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Conscious Access to Suppressed Threatening Information Is Modulated by Working Memory.
Dong Liu1,2,3, Li Wang4,2, Ying Wang1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Psychological Science
|September 17, 2016
Summary
Working memory (WM) influences nonconscious emotion processing. Even when emotional faces are suppressed, WM content matching emotional valence speeds up threat detection, showing a link between conscious and nonconscious emotional responses.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Emotion Processing
- Working Memory Research
Background:
- Emotional information processing is known to be modulated by working memory (WM) content.
- Previous studies suggest WM influences conscious emotional perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if working memory content can modulate nonconscious emotion processing.
- To determine if content-based WM effects occur even when emotional information is suppressed from conscious awareness.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the delayed-match-to-sample paradigm.
- Employed continuous flash suppression to render emotional faces nonconscious.
- Compared reaction times for suppressed threatening faces matching or mismatching WM emotional valence.
Main Results:
- Suppressed threatening faces (fearful, angry) were detected faster when matching the emotional valence of WM content.
- This effect was specific to threatening faces, not happy or neutral faces.
- The effect disappeared when faces were passively viewed, ruling out perceptual priming.
Conclusions:
- Working memory content can modulate nonconscious emotion processing.
- Demonstrates a functional link between nonconsciously triggered emotional processes and conscious emotion representation.
- Highlights the role of WM in shaping emotional responses even outside of conscious awareness.
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