Affective valence and arousal in ADHD and normal boys during a startle habituation experiment

OBJECTIVE: To measure two dimensions of emotion (affective valence and arousal) in 29 boys with attention-deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD) and 32 normal boys. METHOD: After a startle habituation experiment during which these subjects heard 40 startling sounds while watching a silent interesting movie, they were asked 12 questions (categorized a priori into questions relating to affective valence and to arousal) about their emotional reactions to these putatively unpleasant and pleasurable stimuli. Responses were recorded for the two dimensions of emotion, using two cartoon strips in each of which five expressions of a cartoon character varied linearly from happy to unhappy (affective valence dimension) and calm to excited (arousal dimension). RESULTS: Factor analyses of the 12 responses revealed four factors in which the highest loadings were for affective valence to the startle responses, affective valence to the silent movie, arousal, and scary feelings. Relative to the normal group, the responses of the ADHD group were significantly biased toward pleasurable valence to the startling stimuli and to the silent movie, with a trend toward hypoarousal. Startle magnitude and habituation were similar in both groups. The normal tonic heart rate acceleration throughout the experimental session was not sustained in the ADHD group. CONCLUSIONS: The self-reports of affective valence biased in the direction of pleasure and away from displeasure and the trend toward hypoarousal suggest an emotional dysfunction in ADHD.     

Dimensions of mood in mood-dependent memory

In this investigation of the roles of 2 different dimensions of mood (pleasantness and arousal) in mood-dependent memory (MDM), participants generated words while listening to a selection of independently rated mood music (normative study and Experiment 5). Then they recalled the words while listening to another mood-music selection (Experiments 1-3) or to a verbal-mood scenario (Experiment 4). Changing only the dimension of mood pleasantness from generation to recall decreased memory whether the intended moods were explicitly defined or not. However, changing only arousal decreased memory only when moods were defined. Thus, pleasantness-dependent memory, but not arousal-dependent memory, occurred consistently. Although MDM also occurred with simultaneous changes in both dimensions, the effect was not significantly greater than that of pleasantness-dependent memory. The results are discussed in terms of 2-dimensional theories of emotion as applied to memory.     

Alcohol and human emotion: A multidimensional analysis incorporating startle-probe methodology.

The effect of alcohol intoxication on emotional response was investigated using a model of emotion that includes both arousal and valence dimensions. Thirty-six university students were exposed to multiple presentations of photographic slides selected to elicit distinctive emotional reactions ranging from very pleasant to very unpleasant; half of them received a moderate (approximately .75 ml/kg) dose of ethanol. The students' psychophysiological responses indicated that both general startle reactivity and autonomic indices specific to emotional arousal were diminished by alcohol. However, the affective modulation of startle, occurring with emotional states manipulated by slides with distinct valences, remained intact. These findings suggest that "stress-response dampening" by alcohol may involve a nonspecific attenuation of arousal reactions evident for positive as well as negative stimuli and that theories of motivation for drinking that are based on mood alteration may need refinement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What makes us like music? Determinants of music preference.

What are the determinants of music preference, and how strong is their relative influence? This article investigates the parameters that may influence music preference, focusing on the cognitive, emotional, and cultural functions of music, physiological arousal, and familiarity. Data were collected in a lab study and in an online survey (total N = 263). Participants listened to six pieces of distinct musical styles (and to their own favorite music in the lab study). They had to indicate how much they liked the music and how much they agreed with a list of statements concerning the parameters mentioned above for each piece. Multiple regressions revealed that all parameters (except cultural functions) accounted significantly for the strength of music preference. The cognitive functions of music (i.e., music as a means for communication and self-reflection), as well as physiological arousal elicited by the music, were the most important determinants of music preference. The results are discussed in the light of several assumptions about the evolutionary foundation of music listening. In addition, the present findings may serve as a basis for the construction of an empirically derived theory of music preference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional granularity and borderline personality disorder.

