Anticipatory affect during action preparation: evidence from backward compatibility in dual-task performance

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Affective science

Background:

• Previous research demonstrated backward compatibility effects where future task responses influence preceding ones.
• These effects were primarily shown for non-affective features of responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether emotional features of future responses can also influence preceding tasks (emotional backward-compatibility).
• To examine the temporal dynamics of stimulus-response translation in the context of anticipated affective consequences.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted involving sequential tasks.
• Participants responded to affective stimuli in Task 1, with anticipated affective outcomes for Task 2 responses.
• Response times in Task 1 were measured under conditions of anticipated affective compatibility or incompatibility for Task 2.

Main Results:

• Responses to affective stimuli in Task 1 were significantly faster when an affectively compatible response was anticipated for Task 2.
• This emotional backward-compatibility effect suggests that representations of Task 2's affective consequences were activated during Task 1's response selection.
• The findings challenge the notion of a strictly serial stimulus-response translation process.

Conclusions:

• Action planning actively incorporates and anticipates the emotional consequences of future actions.
• Affective outcomes influence stimulus-response translation, indicating a more integrated process than previously assumed.
• This has implications for understanding and controlling emotional actions and decision-making.