Beyond emotional valence: approach-withdrawal congruency effects in the discrimination of facial expressions after anger and sadness induction
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1
University of the Balearic Islands, Spain
Previous findings suggest that negative affect biases the perception of affectively congruent facial expressions of emotion, independently of their approach-withdrawal dimension. We study the effects of anger and sadness inductions in the discrimination of three emotion-related facial expressions, with special interest to examine the influence of the approach-withdrawal component of the emotions on the discrimination reaction time. In a repeated measures design, 36 voluntary female participants were induced to feel anger, sadness and a “neutral” state using a method that joins the report of autobiographic events with a guided semiarranged interview. The effects of emotional induction were assessed by three consecutive self-reports (pre-induction, post-induction, post-task). After induction, participants performed 3 different blocks. In each one, they had to discriminate, as quickly as possible, a particular facial expression (anger, fear and sadness) in a series of computerized images showing, quasi-randomly, different pairs of facial expressions of emotion, as well as neutral faces. Both the conditions (anger, sadness, control) and the different blocks of the task were counterbalanced between subjects. Results suggest a congruence effect related to the approach-withdrawal dimension of the negative emotions. Specifically, when anger was induced, participants discriminated faster anger faces. Conversely, when sadness was induced, they became faster in discriminating sadness but also fear faces. Further research is needed to determine whether these findings can be replicated in new experiments. We discuss the results in relation to previous findings supporting the affect-congruence model (valence-based bias), but now taking into account the approach-withdrawal framework. Funding: Spain-project SEJ2007-64374/PSIC.
Keywords:
emotion,
Facial Expression
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain
Citation:
Rossello
J,
Gálvez
A,
Homar
C and
Munar
E
(2011). Beyond emotional valence: approach-withdrawal congruency effects in the discrimination of facial expressions after anger and sadness induction.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00284
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Received:
22 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Prof. Jaume Rossello, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Mallorca, Spain, jaume.rossello@uib.es