Associations Between Abstract Concepts: Investigating the Relationship Between Deictic Time and Valence

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Linguistics
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Temporal cognition and emotional valence are fundamental aspects of human experience.
• Previous research suggests potential links between time perception and emotional processing.
• The specific mental associations between deictic time (past/future) and valence (positive/negative) require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the mental association between deictic time (past vs. future) and emotional valence (positive vs. negative).
• To explore whether future events are implicitly linked to positive valence and past events to negative valence.
• To examine how individual differences in optimism/pessimism moderate this association.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a novel two-choice-sentence-completion paradigm.
• Participants completed sentence fragments referring to events located in time or of a specific valence.
• Completion options systematically varied along the other dimension (time or valence).

Main Results:

• Participants consistently chose sentence completions aligning with the hypothesized association: future with positive valence and past with negative valence.
• The observed time-valence association was significantly stronger among individuals with higher levels of optimism.
• Pessimistic individuals showed a less pronounced, though still present, time-valence association.

Conclusions:

• The study provides empirical evidence for a robust mental association between deictic time and emotional valence.
• This association appears to be modulated by individual differences in dispositional optimism.
• Findings contribute to understanding the cognitive underpinnings of temporal perspective and emotional processing.