We present evidence for the affective realism hypothesis, that incidental affect is a key ingredient in an individual's experience of the world. In three studies, we used an interocular suppression technique (continuous flash suppression [CFS]) to present smiling, scowling, or neutral faces suppressed from conscious visual awareness while consciously perceived neutral faces were presented at three different timing intervals: 150 ms before, 150 ms after, and concurrent with the suppressed affective faces (Studies 1 and 3) or at timing intervals of 100 ms (Study 2). Results for all three studies revealed that consciously perceived neutral faces were experienced significantly more positively (e.g., as more trustworthy) when concurrently paired with suppressed smiling faces than when concurrently paired with suppressed scowling faces; there was no effect of suppressed affective faces on first impressions in the other timing conditions. This pattern of results is consistent with the affective realism hypothesis but inconsistent with both affective misattribution and affective priming interpretations. Incidental affect must be meaningfully contiguous in time with the target stimulus to be experienced as a property of the target. (PsycINFO Database Record
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high levels of anxiety and difficulty with emotion regulation and self-control. Music has been shown to modulate moods and emotions and may be useful in mediating individuals' physiological state. This study investigated whether listening to preferred self-selected music would have a significant physiological effect with regard to skin conductance responses, and also psychologically as measured by a self-report anxiety tool, among persons with ASD as compared to a matched control group. Results showed that participants with ASD were more responsive physiologically to their preferred music than those in the comparison group. They did not differ from controls in their responses to a piece of music previously demonstrated to induce feelings of relaxation among typical populations. Our findings indicate that persons with ASD are particularly responsive to the influence of music with regard to modulating their physiological state and this could potentially be a useful non-pharmacological tool for self-regulating emotional responses to stressors in their environment.
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