scholarly journals How emotional are emoji?: Exploring the effect of emotional valence on the processing of emoji stimuli.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Sara Rodríguez-Cuadrado ◽  
Stephanie A. Malone ◽  
Helen Joanne Wall ◽  
Elizabeth Gaunt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Extended Version ◽  
Main Study ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Everyday Communication

Emoji are vastly becoming an integral part of everyday communication, yet little is understood about the extent to which these are processed emotionally. Previous research shows that there is a processing advantage for emotionally-valenced words over neutral ones, therefore if emoji are indeed emotional, one could expect an equivalent processing advantage. In the Pilot Study, participants (N = 44) completed a lexical decision task to ascertain accuracy and response latency of word, face and emoji stimuli. This stimuli varied in emotional valence (positive vs. neutral). Main effects were found for stimuli type and valence on both accuracy and latency, although the interaction for accuracy was not significant. That is there were processing advantages of positively-valenced stimuli over neutral ones, across all stimuli types. Also that faces and emoji were processed significantly more quickly than words. Also, latencies between face and emoji stimuli, irrespective of valence were largely equivalent. The Main Study recruited 33 participants to undertake a modified and extended version of the lexical decision task, which included three valence conditions (positive, negative and neutral) per stimuli type. Although no main effects were found for accuracy, there was a significant main effect found for stimuli but for valence on latency. Namely, that word stimuli irrespective of valence were processed significantly more slowly than face or emoji stimuli. There was not a significant interaction between stimuli and valence, however. Therefore, overall although there was partial support for a processing advantage of emoji stimuli, this was not replicated across the studies reported here, suggesting additional work may be needed to corroborate further evidence.

scholarly journals Do emoji enhance emotional processing of written language?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Katherine Kaye ◽  
Sara Rodríguez-Cuadrado ◽  
Bethany R. Jones ◽  
Stephanie A. Malone ◽  
Helen Joanne Wall
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Positive Word ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Everyday Communication

Despite the fact that emoji are a key part of everyday communication, little is known about the way they may relate to emotional processing of written language. The current study aimed to explore this issue, examining whether including an emotionally-congruent emoji onto emotionally-valenced words could enhance emotional processing. Participants completed a lexical decision task which varied the emotional valence of words (positive, negative, neutral). To each word an emoji was appended; these were either congruent to the valence of the word (e.g., positive word + positive emoji), incongruent (positive word + negative emoji) or a control (positive word + neutral emoji). Additionally, neutral words were accompanied by a positive, negative or neutral emoji. Response accuracy and latency were recorded. Regarding accuracy, no significant main effects or interactions were found for word valence or emoji valence. However, for latency, a main effect was found for word valence in which post-hoc analysis revealed that positive words were processed quicker than neutral words. However, the interaction between word and emoji valence was non-significant. This suggests that emoji may not provide an automatic processing advantage when used in written communication

Effects of Context on Processing Emotionally Neutral Abstract and Concrete Concepts

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 1191-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liusheng Wang ◽  
Hongmei Qiu ◽  
Jianjun Yin
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Context Condition ◽  
Word Context ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Concrete Words

The abstractness effect describes the phenomenon of individuals processing abstract concepts faster and more accurately than they process concrete concepts. In this study, we explored the effects of context on how 43 college students processed words, controlling for the emotional valence of the words. The participants performed a lexical decision task in which they were shown individual abstract and concrete words, or abstract and concrete words embedded in sentences. The results showed that in the word-context condition the participants' processing of concrete concepts improved, whereas in the sentence-context condition their processing of abstract concepts improved. These findings support the embodied cognition theory of concept processing.

Instructions and Word Bias in a Lexical Decision Task

2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 995-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Darren Piercey
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Type Condition ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Instruction Type ◽  
Word Versus ◽  
Task Identification

During a lexical decision task, identification of words is usually faster and more accurate than identification of nonwords. Normally, when instructions are presented to participants, an emphasis is placed on identifying words. The purpose of this study was to assess whether changing the instructions so emphasis is placed on identifying nonwords would change this word versus nonword effect. For 48 participants, 24 in the Word Instruction Type condition and 24 in the Nonword Instruction Type condition a significant word versus nonword main effect was found, but no interaction between type of instruction (word vs nonword focus) and type of item (word vs nonword). This indicates that participants' bias towards making word decisions may be very strong and may be based on prior experience and hence not easily affected by the kind of instructions given. Methodological issues for research are discussed.

scholarly journals Peer Review Round 1 of “Alcohol Cues and Their Effects on Sexually Aggressive Thoughts”

