Automatic affective processing: Priming effects on the perception of affective valence in visual stimuli Schumann, Griego, James, Kunkemöller, Kabisch, Kolomiyets, Kreitz, Liu, Mühl, Nagel & Neubauer Introduction Early automatic affective processing : Has been suggested to affect stimulus evaluation in terms of positive and negative valence (e.g. Zajonc, 1980, 1984). Is thought to originate in evolutionary advantage. Especially negative affect allows detection of dangerous environmental stimuli with fast and automatic processing rather than time consuming conscious recollection. Is thought to shape behaviour and later cognitive processing. For example, automatic affect processing influence the ease of decision making by reducing cognitive demands (Blascovich et al., 1993; Fazio, Blascovich, & Driscoll, 1992). Affective priming Is early in processing: automatic, found for SOA 500ms (Fazio et al., 1986). Is general: It was found for a broad variety of stimuli including words, nonsense words whose meanings had only previously been learned, line drawings, pictures and odours. It was also found with different kinds of response tasks, including evaluative valence categorization, traditional lexical decision, word identification, and pronunciation (for a review see Fazio, 2001) Indirect measurement of affective priming measures reaction time latencies of target task is the common measure of effects in affective priming Direct measurement of affective priming measure change in qualitative content of target task is used here to show influence of affective processing on conscious perception of valence Lateralization: with lateralized presentation of primes we aim to evoke automatic affect processing separately in each hemisphere. inconsistent models of lateralization of emotional processing (for reviews see e.g. Canli, 1999; Davidson, 1995). Right-hemisphere hypothesis: righthemisphere in general is more specialized for emotional processing than the left hemisphere. First ‘valence hypothesis’, emotional processing is lateralized by valence. Larger involvement of the right hemisphere in positive emotion and larger involvement of the left hemisphere in negative emotion. Second ‘valence hypothesis’ that supposes the opposite pattern of right hemisphere in negtive and left hemisphere in positive. Overview First, we demonstrate an influence of automatic affective processing of primes on the conscious perception of the emotional valence of neutral target photographs Second, we study hemispheric asymmetries using lateralized presentation of primes. Materials and Method Results & Conclusion References Canli, T., Desmod, J., E., Zaho, Z., Glover, G., Gabrieli, J., D., E. (1998). Hemispheric asymmetry for emotional stimuli detected with fMRI, Neuroreport, 9, Davidson, R.J. (1995). Cerebral asymmetry, emotion, and affective style. In R.J. Davidson & K. Hugdahl (Eds.), Brain asymmetry (pp ). Massachusetts: MIT Press. Fazio, R.H. (2001). On the automatic activation of associated evaluations: An overview Cogition and Emotion, 15 (2), Tootell, R.B.H., Mendola, J.D., Hadjikhani, N.K., Liu, A.K. & Dale, A.M. (1998). The representation of the ipsilateral visual field in human cerebral cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol.95, Zajonc, R.B. (1980). Feeling and thinking. Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151–175. Zajonc, R.B. (1984). On the primacy of affect. American Psychologist, 39, 117–123. Target (neutral or filler) and Valence scale Fixation-Point Left Visual Field Right Visual Field 500 ms Left Visual Field Prime left (pos, neg, neu) 250 ms Prime right (pos, neg, neu) Right Visual Field 250 ms Self-timed Stimuli : IAPS photos normed valence Primes: 3 * 15 neut., pos., neg. for each Hemifield Targets: 90% neut 5% each neg, pos fillers Lateralized presentation: primes outside visual angel of 2,5° (Tootell, Mendola, Hadjikhani, Liu and Dale, 1998). Randomized. x2x2,5° Negative priming effect across hemispheres. Hence, automatic affective processing influences conscious evaluation of affective valence. More negative ratings for neutral targets in right hemisphere. Indicates baseline difference in negative affect between hemispheres. Design: Prime Type x Hemifield DV: Valence from Rather Unpleasant to Rather Pleasant F(2,44) = 5.75; p =.006 t(45)=2.30; p =.025). t(45)=3.10; p=.03