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Emotion biases voluntary vertical action only with visible cues
Kyoshiro Sasaki1, Yuki Yamada2, Kayo Miura2
1Kyushu University, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan.
Acta Psychologica
|December 7, 2015
Summary
Conscious emotional images, but not invisible ones, shift voluntary actions upward or downward. This suggests awareness is key for emotions to influence sensorimotor control and spatial representations.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Embodied Cognition
Background:
- The space-valence metaphor links positive emotions with 'up' and negative emotions with 'down', influencing bodily experiences.
- Previous research suggests emotions can impact perception and cognition, but their direct effect on voluntary motor actions is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether visible and invisible emotional stimuli modulate voluntary action.
- To determine if conscious awareness of emotional stimuli is necessary for modulating sensorimotor representations of vertical space.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed positive, neutral, or negative images presented either visibly (unmasked) or invisibly (masked) using continuous flash suppression.
- Following image presentation, participants performed a voluntary action by positioning a dot stimulus using a joystick.
Main Results:
- In the unmasked condition, participants placed the dot significantly higher after viewing positive images compared to negative images.
- This effect of emotional valence on vertical action placement was absent in the masked condition, where emotional stimuli were not consciously perceived.
Conclusions:
- Conscious emotional information is essential for activating sensorimotor representations linked to vertical spatial directions.
- Voluntary actions are influenced by these emotion-driven sensorimotor activations, highlighting the role of awareness in embodied emotional responses.
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