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Ruel ◽  
Jeremy Ullman
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Word Type ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Sexually Aggressive ◽  
Alcohol Cues ◽  
Acceptance Levels ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Societal Expectations ◽  
Study Participants

Alcohol and its effects on aggression has been the subject of many discussions and research papers. Despite this fact, there is still a debate surrounding what it is exactly about alcohol that causes aggression. The current study sought to replicate the past finding by Bartholow and Heinz (2006) that alcohol cues without consumption increase the accessibility of aggressive thoughts, which can then influence aggressive behaviors. In the present study, participants had to complete a lexical decision task that was set up to assess whether aggressive words were detected faster in the presence of alcohol-related pictures compared to neutral pictures. The results of this study did not replicate the expected finding as only a main effect of word type was found in which participants detected neutral words faster than aggressive words. Furthermore, the study was trying to assess the role of gender stereotype acceptance levels in this association, but no significant result was found, meaning that one’s degree of endorsement of societal expectations about genders did not influence reactions times in the lexical decision task. The results are discussed in terms of the limitations of the study, and propositions for future directions are addressed.

scholarly journals Meditation affects word recognition of meditation novices

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa Lusnig ◽  
Ralph Radach ◽  
Markus J. Hofmann
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Mindfulness Meditation ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Loving Kindness

AbstractThis work represents one of the first attempts to examine the effects of meditation on the processing of written single words. In the present longitudinal study, participants conducted a lexical decision task and rated the affective valence of nouns before and after a 7-week class in mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness meditation, or a control intervention. Both meditation groups rated the emotional valence of nouns more neutral after the interventions, suggesting a general down-regulation of emotions. In the loving-kindness group, positive words were rated more positively after the intervention, suggesting a specific intensification of positive feelings. After both meditation interventions, response times in the lexical decision task accelerated significantly, with the largest facilitation occurring in the loving-kindness group. We assume that meditation might have led to increased attention, better visual discrimination, a broadened attentional focus, and reduced mind-wandering, which in turn enabled accelerated word recognition. These results extend findings from a previous study with expert Zen meditators, in which we found that one session of advanced meditation can affect word recognition in a very similar way.

Effect of Emotions in a Lexical Decision Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Maire ◽  
Renaud Brochard ◽  
Jean-Luc Kop ◽  
Vivien Dioux ◽  
Daniel Zagar
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Sequence Effect ◽  
Emotion Induction ◽  
Before And After

Abstract. This study measured the effect of emotional states on lexical decision task performance and investigated which underlying components (physiological, attentional orienting, executive, lexical, and/or strategic) are affected. We did this by assessing participants’ performance on a lexical decision task, which they completed before and after an emotional state induction task. The sequence effect, usually produced when participants repeat a task, was significantly smaller in participants who had received one of the three emotion inductions (happiness, sadness, embarrassment) than in control group participants (neutral induction). Using the diffusion model ( Ratcliff, 1978 ) to resolve the data into meaningful parameters that correspond to specific psychological components, we found that emotion induction only modulated the parameter reflecting the physiological and/or attentional orienting components, whereas the executive, lexical, and strategic components were not altered. These results suggest that emotional states have an impact on the low-level mechanisms underlying mental chronometric tasks.

Are Emotions Abstract or Concrete?

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 315-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Xu ◽  
Chunyan Kang ◽  
Kaia Sword ◽  
Taomei Guo
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
N400 Amplitude ◽  
Abstract Nouns ◽  
Concrete Nouns ◽  
Emotion Concepts ◽  
Healthy Participants

Abstract. The ability to identify and communicate emotions is essential to psychological well-being. Yet research focusing exclusively on emotion concepts has been limited. This study examined nouns that represent emotions (e.g., pleasure, guilt) in comparison to nouns that represent abstract (e.g., wisdom, failure) and concrete entities (e.g., flower, coffin). Twenty-five healthy participants completed a lexical decision task. Event-related potential (ERP) data showed that emotion nouns elicited less pronounced N400 than both abstract and concrete nouns. Further, N400 amplitude differences between emotion and concrete nouns were evident in both hemispheres, whereas the differences between emotion and abstract nouns had a left-lateralized distribution. These findings suggest representational distinctions, possibly in both verbal and imagery systems, between emotion concepts versus other concepts, implications of which for theories of affect representations and for research on affect disorders merit further investigation.

Phonological Effects in the Phonological Lexical Decision Task

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Pexman ◽  
C. I. Racicot ◽  
Stephen J. Lupker
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Decision Task
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