This study examined the affective dysregulation component of borderline personality disorder (BPD) from an emotional granularity perspective, which refers to the specificity in which one represents emotions. Forty-six female participants meeting criteria for BPD and 51 female control participants without BPD and Axis I pathology completed tasks that assessed the degree to which participants incorporated information about valence (pleasant–unpleasant) and arousal (calm–activated) in their semantic/conceptual representations of emotions and in using labels to represent emotional reactions. As hypothesized, participants with BPD emphasized valence more and arousal less than control participants did when using emotion terms to label their emotional reactions. Implications and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homosexual threat, negative attitudes toward masturbation, sex guilt, and males' sexual and affective reactions to explicit sexual films.

Subjective sexual arousal and affective responses of 215 undergraduate males to films of masturbatory, homosexual, and heterosexual behavior were studied as a function of personality differences in negative attitudes toward masturbation, homosexual threat, and sex guilt. The film of heterosexual behavior elicited more subjective sexual arousal and less disgust, anger, shame, depression, and guilt than did the films of male masturbation and homosexuality. The film of homosexuality elicited both more sexual arousal and more disgust, anger, shame, and guilt than did the film of masturbation. The personality inventories (e.g., Mosher Forced-Choice Guilt Inventory, Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory) predicted sexual arousal and affective reactions, but the evidence was better for convergent than for discriminant validity. A promising new measure of homosexual threat (Homosexual Threat Inventory) was constructed that was predictive of heterosexual–homosexual orientation and reactions to the films. The concept of homosexual threat is differentiated from the concepts of fear of homosexuals, homosexual panic, and homosexual prejudice. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Affect dynamics, affective forecasting, and aging": Correction to Nielsen, Knutson, and Carstensen (2008).

Reports an error in "Affect dynamics, affective forecasting, and aging" by Lisbeth Nielsen, Brian Knutson and Laura L. Carstensen (Emotion, 2008[Jun], Vol 8[3], 318-330). The first author of the article was listed as being affiliated with both the National Institute on Aging and the Department of Psychology, Stanford University. Dr. Nielsen would like to clarify that the research for this article was conducted while she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. The copyright notice should also have been listed as "In the Public Domain." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-06717-002.) Affective forecasting, experienced affect, and recalled affect were compared in younger and older adults during a task in which participants worked to win and avoid losing small monetary sums. Dynamic changes in affect were measured along valence and arousal dimensions, with probes during both anticipatory and consummatory task phases. Older and younger adults displayed distinct patterns of affect dynamics. Younger adults reported increased negative arousal during loss anticipation and positive arousal during gain anticipation. In contrast, older adults reported increased positive arousal during gain anticipation but showed no increase in negative arousal on trials involving loss anticipation. Additionally, younger adults reported large increases in valence after avoiding an anticipated loss, but older adults did not. Younger, but not older, adults exhibited forecasting errors on the arousal dimension, underestimating increases in arousal during anticipation of gains and losses and overestimating increases in arousal in response to gain outcomes. Overall, the findings are consistent with a growing literature suggesting that older people experience less negative emotion than their younger counterparts and further suggest that they may better predict dynamic changes in affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral Inhibition and Amplification During Emotional Arousal: A Comparison of Two Age Groups.

This study investigated age differences in the ability to suppress and amplify expressive behavior during emotional arousal. Young and old participants viewed 3 film clips about medical procedures while their behavioral, autonomic, and subjective responses were recorded. Half of the participants viewed all 3 films without additional instructions; the other half was asked to suppress and amplify their behavioral expression during the 2nd and 3rd films. Except for heart rate, suppression and amplification produced similar patterns of autonomic activation. Neither suppression nor amplification had effects on self-reported emotion. There were no age differences in the ability to suppress or amplify emotional expression or in their physiological or subjective consequences. Considering that older people's unregulated reactivity was lower than that of young adults, suppression may have been easier and amplification more difficult for older adults. Voluntary emotion regulation might be one domain of human performance that is spared from age-related losses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Voluntary expressive changes and emotion.

