Journal article
Arousal and emotional valence interact in written word recognition
FMM Citron, BS Weekes, EC Ferstl
Language Cognition and Neuroscience | ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD | Published : 2014
Abstract
Behavioural and neurophysiological studies reveal a prioritisation for emotional material during different cognitive tasks. Although emotion comprises two dimensions, i.e., valence and arousal, previous research has mostly focused on the former. This study aimed to investigate the effects of valence and arousal on lexical decision (LD) by manipulating both dimensions, while controlling correlated psycholinguistic variables (e.g., word length, frequency, imageability). Results showed that valence and arousal affect word recognition in an interactive way: LD latencies are slower for positive high-arousal and negative low-arousal words compared to positive low-arousal and negative high-arousal ..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
F.M.M.C. would like to thank Cristina Burani for her advice on the data analysis. This work is part of F.M.M.C.'s doctoral dissertation, funded by a Graduate Teaching Assistant scholarship from the University of Sussex, UK. Parts of this study were presented at the conferences of the Architecture and Mechanisms of Language Processing in 2010 as well as at the meetings of the British Psychology Society and the Society for Psychophysiological Research in 2009.