scholarly journals Valence Asymmetries in the Human Amygdala: Task Relevance Modulates Amygdala Responses to Positive More than Negative Affective Cues

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 842-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Stillman ◽  
Jay J. Van Bavel ◽  
William A. Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Goal Pursuit ◽  
Relative Increase ◽  
Task Relevance ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Appetitive Stimuli ◽  
Affective Cues ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
Task Goals ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Negative Stimuli

Organisms must constantly balance appetitive needs with vigilance for potential threats. Recent research suggests that the amygdala may play an important role in both of these goals. Although the amygdala plays a role in processing motivationally relevant stimuli that are positive or negative, negative information often appears to carry greater weight. From a functional perspective, this may reflect the fact that threatening stimuli generally require action, whereas appetitive stimuli can often be safely ignored. In this study, we examine whether amygdala activation to positive stimuli may be more sensitive to task goals than negative stimuli, which are often related to self-preservation concerns. During fMRI, participants were presented with two images that varied on valence and extremity and were instructed to focus on one of the images. Results indicated that negative stimuli elicited greater amygdala activity regardless of task relevance. In contrast, positive stimuli only led to a relative increase in amygdala activity when they were task relevant. This suggests that the amygdala may be more responsive to negative stimuli regardless of their relevance to immediate goals, whereas positive stimuli may only elicit amygdala activity when they are relevant to the perceivers' goals. This pattern of valence asymmetry in the human amygdala may help balance approach-related goal pursuit with chronic self-preservation goals.

On Wildebeests and Humans

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ap Dijksterhuis ◽  
Henk Aarts
Keyword(s):  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Negative Stimuli

On the basis of a functional perspective, we hypothesized that negative stimuli are detected faster than positive stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants were subliminally presented with positive and negative words or with no words at all. After each presentation, participants were asked whether they had seen a word. They detected negative words more accurately than positive words. In Experiment 2, participants were subliminally presented with negative or positive words. After each presentation, they were asked whether the presented word was positive or negative. Negative words were correctly categorized more often than positive words. Experiment 3 showed that although participants correctly categorized negative words more often than positive words, they could not guess the meaning of the words better than would be expected by chance. The results are discussed against the background of recent findings on basic affective processes.

Valence Asymmetry in Attitude Formation

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 650-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie J. Shook ◽  
Russ Clay
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Attitude Formation ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
The World ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Negative Stimuli

A considerable amount of research indicates that political conservatives and liberals perceive their social worlds very differently, with conservatives perceiving the world more negatively than liberals. Two studies examined how these varying perceptions may develop by exploring the relation between political ideology and attitude formation. In both studies, participants completed an evaluative conditioning paradigm in which novel stimuli were paired with either positive or negative images. Political conservatives were more susceptible to conditioning with negative stimuli than conditioning with positive stimuli as compared to political liberals. Specifically, conservatives were less susceptible to conditioning with positive stimuli than liberals. Conditioning with negative stimuli did not differ by political ideology. These findings suggest fundamental differences in the formation of positive versus negative attitudes between conservatives and liberals.

scholarly journals What Role Does the Prefrontal Cortex Play in the Processing of Negative and Positive Stimuli in Adolescent Depression?

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyabend Kaya ◽  
Ciara McCabe
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Adolescent Depression ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Small Sample Sizes ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Larger Sample ◽  
Negative Stimuli

This perspective describes the contribution of the prefrontal cortex to the symptoms of depression in adolescents and specifically the processing of positive and negative information. We also discuss how the prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity and connectivity during tasks and at rest might be a biomarker for risk for depression onset in adolescents. We include some of our recent work examining not only the anticipation and consummation of positive and negative stimuli, but also effort to gain positive and avoid negative stimuli in adolescents with depression. We find, using region of interest analyses, that the PFC is blunted in those with depression compared to controls across the different phases but in a larger sample the PFC is blunted in the anticipatory phase of the study only. Taken together, in adolescents with depression there is evidence for dysfunctional PFC activity across different studies and tasks. However, the data are limited with small sample sizes and inconsistent findings. Larger longitudinal studies with more detailed assessments of symptoms across the spectrum are needed to further evaluate the role of the PFC in adolescent depression.