Examined the influence of changes in facial expression on physiological and self-report measures of emotion. In Exp I, 27 undergraduates portrayed facial expressions associated with being afraid, calm, and normal. Portraying fear produced increases in pulse rate and skin conductance relative to portraying either calm or normal, but posing had no effect on subjective reports of anxiety (Affect Adjective Check List). In Exp II, 38 Ss listened to loud or soft noise while changing their expressions to portray fear, happiness, or calmness. Portraying either fear or happiness produced greater arousal than remaining calm. Changes in facial expression failed to affect self-reports of noise loudness. Results suggest that changes in facial expression influence physiological responses through the movement involved in posing and may not influence self-reports of emotion at all. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit affective cues and attentional tuning: An integrative review.

A large and growing number of studies support the notion that arousing positive emotional states expand, and that arousing negative states constrict, the scope of attention on both the perceptual and conceptual levels. However, these studies have predominantly involved the manipulation or measurement of conscious emotional experiences (e.g., subjective feelings of happiness or anxiety). This raises the question: Do cues that are merely associated with benign versus threatening situations but do not elicit conscious feelings of positive or negative emotional arousal independently expand or contract attentional scope? Integrating theoretical advances in affective neuroscience, positive psychology, and social cognition, the authors propose that rudimentary intero- and exteroceptive stimuli may indeed become associated with the onset of arousing positive or negative emotional states and/or with appraisals that the environment is benign or threatening and thereby come to moderate the scope of attention in the absence of conscious emotional experience. Specifically, implicit “benign situation” cues are posited to broaden, and implicit “threatening situation” cues to narrow, the range of both perceptual and conceptual attentional selection. An extensive array of research findings involving a diverse set of such implicit affective cues (e.g., enactment of approach and avoidance behaviors, incidental exposure to colors signaling safety vs. danger) is marshaled in support of this proposition. Potential alternative explanations for and moderators of these attentional tuning effects, as well as their higher level neuropsychological underpinnings, are also discussed along with prospective extensions to a range of other situational cues and domains of social cognitive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exploratory study of musical emotions and psychophysiology.

A basic issue about musical emotions concerns whether music elicits emotional responses in listeners or simply expresses emotions that listeners recognize in the music. To address this, psychophysiological measures were recorded while 40 college students heard 2 excerpts chosen to represent each of 3 emotions: sad, fear, and happy. The measures covered cardiac, vascular, electrodermal, and respiratory functions. Other Ss indicated dynamic changes in emotions they experienced while listening to the music on 1 of 4 scales: sad, fear, happy, and tension. Both physiological and emotion judgments were made on a second-by-second basis. The physiological measures all showed a significant effect of music compared to the pre-music interval. Analyses including correlations between physiology and emotion judgments, found significant differences among the excerpts. The sad excerpts produced the largest changes in heart rate, BP, skin conductance, and temperature. The fear excerpts produced the largest changes in blood transit time and amplitude. The happy excerpts produced the largest changes in the measures of respiration. These emotion-specific physiological changes only partially replicated those found for nonmusical emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"It's a bittersweet symphony: Simultaneously mixed emotional responses to music with conflicting cues": Correction to Larsen and Stastny (2011).

