Affective state influences perception by affecting decision parameters underlying bias and sensitivity.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Decision Science

Background:

• Affective states consistently influence perception, with negative emotions linked to local focus and positive emotions to global focus.
• Previous research has largely overlooked the impact of affect on perception under conditions of real-world uncertainty and risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how experienced affect (valence and arousal) influences the accuracy and utility of social threat perception.
• To examine this influence across diverse perceptual decision environments varying in uncertainty and risk.

Main Methods:

• Combined signal detection theory and behavioral economics to model perceptual decision-making.
• Compared performance across three distinct environments manipulating threat base rates, costs of misidentification, and perceptual similarity.

Main Results:

• No single affective state uniformly enhanced threat perception across all environments.
• Unpleasant valence improved bias calibration to base rates and costs.
• High arousal enhanced perceptual sensitivity to stimulus similarity, while low arousal optimized bias-sensitivity adjustment.

Conclusions:

• The impact of affect on social threat perception is context-dependent, varying with the specific nature and level of uncertainty and risk.
• Affective states modulate different aspects of perceptual decision-making (sensitivity vs. bias) in response to environmental factors.