Retrospective Evaluations of Sequences: Testing the Predictions of a Memory-based Analysis

Retrospective evaluation (RE) of event sequences are known to be biased in various ways. The present paper presents a series of studies that examined the suggestion that the moments that are the most accessible in memory at the point of RE contribute to these biases. As predicted by this memory-based analysis, Experiment 1 showed that pleasantness ratings of word lists were biased by the presentation position of a negative item and by how easy the negative information was to retrieve. Experiment 2 ruled out the hypothesis that these findings were due to the dual nature of the task called upon. Experiment 3 further manipulated the memorability of the negative items—and corresponding changes in RE were as predicted. Finally, Experiment 4 extended the findings to more complex stimuli involving event narratives. Overall, the results suggest that assessments were adjusted based on the retrieval of the most readily available information

Effects of valent image-based secondary tasks on verbal working memory

Two experiments examined if exposure to emotionally valent image-based secondary tasks introduced at different points of a free recall working memory (WM) task impair memory performance. Images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) varied in the degree of negative or positive valance (mild, moderate, strong) and were positioned at low, moderate and high WM load points with participants rating them based upon perceived valence. As predicted, and based on previous research and theory, the higher the degree of negative (Experiment 1) and positive (Experiment 2) valence and the higher the WM load when a secondary task was introduced, the greater the impairment to recall. Secondary task images with strong negative valance were more disruptive than negative images with lower valence at moderate and high WM load task points involving encoding and/or rehearsal of primary task words (Experiment 1). This was not the case for secondary tasks involving positive images (Experiment 2), although participant valence ratings for positive IAPS images classified as moderate and strong were in fact very similar. Implications are discussed in relation to research and theory on task interruption and attentional narrowing and literature concerning the effects of emotive stimuli on cognition

Stay calm! Regulating emotional responses by implementation intentions: assessing the impact on physiological and subjective arousal

Implementation intention (IMP) has recently been highlighted as an effective emotion regulatory strategy (Schweiger Gallo et al., 2009). Most studies examining the effectiveness of IMPs to regulate emotion have relied on self-report measures of emotional change. In two studies we employed electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) in addition to arousal ratings (AR) to assess the impact of an IMP on emotional responses. In Study 1, 60 participants viewed neutral and two types of negative pictures (weapon vs. non-weapon) under the IMP “If I see a weapon, then I will stay calm and relaxed!” or no self-regulatory instructions (Control). In Study 2, additionally to the Control and IMP conditions, participants completed the picture task either under goal intention (GI) to stay calm and relaxed or warning instructions highlighting that some pictures contain weapons. In both studies, participants showed lower EDA, reduced HR deceleration and lower AR to the weapon pictures compared to the non-weapon pictures. In Study 2, the IMP was associated with lower EDA compared to the GI condition for the weapon pictures, but not compared to the weapon pictures in the Warning condition. AR were lower for IMP compared to GI and Warning conditions for the weapon pictures

Effects of Picture Size Reduction and Blurring on Emotional Engagement

The activity of basic motivational systems is reflected in emotional responses to arousing stimuli, such as natural pictures. The manipulation of picture properties such as size or detail allows for investigation into the extent to which separate emotional reactions are similarly modulated by perceptual changes, or, rather, may subserve different functions. Pursuing this line of research, the present study examined the effects of two types of perceptual degradation, namely picture size reduction and blurring, on emotional responses. Both manipulations reduced picture relevance and dampened affective modulation of skin conductance, possibly because of a reduced action preparation in response to degraded or remote pictures. However, the affective modulation of the startle reflex did not vary with picture degradation, suggesting that the identification of these degraded affective cues activated the neural circuits mediating appetitive or defensive motivation

The emotional movie database (EMDB): a self-report and psychophysiological study

Film clips are an important tool for evoking emotional responses in the laboratory. When compared with other emotionally potent visual stimuli (e.g., pictures), film clips seem to be more effective in eliciting emotions for longer periods of time at both the subjective and physiological levels. The main objective of the present study was to develop a new database of affective film clips without auditory content, based on a dimensional approach to emotional stimuli (valence, arousal and dominance). The study had three different phases: (1) the pre-selection and editing of 52 film clips (2) the self-report rating of these film clips by a sample of 113 participants and (3) psychophysiological assessment [skin conductance level (SCL) and the heart rate (HR)] on 32 volunteers. Film clips from different categories were selected to elicit emotional states from different quadrants of affective space. The results also showed that sustained exposure to the affective film clips resulted in a pattern of a SCL increase and HR deceleration in high arousal conditions (i.e., horror and erotic conditions). The resulting emotional movie database can reliably be used in research requiring the presentation of non-auditory film clips with different ratings of valence, arousal and dominance.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology with individual grants (SFRH/BD/41484/2007 and SFRH/BD/64355/2009

Imaging cortical activity following affective stimulation with a high temporal and spatial resolution