Reports an error in "It's a bittersweet symphony: Simultaneously mixed emotional responses to music with conflicting cues" by Jeff T. Larsen and Bradley J. Stastny (Emotion, 2011, np). In the first paragraph on page 5, the word “inches” was omitted from the sentence, “As noted by Sir Arthur Eddington (1939; see Cacioppo & Berntson, 1994), scientists who cast nets with 2 mesh into the sea may catch many fish, but none of them will be smaller than 2.” The corrected sentence is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-12883-001.) Some evidence indicates that emotional reactions to music can be organized along a bipolar valence dimension ranging from pleasant states (e.g., happiness) to unpleasant states (e.g., sadness), but songs can contain some cues that elicit happiness (e.g., fast tempos) and others that elicit sadness (e.g., minor modes). Some models of emotion contend that valence is a basic building block of emotional experience, which implies that songs with conflicting cues cannot make people feel happy and sad at the same time. Other models contend that positivity and negativity are separable in experience, which implies that music with conflicting cues might elicit simultaneously mixed emotions of happiness and sadness. Hunter, Schellenberg, and Schimmack (2008) tested these possibilities by having subjects report their happiness and sadness after listening to music with conflicting cues (e.g., fast songs in minor modes) and consistent cues (e.g., fast songs in major modes). Results indicated that music with conflicting cues elicited mixed emotions, but it remains unclear whether subjects simultaneously felt happy and sad or merely vacillated between happiness and sadness. To examine these possibilities, we had subjects press one button whenever they felt happy and another button whenever they felt sad as they listened to songs with conflicting and consistent cues. Results revealed that subjects spent more time simultaneously pressing both buttons during songs with conflicting, as opposed to consistent, cues. These findings indicate that songs with conflicting cues can simultaneously elicit happiness and sadness and that positivity and negativity are separable in experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrete emotions predict changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology: A meta-analysis of experimental emotion elicitations.

Our purpose in the present meta-analysis was to examine the extent to which discrete emotions elicit changes in cognition, judgment, experience, behavior, and physiology; whether these changes are correlated as would be expected if emotions organize responses across these systems; and which factors moderate the magnitude of these effects. Studies (687; 4,946 effects, 49,473 participants) were included that elicited the discrete emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and anxiety as independent variables with adults. Consistent with discrete emotion theory, there were (a) moderate differences among discrete emotions; (b) differences among discrete negative emotions; and (c) correlated changes in behavior, experience, and physiology (cognition and judgment were mostly not correlated with other changes). Valence, valence–arousal, and approach–avoidance models of emotion were not as clearly supported. There was evidence that these factors are likely important components of emotion but that they could not fully account for the pattern of results. Most emotion elicitations were effective, although the efficacy varied with the emotions being compared. Picture presentations were overall the most effective elicitor of discrete emotions. Stronger effects of emotion elicitations were associated with happiness versus negative emotions, self-reported experience, a greater proportion of women (for elicitations of happiness and sadness), omission of a cover story, and participants alone versus in groups. Conclusions are limited by the inclusion of only some discrete emotions, exclusion of studies that did not elicit discrete emotions, few available effect sizes for some contrasts and moderators, and the methodological rigor of included studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The lasting effect of words on feelings: Words may facilitate exposure effects to threatening images": Correction to Tabibnia, Lieberman, and Craske (2008).

Reports an error in "The lasting effect of words on feelings: Words may facilitate exposure effects to threatening images" by Golnaz Tabibnia, Matthew D. Lieberman and Michelle G. Craske (Emotion, 2008[Jun], Vol 8[3], 307-317). The URL provided for the supplemental materials was incorrect. The correct URL is provided in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-06717-001.) Previous studies have shown that mere words, particularly affective words, can dampen emotional responses. However, the effect of affective labels on emotional responding in the long term is unknown. The authors examined whether repeated exposure to aversive images would lead to more reduction in autonomic reactivity a week later if the images were exposed with single-word labels than without labels. In Experiment 1, healthy individuals were exposed to pictures of disturbing scenes with or without labels on Day 1. On Day 8, the same pictures from the previous week were exposed, this time without labels. In Experiment 2, participants were spider fearful and were exposed to pictures of spiders. In both experiments, although repeated exposure to aversive images (without labels) led to long-term attenuation of autonomic reactivity, exposure plus affective labels, but not nonaffective labels, led to more attenuation than exposure alone. Thus, affective labels may help dampen emotional reactivity in both the short and long terms. Implications for exposure therapy and translational studies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of worry on physiological and subjective reactivity to emotional stimuli in generalized anxiety disorder and nonanxious control participants.