Neural Correlates of Positive and Negative Emotion Regulation

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 776-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang Hee Kim ◽  
Stephan Hamann
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Emotion Processing ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
On Line ◽  
Emotional Events ◽  
Negative Stimuli

The ability to cope adaptively with emotional events by volitionally altering one's emotional reactions is important for psychological and physical health as well as social interaction. Cognitive regulation of emotional responses to aversive events engages prefrontal regions that modulate activity in emotion-processing regions such as the amygdala. However, the neural correlates of the regulation of positive emotions remain largely unexplored. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of cognitively increasing and decreasing emotional reactions to positive and negative stimuli. Participants viewed negative, positive, and neutral pictures while attempting to increase, decrease, or not alter their emotional reactions. Subjective reactions were assessed via on-line ratings. Consistent with previous studies, increasing negative and positive emotion engaged primarily left-lateralized prefrontal regions, whereas decreasing emotion activated bilateral prefrontal regions. Different activations unique to increasing versus decreasing emotion were observed for positive and negative stimuli: Unique increase-related activations were observed only for positive stimuli, whereas unique decrease-related activations were observed only for negative stimuli. Regulation also modulated activity in the amygdala, a key emotion-processing region. Regulation effects on amygdala activity were larger for positive than for negative stimuli, potentially reflecting a greater malleability of positive emotional reactions. Increasing and decreasing positive and negative emotion can thus increase and decrease subjective reactions and associated amygdala activity in line with regulatory goals, and is associated with different patterns of prefrontal activation as a function of emotional valence and regulatory goal.

Emotional Valence Modulates Low Beta Suppression and Recognition of Social Interactions

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-245
Author(s):  
Monica B. Berntsen ◽  
Nicholas R. Cooper ◽  
Vincenzo Romei
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Point Light ◽  
Rapid Processing ◽  
Electroencephalogram Eeg ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Negative Stimuli

Abstract. Emotional valence may have evolutionary adaptive purposes as negative stimuli can be related to survival against threat and positive stimuli to facilitating relationships. This can be seen in the different impact positive and negative stimuli have on human health and well-being, and in the valence-specific cortical activity and neurophysiological patterns reported; for example, negative stimuli are processed more rapidly than positive. Valence-specific patterns are affected by individual differences and personality traits such as empathy, where levels of empathy relate to different reactivity patterns to valence. Here we investigated the effect of valence on neurophysiological responses and interpretation of social interactions depicted by point-light biological motion (PLBM) displays. The meaning of each PLBM display is revealed as the sequence unfolds and is therefore not readily available for snap assessments such as fight or flight responses. We compared electroencephalogram (EEG) reactivity during observation of the displays between individuals with low, moderate, or high levels of empathy. Results indicated that positive displays induced significantly larger suppression in lower beta (13–20 Hz) compared to control displays, while negative displays revealed no difference in suppression compared to scrambled versions. However, no difference between positive and negative displays was observed, suggesting that the rapid processing of negative displays may have been minimized by revealing meaning more slowly. Positive displays were interpreted more accurately, while levels of empathy did not modulate either neurophysiological responses or interpretation, suggesting that empathy under these conditions did not influence the way in which valence was processed or interpreted.

Positive and Negative Stimuli in Relation to Tennis Players' Reaction Time

2000 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 236-240
Author(s):  
Tim P. Mead ◽  
John N. Drowatzky ◽  
Lisa Hardin-Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Tennis Ball ◽  
Tennis Players ◽  
Negative Thought ◽  
Analogue Study ◽  
Accessory Stimulus ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Negative Stimuli

Research has indicated that negative and positive thoughts may affect sport performance. The purpose of this analogue study was to assess whether negative and positive stimuli influenced tennis performance similar to positive and negative thought. The reaction time (RT) of 40 competitive tennis players was measured during a timed response to a tennis ball rotating in a topspin, sidespin, or backspin direction on the computer screen. Immediately prior to the ball presentation, a phrase (accessory stimulus) was presented visually or aurally. The accessory stimulus provided either positive (e.g., ‘nice shot’) or negative information (e.g., ‘bad shot’) followed by the subject's name. Analysis showed a main effect only for the type of spin. The slowest RT occurred when responding to a tennis ball rotating in a backspin direction. A significant interaction was found for the sensory modality (audition vs vision) and polarity (positive vs negative) of the accessory stimulus. RT to negative stimuli was slowest when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. The quickest RT to positive stimuli occurred when the accessory stimulus was presented aurally. These results indicated that negative and positive stimuli, when presented aurally, affected performance as positive and negative thoughts measured in other studies. Not measured was whether negative and positive stimuli actually produce the negative and positive thoughts, respectively, that have been reported to affect performance.

Discrimination of Word-Like Compound Visual Stimuli by Monkeys

1977 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gaffan
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Visual Discrimination ◽  
Generalization Test ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Negative Stimulus ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Animal Discrimination Learning ◽  
Positive Stimuli ◽  
Negative Stimuli

In Experiment I, two monkeys solved a successive visual discrimination in which the four positive stimuli were the visual arrays RIM, LID, RAD and LAM while the four negative stimuli were RID, LIM, RAM and LAD. In Experiment II the same monkeys first learned a discrimination where the positive stimuli were pairs of letters (e.g. OB and AK) while the negative stimulus was the letter I; in a subsequent generalization test with all four possible pairings of the stimulus elements that had been positive during training (i.e. with OB, AK, OK and AB) the monkeys responded more strongly to the pairs that had been present in initial training. These results were discussed in relation to the theoretical analysis of configurational cues in animal discrimination learning and to the mechanism underlying visual discrimination of words by people.

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