Interaction of Prime and Target in the Subliminal Affective Priming Effect

Abstract

It has been found that an emotional stimulus such as a facial expression presented subliminally can affect subsequent information processing and behavior, usually by shifting evaluation of a subsequent stimulus to a valence congruent with the previous stimulus. This phenomenon is called subliminal affective priming. The present study was conducted to replicate and expand previous findings by investigating interaction of primes and targets in the affective priming effect. Two conditions were used. Prime (subliminal presentation 35 msec.) of an angry face of a woman and a No Prime control condition. Just after presentation of the prime, an ambiguous angry face or an emotionally neutral face was presented above the threshold of awareness (500 msec.). 12 female undergraduate women judged categories of facial expressions (Anger, Neutral, or Happiness) for the target faces. Analysis indicated that the Anger primes significantly facilitated judgment of anger for the ambiguous angry faces; however, the priming effect of the Anger primes was not observed for neutral faces. Consequently, the present finding suggested that a subliminal affective priming effect should be more prominent when affective valence of primes and targets is congruent.

Emotional Face Processing and Emotion Regulation in Children: An ERP Study

“…Although some studies have shown that the N170 is faster or of greater amplitude for emotional faces (Batty & Taylor, 2003; Eger et al, 2003; Palermo & Rhodes, 2007; Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007), other studies suggest that the N170 is not sensitive to emotion (Eimer & Holmes, 2002; Herrmann et al, 2002; Pizzagalli et al, 2002). Moreover, research examining the neural substrates of face and emotional processing shows that face-specific neural responses may also be enhanced to ambiguous stimuli such as neutral faces (Adams & Kleck, 2005; Fox, Russo, & Dutton, 2002; Garner, Mogg, & Bradley, 2006; Haneda, Nomura, Iidaka, & Ohira, 2003; Kleinhans et al, 2007). In children, although studies are relatively few, there is some evidence that by the preschool years, the N170 occurs in posterior recording sites at latencies up to 300 ms (Taylor, McCarthy, Saliba, & Degiovanni, 1999) and is sensitive to configural changes in faces (Itier & Taylor, 2004; Taylor et al, 2004).…”

Illuminating Smiles and Frowns: Visual-Affective Cueing Influences Viewer Perceptions of Page Layout Images

“…In these studies, a cue activated affective information in a target image by shifting the viewer's eye movements toward affectively congruent information in the subsequent target image or by finding an affectively congruent target faster when paired with, rather than without, cueing. Furthermore, the processing of affective information can exert a strong influence on cognitive operations, including interpretation, judgment, decision-making, and reasoning (Blanchette & Richards, 2010;Haneda, Nomura, Iidaka, & Ohira, 2003). In an evaluative decision task, viewers assessed the subsequent target image as more pleasant or unpleasant, depending on its congruence with the cue (Calvo & Avero, 2008;Calvo & Nummenmaa, 2007;Wentura, Rohr, & Degner, 2017).…”

The emotional valence and features of subliminal priming images impact conscious perception of face expressions

“…The current literature makes little distinction between emotional stimuli that contain faces versus those that do not, although there is convincing evidence that faces are processed separately from non-face stimuli (Kanwisher, McDermott, & Chun, 1997). A large number of affective subliminal priming studies employ facial expressions as stimuli (Aguado, Garcia-Gutierrez, Castañeda, & Saugar, 2007; Andrews, Lipp, Mallan, & Könjg, 2011; Haneda, Nomura, Iidaka, & Ohira, 2003; Wagenbreth, Rieger, Heinze, & Zaehle, 2014) beacuse they are innately association with emotions. However, there are important differences between affective stimuli with and without faces.…”