The effect of acute pain on risky and intertemporal choice

Pain is a highly salient and attention-demanding experience that motivates people to act. We investigated the effect of pain on decision making by delivering acute thermal pain to participants' forearm while they made risky and intertemporal choices involving money. Participants (n = 107) were more risk seeking under pain than in a no-pain control condition when decisions involved gains but not when they involved equivalent losses. Pain also resulted in greater preference for immediate (smaller) over future (larger) monetary rewards. We interpret these results as a motivation to offset the aversive, pain-induced state, where monetary rewards become more appealing under pain than under no pain and when delivered sooner rather than later. Our findings add to the long-standing debate regarding the role of intuition and reflection in decision making.

Auditory attentional selection is biased by reward cues

Auditory attention theories suggest that humans are able to decompose the complex acoustic input into separate auditory streams, which then compete for attentional resources. How this attentional competition is influenced by motivational salience of sounds is, however, not well-understood. Here, we investigated whether a positive motivational value associated with sounds could bias the attentional selection in an auditory detection task. Participants went through a reward-learning period, where correct attentional selection of one stimulus (CS+) lead to higher rewards compared to another stimulus (CS-). We assessed the impact of reward-learning by comparing perceptual sensitivity before and after the learning period, when CS+ and CS- were presented as distractors for a different target. Performance decreased after reward-learning when CS+ was a distractor, while it increased when CS- was a distractor. Thus, the findings show that sounds that were associated with high rewards captures attention involuntarily. Additionally, when successful inhibition of a particular sound (CS-) was associated with high rewards then it became easier to ignore it. The current findings have important implications for the understanding of the organizing principles of auditory perception and provide, for the first time, clear behavioral evidence for reward-dependent attentional learning in the auditory domain in humans.

An Experimental Field Study of the Effects of Listening to Self-selected Music on Emotions, Stress, and Cortisol Levels

