The affective consequences of cognitive inhibition: devaluation or neutralization?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Affective Science

Background:

• Previous research suggested inhibition has negative affective consequences.
• An alternative hypothesis proposed inhibition neutralizes pre-existing affective salience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test whether inhibition leads to affective devaluation or affective neutralization.
• To investigate the impact of inhibition on affective evaluations of stimuli with varying initial valence.

Main Methods:

• A Go/No-Go task was used to present stimuli.
• Stimuli included trustworthy/untrustworthy faces, positive/negative photographs, and monetary gain/loss patterns.
• Subsequent affective ratings were collected for inhibited (No-Go) and non-inhibited (Go) stimuli.

Main Results:

• Inhibited stimuli (No-Go) were rated more negatively than non-inhibited stimuli (Go).
• This effect occurred regardless of the stimuli's initial affective valence.
• Repeatedly presenting stimuli amplified the negative evaluation of inhibited items.

Conclusions:

• Inhibition results in affective devaluation, making stimuli less appealing.
• The findings do not support the hypothesis that inhibition neutralizes affective salience.