Effects of positive mood on probabilistic learning: Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates

Abstract

Whether positive mood can change reinforcement learning or not remains an open question. In this study, we used a probabilistic learning task and explored whether positive mood could alter the way positive versus negative feedback was used to guide learning. This process was characterized both at the behavioral and electro-encephalographic levels. Thirty two participants were randomly allocated either to a positive or a neutral (control) mood condition. Behavioral results showed that while learning performance was balanced between the two groups, participants in the positive mood group had a higher learning rate than participants in the neutral mood group. At the electrophysiological level, we found that positive mood increased the errorrelated negativity when the stimulus-response associations were deterministic, selectively (as opposed to random or probabilistic). However, it did not influence the feedback-related negativity. These new findings are discussed in terms of an enhanced internal reward prediction error signal after the induction of positive mood when the probability of getting a reward is high.

Modulatory effects of happy mood on performance monitoring: Insights from error-related brain potentials

“…Some studies reported smaller ERN amplitude related to higher life satisfaction (Larson, Good, & Fair, 2010), religiosity, which is linked to a general positive view on life (Inzlicht, McGregor, Hirsh, & Nash, 2009), or to positive affect after watching movie clips (van Wouwe, Band, & Ridderinkhof, 2011). In other studies the opposite pattern was sometimes found: found a larger ERN in a Flanker Task, when the stimuli were overlaid on pleasant IAPS pictures; Bakic, Jepma, De Raedt, & Pourtois (2014) found a larger ERN amplitude during a probabilistic learning task after positive mood induction with guided imagery. Moreover, other studies actually failed to find reliable influence of positive emotions on the size of the ERN component (e.g.…”

“…A previously validated mood induction procedure (MIP) was used (see Bakic et al, 2014;Vanlessen et al, 2014Vanlessen et al, , 2012. In a between-subjects design either positive or neutral mood was induced by means of an imagery procedure in which participants were instructed to vividly imagine and reexperience a specific autobiographical memory episode (E. A.…”

“…Participants were randomly allocated to either a positive or a neutral mood condition (n = 25 per group). The data of three subjects were excluded due to failures of the mood induction (see Bakic, De Raedt, Jepma, & Pourtois, 2015;Bakic et al, 2014): within the neutral mood condition, two participants were excluded because their level of happiness increased and stayed on a very high level after the MIP compared to the rest of the neutral group (more than 1.8 SD above the mean), while within the happy mood group the data of one subject had to be excluded due to a decrease in levels of happiness following the mood induction compared to the baseline measurement prior to it (1.8 SD below the mean). Further, three participants (two of the happy group) had to be excluded due to technical problems during EEG data acquisition.…”

“…This task is suited to unlock a large number of unwanted response errors, and has been previously validated in a number of studies (Aarts, De Houwer, & Pourtois, 2012;Aarts et al, 2013;Aarts & Pourtois, 2010;Vocat, Pourtois, & Vuilleumier, 2008). The elected mood induction procedure (MIP) was validated in our laboratory across different studies (see Bakic et al, 2014;Vanlessen et al, 2014, MODULATORY EFFECTS OF HAPPY MOOD ON PM 8 2013. Using it, we induced either a happy or a neutral mood in a between-subjects design.…”

“…However, because the same material is used for all subjects (to seek standardization), it lacks individualization and may therefore be suboptimal. For this reason, more recently, induction techniques based on the use of guided imagery and the recall of personal autobiographical information have been proposed as alternatives to overcome this limitation and eventually induce more potent subject-specific mood states with enhanced ecological validity (Bakic et al, 2014;E. A. Holmes, Mathews, Dalgleish, & Mackintosh, 2006;E.…”