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Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
Published on: August 26, 2011
Test-retest reliability of an emotion maintenance task
Rose Broome1, David E Gard, Joseph A Mikels
1Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
Cognition & Emotion
|November 15, 2011
Summary
This study shows that measuring emotion maintenance, a part of affective working memory, is reliable over time. The task accurately assesses how people remember emotional images, especially negative ones.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Affective Science
Background:
- Working memory research identifies domain-specific components for visual, verbal, spatial, and emotional information.
- Affective working memory involves maintaining emotions to guide behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the reliability of an emotion maintenance task.
- To assess its utility as a measurement tool for affective working memory.
Main Methods:
- A study involving two experimental sessions one week apart.
- Participants completed an emotion maintenance/affective working memory task.
- Subjective accuracy was rated by individuals for emotion maintenance.
Main Results:
- Subjective accuracy ratings for emotion maintenance correlated over time between sessions.
- Accuracy was highest for negatively valenced emotional stimuli.
- The task demonstrated reliability in measuring emotion maintenance.
Conclusions:
- The emotion maintenance paradigm is a reliable measure.
- This task is a useful assessment tool for both normative and clinical populations.
- Supports the concept of affective working memory as a distinct component.
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