A Derived Transfer of Eliciting Emotional Functions Using Differences Among Electroencephalograms as a Dependent Measure

Abstract

Emotional responses have specific electroencephalographic (EEG) signatures that arise within a few hundred milliseconds post-stimulus onset. In this experiment, EEG measures were employed to assess for transfer of emotional functions across three 3-member equivalence classes in an extension of Dougher, Auguston, Markham, Greenway, & Wulfert's (1994) seminal work on the transfer of arousal functions. Specifically, 12 human participants were trained in the following match-to-sample performances A1 = B1, A2 = B2, A3 = B3 and B1 = C1, B2 = C2, B3 = C3. After successfully testing for the emergence of symmetry relations (B1 = A1, B2 = A2, B3 = A3 and C1 = B1, C2 = B2, C3 = B3), visual images depicting emotionally positive and emotionally negative content were presented with A1 and A3, respectively, using a mixed stimulus pairing-compounding procedure. A2 was paired with emotionally neutral images. Next, EEG data were recorded as participants were exposed to a forced-choice recognition task with stimuli A1, B1, C1, A2, B2, C2, A3, B3, C3 and three novel stimuli A4, B4 and C4. Results yielded differential EEG effects for stimuli paired directly with emotional versus neutral images. Critically, differential EEG effects were also recorded across the C stimuli that were equivalently related to the A stimulus set. The EEG data coincide with previous reports of emotion-specific EEG effects, indicating that the initial emotional impact of a stimulus may emerge based on direct stimulus pairing and derived stimulus relations.

Transforming valences through transitive inference: How are faces emotionally dissonant?

“…Continuing along the line of some recent findings (e.g., Amd & Roche, 2015;Silveira et al, 2015), emotional TOF studies using faces have highlighted the importance of membership within newly established relational structures (versus preexisting ones; see Lakens, Semin, & Foroni, 2012) in manipulating stimulus valence (Amd & Roche, 2016). This is why blurred faces were employed as stimuli in the present study, given previous findings showing happiness/valence TOF effects as most pronounced when emotionally masked faces are embedded in relational structures (Amd, 2014;Amd & Roche, 2015; but see Amd, Barnes-Holmes, & Ivanoff, 2013, for a non-face-related exception). This may have to do with the conspecific nature of faces, which humans can discriminate accurately from early in life (e.g., Bonatti, Frot, Zangl, & Mehler, 2002).…”

“…In Amd and Roche's (2016) study, stimulus-elicited FAAs appeared sensitive to the newly established valence gradients for the stimuli in the series. Given that FAAs can differentiate between valenced stimuli in humans from as early as two years of age (Davidson & Fox, 1989) and are arguably less broad in scope (Briesemeister et al, 2013, but see ) than other EEG metrics of valence (such as event-related potentials; see Amd et al, 2013;Patel & Azzam, 2005), the authors concluded that the observed FAA gradients might be reflective of derived valence TOFs.…”

A Derived Transformation of Valence Functions Across Two 8-Member Comparative Relational Networks

“…That is, RFT predicts that the Bhappiness^functions of the A-B-C-D stimuli would differ along a comparative dimension A>B>C>D, where A would be the happiest and D the least happy. In other words, the functions of the stimuli would transform in accordance with the entailed relations (Amd and Barnes-Holmes 2014;Amd et al 2013;De Almeida and de Rose 2015;Dougher et al 1994Dougher et al , 2002Munnelly et al 2010;Roche and Dymond 2008).…”

Manutenção das classes de equivalência e transferência de função: uma investigação por meio de escolhas alimentares de crianças

“…Assim, os resultados obtidos não poderiam ser atribuídos a um efeito de condicionamento avaliativo. Por outro lado, estudos sobre transferência de função têm demonstrado várias evidências de que estímulos equivalentes se tornam substituíveis uns aos outros, podendo evocar diferentes tipos de respostas, inclusive emocionais (e.g., Amd, Barnes-Holmes, &, 2013;Bortoloti & de Rose, 2009de Almeida & de Rose, 2015;de Rose et al, 1988;Dougher et al, 1994;Wulfert & Hayes, 1988). Pesquisas sobre medo e ansiedade, por exemplo, têm mostrado que o medo evocado por um membro da classe pode se transferir para outros membros (e.g., Bennett, Meulders, Baeyens, &Vlaeyen, 2015;Dymond, Dunsmoor, Vervliet, Roche, & Hermans, 2015), um efeito também chamado de generalização simbólica ou baseado em categorias.…”

“…Várias pesquisas têm demonstrado que se as relações entre os estímulos da classe são de equivalência, a atribuição de uma função a um membro desta classe é transferida para os demais (e.g., Amd, Barnes-Holmes, & Ivanoff, 2013; Barnes-Holmes, Barnes-Holmes, Smeets, Luciano, 2004;de Rose, McIlvane, Dube, Galpin, & Stoddard, 1988;Dougher, Augustson, Markham, Greenway, & Wulfert, 1994;Wulfert & Hayes, 1988). Dougher et al (1994), por exemplo, pareou um membro de uma classe (CS) com choque elétrico leve (US) que eliciou uma resposta galvâni-ca da pele (GSR).…”