohol. Research has further demonstrated that impulsive individuals are especially prone to this type of attentional bias. Recently, it is suggested that alcohol cue exposure can also produce a general narrowing of attention consistent with the activation of approach motivational states.

OBJECTIVE

Based on previous models of addiction and recent research on the activation of approach motivational states, we predicted that impulsive individuals would demonstrate a constriction of attentional focus in response to alcohol cue exposure.

METHODS

Participants (n = 392) completed a task assessing attentional breadth in response to alcohol and non-alcohol cues, followed by measures of alcohol use and impulsivity.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that impulsivity scores predicted narrowing of attentional scope following the presentation of alcohol cues for heavier drinkers but not for light drinkers.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that impulsive individuals who drink more heavily demonstrate a narrowing of attention in the presence of alcohol-related incentive cues. Implications for how these findings might account for the link between impulsivity and alcohol use and misuse are discussed.

Red - take a closer look

Color research has shown that red is associated with avoidance of threat (e.g., failure) or approach of reward (e.g., mating) depending on the context in which it is perceived. In the present study we explored one central cognitive process that might be involved in the context dependency of red associations. According to our theory, red is supposed to highlight the relevance (importance) of a goal-related stimulus and correspondingly intensifies the perceivers' attentional reaction to it. Angry and happy human compared to non-human facial expressions were used as goal-relevant stimuli. The data indicate that the color red leads to enhanced attentional engagement to angry and happy human facial expressions (compared to neutral ones) - the use of non-human facial expressions does not bias attention. The results are discussed with regard to the idea that red induced attentional biases might explain the red-context effects on motivation.

On carrots and curiosity: eating fruit and vegetables is associated with greater flourishing in daily life

OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to determine whether eating fruit and vegetables (FV) is associated with other markers of well-being beyond happiness and life satisfaction. Towards this aim, we tested whether FV consumption is associated with greater eudaemonic well-being - a state of flourishing characterized by feelings of engagement, meaning, and purpose in life. We also tested associations with two eudaemonic behaviours - curiosity and creativity.

DESIGN

Daily diary study across 13 days (micro-longitudinal, correlational design).

METHODS

A sample of 405 young adults (67% women; mean age 19.9 [SD 1.6] years) completed an Internet daily diary for 13 consecutive days. Each day, participants reported on their consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets, and chips, as well as their eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, creativity, positive affect (PA), and negative affect. Between-person associations were analysed on aggregated data. Within-person associations were analysed using multilevel models controlling for weekday and weekend patterns.

RESULTS

Fruit and vegetables consumption predicted greater eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, and creativity at the between- and within-person levels. Young adults who ate more FV reported higher average eudaemonic well-being, more intense feelings of curiosity, and greater creativity compared with young adults who ate less FV. On days when young adults ate more FV, they reported greater eudaemonic well-being, curiosity, and creativity compared with days when they ate less FV. FV consumption also predicted higher PA, which mostly did not account for the associations between FV and the other well-being variables. Few unhealthy foods (sweets, chips) were related to well-being except that consumption of sweets was associated with greater curiosity and PA at the within-person level. Lagged data analyses showed no carry-over effects of FV consumption onto next-day well-being (or vice versa).

CONCLUSIONS

Although these patterns are strictly correlational, this study provides the first evidence that FV consumption may be related to a broader range of well-being states that signal human flourishing in early adulthood. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? There is growing evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables (FV) is related to greater happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect. These associations are not entirely explained by demographic or health variables including socio-economic status, exercise, smoking, and body mass index (BMI). Recent experimental and daily diary research suggests that FV consumption may be a causal factor in promoting states of positive well-being. Research has examined the links between FV consumption and hedonic well-being - whether people feel good (vs. bad) and satisfied-but has not addressed links between FV consumption and eudaemonic well-being- whether people feel engaged and experience their lives as meaningful and purposeful. What does this study add? It provides the first evidence that eating FV is related to greater eudaemonic well-being in a naturalistic setting. Eating FV was also related to greater self-reported curiosity and creativity. FV consumption may underlie a broad range of experiences that signal flourishing. Future randomised controlled trials of FV should include measures of eudaemonic well-being as outcome variables.

Does Emotion Directly Tune the Scope of Attention?

Considerable research supports a fixed link between affect and attentional scope, with positive affect producing a focus on the forest, so to speak, and negative affect producing a focus on the trees. New research, however, reveals greater flexibility in this link than is commonly assumed. Research consistent with the idea that affective feelings merely influence whether people act on briefly dominant tendencies to focus broadly or narrowly is presented. Implications of these new findings for research on affect and attention are discussed.

Extraversion and Reward Processing

Reward processes have played an increasingly visible role in theories of extraverted personality. Reward processing is usually conceptualized in terms of the brain system responsible for generating incentive motivation and behavioral approach of rewarding stimuli, as in theories by Jeffrey Gray and Richard Depue. Recent increases in the accessibility of neuroscience methods have accelerated our understanding of the relationship between extraversion and neural processing of rewards. An issue that has remained somewhat neglected by this literature concerns the distinctions that have been made between reward desire and reward enjoyment. Higher-level abstractions of reward processing—identifiable in cognitive, social, and narrative approaches—have also received relatively little attention. These promising directions for future research may help further expand knowledge in this area of personality science.