The present study examined the effect of worry versus relaxation and neutral thought activity on both physiological and subjective responding to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Thirty-eight participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 35 nonanxious control participants were randomly assigned to engage in worry, relaxation, or neutral inductions prior to sequential exposure to each of four emotion-inducing film clips. The clips were designed to elicit fear, sadness, happiness, and calm emotions. Self reported negative and positive affect was assessed following each induction and exposure, and vagal activity was measured throughout. Results indicate that worry (vs. relaxation) led to reduced vagal tone for the GAD group, as well as higher negative affect levels for both groups. Additionally, prior worry resulted in less physiological and subjective responding to the fearful film clip, and reduced negative affect in response to the sad clip. This suggests that worry may facilitate avoidance of processing negative emotions by way of preventing a negative emotional contrast. Implications for the role of worry in emotion avoidance are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in the reconstruction of dissociated schemas; converging perspectives from psychoanalysis, cognitive science and affective neuroscience.

Therapeutic change involves integration of emotion schemas that have been dissociated. Two types of avoidant dissociation are distinguished: primary dissociation dominated by fragmentary emotional memories; and secondary dissociation involving initial encoding of more organized memories whose meaning is avoided. Reconstruction of dissociated emotion schemas occurs through the referential process which includes three basic components: arousal of the subsymbolic affective core of a dissociated schema in the treatment relationship; connections of subsymbolic processes to symbolic representations in narratives and interactions in the session; and reflection leading to reorganization of the schema. The role of enactive perception and embodied communication as underlying intersubjectivity in the referential process is reviewed. Variations in states of awareness associated with each phase of the process, in both analyst and patient, and their effects on therapeutic change are examined. Current work in cognitive science and affective neuroscience supporting this process model is reviewed. This formulation is largely compatible with Freud's early theory of recollection and “associative working-over” with new emphasis on subjective state and the relational context. Studies of the referential process provide a potential interface between investigations of psychotherapy process and basic cognitive science and neuroscience research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The varieties of emotional experience: A meditation on James-Lange theory.

James-Lange theory influenced a century of emotion research. This article traces the theory's origins in philosophical psychology, considers differences in the thinking of W. James and C. Lange, and assesses W. B. Cannon's (1927) critique and the resulting debate. Research is reviewed evaluating physiological patterns in emotion, the discordance of reported feelings and visceral reactivity, and the role of generalized arousal. NeoJamesian theories of attribution and appraisal, and alternative views based on dynamic psychology, are critically examined. A conception of emotion is presented, on the basis of developments unknown to James in conditioning theory, information processing, and neuroscience. Computational models of mentation are discussed, and implications are drawn for the classical debate on cognition and emotion. In concluding, new paths for emotion research are outlined and homage paid to the inspiration of James. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of age and gender on affect, physiology, and their interrelations: A study of long-term marriages.

Self-reported affect and autonomic and somatic physiology were studied during three 15-min conversations (events of the day, problem area, pleasant topic) in a sample of 151 couples in long-term marriages. Couples differed in age (40–50 or 60–70 yrs) and marital satisfaction (satisfied or dissatisfied). Marital interaction in older couples was associated with more affective positivity and lower physiological arousal (even when controlling for affective differences) than in middle-age couples. As has previously been found with younger couples, marital dissatisfaction was associated with less positive affect, greater negative affect, and greater negative affect reciprocity. In terms of the relation between physiological arousal and affective experience, husbands reported feeling more negative the more they were physiologically aroused; for wives, affect and arousal were not correlated. These findings are related to theories of socioemotional change with age and of gender differences in marital behavior and health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond stress and arousal: A reconceptualization of alcohol–emotion relations with reference to psychophysiological methods.

In this review, the authors examine how psychophysiological research might better contribute to understanding the effects of alcohol on human emotion. They propose that future studies would benefit from greater use of contemporary theories of emotion that emphasize a dimensional structure of affective expression, incorporating the parameters of emotional arousal and emotional valence. Evidence suggests that, although alcohol exerts an overall dampening effect on arousal, it appears to modulate emotional response through its effects on higher order associative processes rather than at the level of primary brain motivational systems. They discuss methodological implications of this multidimensional, multilevel approach and suggest that alcohol-induced physiological changes need to be investigated as dynamic response patterns rather than isolated events tied to solitary measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)