Keil J, Adenauer H, Catani C, Neuner F. Imaging cortical activity following affective stimulation with a high temporal and spatial resolution. BMC Neuroscience. 2009;10(1):83.Background:The affective and motivational relevance of a stimulus has a distinct impact on cortical processing, particularly in sensory areas. However, the spatial and temporal dynamics of this affective modulation of brain activities remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was the development of a paradigm to investigate the affective modulation of cortical networks with a high temporal and spatial resolution. We assessed cortical activity with MEG using a visual steady-state paradigm with affective pictures. A combination of a complex demodulation procedure with a minimum norm estimation was applied to assess the temporal variation of the topography of cortical activity. Results: Statistical permutation analyses of the results of the complex demodulation procedure revealed increased steady-state visual evoked field amplitudes over occipital areas following presentation of affective pictures compared to neutral pictures. This differentiation shifted in the time course from occipital regions to parietal and temporal regions. Conclusion: It can be shown that stimulation with affective pictures leads to an enhanced activity in occipital region as compared to neutral pictures. However, the focus of differentiation is not stable over time but shifts into temporal and parietal regions within four seconds of stimulation. Thus, it can be crucial to carefully choose regions of interests and time intervals when analyzing the affective modulation of cortical activity

Emotional ratings and skin conductance response to visual, auditory and haptic stimuli

The human emotional reactions to stimuli delivered by different sensory modalities is a topic of interest for many disciplines, from Human-Computer-Interaction to cognitive sciences. Different databases of stimuli eliciting emotional reaction are available, tested on a high number of participants. Interestingly, stimuli within one database are always of the same type. In other words, to date, no data was obtained and compared from distinct types of emotion-eliciting stimuli from the same participant. This makes it difficult to use different databases within the same experiment, limiting the complexity of experiments investigating emotional reactions. Moreover, whereas the stimuli and the participants’ rating to the stimuli are available, physiological reactions of participants to the emotional stimuli are often recorded but not shared. Here, we test stimuli delivered either through a visual, auditory, or haptic modality in a within participant experimental design. We provide the results of our study in the form of a MATLAB structure including basic demographics on the participants, the participant’s self-assessment of his/her emotional state, and his/her physiological reactions (i.e., skin conductance)

How Kondo Holes Create Intense Nanoscale Heavy-Fermion Hybridization Disorder

Replacing a magnetic atom by a spinless atom in a heavy fermion compound generates a quantum state often referred to as a 'Kondo-hole'. No experimental imaging has been achieved of the atomic-scale electronic structure of a Kondo-hole, or of their destructive impact (Lawrence JM, et al. (1996) Kondo hole behavior in Ce0. 97La0. 03Pd3. Phys Rev B 53:12559-12562; Bauer ED, et al. (2011) Electronic inhomogeneity in a Kondo lattice. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 108:6857-6861) on the hybridization process between conduction and localized electrons which generates the heavy fermion state. Here we report visualization of the electronic structure at Kondo-holes created by substituting spinless Thorium atoms for magnetic Uranium atoms in the heavy-fermion system URu2Si2. At each Thorium atom, an electronic bound state is observed. Moreover, surrounding each Thorium atom we find the unusual modulations of hybridization strength recently predicted to occur at Kondo-holes (Figgins J, Morr DK (2011) Defects in heavy-fermion materials: unveiling strong correlations in real space. Phys Rev Lett 107:066401). Then, by introducing the 'hybridization gapmap' technique to heavy fermion studies, we discover intense nanoscale heterogeneity of hybridization due to a combination of the randomness of Kondo-hole sites and the long-range nature of the hybridization oscillations. These observations provide direct insight into both the microscopic processes of heavy-fermion forming hybridization and the macroscopic effects of Kondo-hole doping.Comment: Main Article + Figures, Supporting Information + Figures; PNAS 201

The adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) for European Portuguese

This study presents the adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW; Bradley & Lang, 1999a) for European Portuguese (EP). The EP adaptation of the ANEW was based on the affective ratings made by 958 college students who were EP native speakers. Participants assessed about 60 words by considering the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) in either a paper-and-pencil and a web survey procedures. Results of the adaptation of the ANEW for EP are presented. Furthermore, the differences between EP, American (Bradley & Lang, 1999a), and Spanish (Redondo, Fraga, Padrón, & Comesaña, 2007) standardizations were explored. Results showed that the ANEW words were understood in a similar way by EP, American, and Spanish subjects, although some sex and cross-cultural differences were observed. The EP adaptation of the ANEW is shown to be a valid and useful tool that will allow researchers to control and/or manipulate the affective properties of stimuli as well as to develop cross-linguistic studies. The normative values of EP adaptation of the ANEW can be downloaded at http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de CompetitividadeFundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional - FEDERQuadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional - QRENFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - research project “Procura Palavras (P-Pal ): A software program for deriving objective and subjective psycholinguistic indices for European Portuguese words