Music listening may evoke meaningful emotions in listeners and may enhance certain health benefits. At the same time, it is important to consider individual differences, such as musical taste, when examining musical emotions and in considering their possible health effects. In a field experiment, 21 women listened to their own preferred music on mp3-players daily for 30 minutes during a two week time  period in their own homes. One week they listened to their own chosen relaxing music and the other their own chosen energizing music. Self-reported stress, emotions and health were measured by a questionnaire each day and salivary cortisol was measured with 6 samples two consecutive days every week. The experiment group was compared to a control group (N = 20) who were instructed to relax for 30 minutes everyday for three weeks, and with a baseline week when they relaxed without music for one week (before the music intervention weeks). The results showed that when participants in the experiment group listened to their own chosen music they reported to have experienced significantly higher intensity positive emotions and less stress than when they relaxed without music. There was also a significant decrease in cortisol from the baseline week to the second music intervention week. The control group’s reported stress levels, perceived emotions and cortisol levels remain stable during all three weeks of the study. Together these results suggest that listening to preferred music may be a more effective way of reducing feelings of stress and cortisol levels and increasing positive emotions than relaxing without music.  Keywords: music, emotions, stress, cortisol levelsSpanishEstudio experimental de Campo de los efectos de la Escucha de Musica seleccionada por uno mismo en las emociones, el stress y los niveles de cortisol.Marie Helsing, Daniel Västfjäll, Pär Bjälkebring, Patrik Juslin, Terry Hartig  La escucha musical puede evocar emociones significativas en los oyentes y puede lograr algunos beneficios en la salud. Al mismo tiempo, es importante considerar las diferencias individuales, como por ejemplo el gusto musical, cuando examinamos las emociones musicales y al considerar sus posibles efectos en la salud. En este experimento de campo 21 mujeres escucharon su música preferida 30 minutos por dia durante 2 semanas utilizando reproductores de mp3 en sus propias casas. Una semana escucharon la música que eligieron como relajante y la semana siguiente la música que eligieron como energizante. Los auto-reportes de stress, emociones y salud fueron medidos con cuestionarios diarios a la vez que se midió el nivel de cortisol en saliva con 6 muestras tomadas durante dos días consecutivos cada semana. El grupo experimental fue comparado con el grupo control (N=20) que habían sido instruidas para realizar relajación durante 30 minutos todos los días durante tres semanas y con una semana de base en la cual se relajaban sin música (antes de las semanas de intervención musical). Los resultados mostraron que cuando las  participantes del grupo experimental escucharon su propia música, reportaron haber experimentado significativamente una mayor intensidad de emociones positivas y menor stress que cuando se relajaron sin música. Hubo también una disminución significativa en el cortisol desde la semana de base  a la segunda semana con la intervención musical. El grupo control reportó que los niveles de stress , percepción emocional y niveles de cortisol permanecieron estables durante las tres semanas del estudio. Estos resultados sugieren que escuchar música preferida puede ser una forma más efectiva de reducir la sensación de stress y los niveles de cortisol y de incrementar las emociones positivas que la relajación sin música. Palabras clave: Escucha musical , cortisol , respuesta al stress GermanDie Effekte vom Hören selbst gewählter Musik auf Emotionen, Stress und Cortisol Level:  Eine experimentelle Feldstudie Marie Helsing, Daniel Västfjäll, Pär Bjälkebring, Patrik Juslin, Terry Hartig Musikhören kann beim Hörer bedeutsame Emotionen auslösen und gewisse Gesundheitsvorteile bewirken. Gleichzeitig ist es wichtig, individuelle Unterschiede, wie den musikalischen Geschmack, zu beachten, wenn man musikalische Emotionen untersucht und deren mögliche gesundheitliche Effekte betrachtet. In einem Feldexperiment  hörten 21 Frauen ihre selbst gewählte Musik über einen mp3 Spieler täglich 30 Minuten während einem Zeitraum von 2 Wochen in ihrem eigenen Zuhause.Eine Woche lang hörten sie ihre selbst gewählte entspannende Musik, in der anderen Woche selbst gewählte energetisierende Musik. Selbstberichteter Stress, Emotionenund Gesundheit wurden mithilfe eines Fragebogens täglich, der Cortisolspiegel mit 6 Beispielen an zwei aufeinander folgenden Tagen wöchentlich gemessen. Die experimentelle Gruppe wurde mit einer Kontrollgruppe verglichen (N=20), die angewiesen wurde, 3 Wochen lang täglich 30 Minuten zu entspannen; mit einer baseline-Woche, während der sie eine Woche lang ohne Musik entspannten (vor der Musik-Interventionswoche). Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die Teilnehmer der experimentellen Gruppe berichteten, sie hätten bei ihrer selbst gewählten Musik signifikant höhere intensive positive Emotionen und weniger Stress, als wenn sie ohne Musik entspannten. Außerdem fand sich eine signifikante Abnahme des Cortisols von der baseline-Woche zur 2. Woche mit Musikintervention. Die von der Kontrollgruppe berichteten Stresslevel, erlebten Emotionen und der Cortisolspiegel blieben während all der drei Studienwochen stabil. Zusammengefasst lassen diese Resultate vermuten, dass Hören von selbst gewählter Musik eine effektivere Möglichkeit darstellt, Gefühle von Stress und Cortisollevel zu reduzieren und positive Gefühle zu erzeugen, wie Entspannung ohne Musik.Keywords: Musikhören, Cortisol, Stressresponse ItalianStudio Sperimentale sul Campo degli Effetti Legati all’Ascolto della Musica Auto-Selezionata sulle Emozioni, Stress, Livello del Cortisolo Marie Helsing, Daniel Västfjäll, Pär Bjälkebring, Patrik Juslin, Terry HartigAscoltare musica può suscitare emozioni e può dare benefici alla salute. Allo stesso tempo però è importante prendere in considerazione le differenze individuali ,come il gusto musicale, quando si indaga sulle emozioni musicali, e considerare il loro possible effetto sulla salute. In un esperimeto sul campo 21 donne hanno ascoltato la loro musica preferita, su lettori mp3, ogni giorno, nelle loro case, per 30 minuti lungo un periodo di tempo di 2 settimane. Una settimana hanno ascoltato musica rilassante e l’alta settimana musica energizzante. Stress, emozioni e salute sono stati misurati da un questionario ogni giorno e il cortisolo della salia è stato misurato con 6 campioni due giorni consecutivi ogni settimana. Il gruppo di sperimentazione è stato messo a confroto con un altro gruppo di controllo (N= 20) al quale è stata assegnata una settimana di controllo di relax senza musica e dopo hanno avuto istruzione di rilassarsi per 30 minuti ogni giorno per tre settimane. I risultati hanno mostrato che quando i partecipanti del gruppo hanno ascoltato la loro musica essi hanno riferito di aver avuto meno stress e di aver vissuto emozioni positive in un livello significativamente piú alto rispetto a quando si rilassavano senza musica. C’è stata anche una diminuzine significativa del cortisolo nel passaggio tra la settimana di controllo alla settimana in cui è stata introdotta la musica. Il gruppo di controllo ha riportato livelli di stress, emozioni percepite e livelli di cortisolo stabili durante tutte e tre le settimane dello studio. Tutti questi risultati ci suggeriscono che rilassarsi ascoltando la nostra musica preferita può essere un modo molto efficace per ridurre i livelli di stress e di cotisolo ed aumentare le emozioni positive, rispetto a rilassarsi senza musica. Parole Chiave: ascoltare musica, cortisolo, stress Chinese聆聽自選音樂對情緒、壓力及皮質醇水平效用之實驗性實地研究聆聽音樂能激發對聆聽者而言具有意義的情緒，並有益於促進健康。於此同時，當評估音樂對情緒及健康可能帶來的影響時，考慮到個別差異(如：個人的音樂品味)至關重要。在一個實地研究中，21位女性連續兩週，每天30分鐘在家聆聽她們喜歡的音樂mp3，其中一週，他們聆聽自己選擇的放鬆音樂，另一週則聆聽自選的活力音樂。在自陳問卷中每天測量壓力值、情緒與健康狀態，並每週連續兩天測量六個唾液皮質醇樣本。在音樂介入之前，以一週沒有聆聽音樂的放鬆作為基線期，將實驗組的結果與連續三週每天進行30分鐘放鬆的控制組(N=20)比較，結果顯示和未聆聽音樂的放鬆經驗相比，實驗組的參與者表示，在她們聆聽自選音樂的時候，感受到明顯較高強度的正向情緒以及較少的壓力。同時，與第一週的基線期相比，皮質醇在第二週音樂開始介入後也顯著降低。相對的，控制組的自陳壓力值、情緒感知及皮質醇程度在研究進行的三週之中皆保持穩定。研究結果建議，在放鬆時聆聽個人偏好的音樂比沒有聆聽音樂更能有效降低壓力感與皮質醇程度，並增加正向情緒 。 Japanese自分で選んだ音楽を聴くことによる、感情、ストレス、 コルチゾール値への影響についての実験的実地調査Marie Helsing, Daniel Västfjäll, Pär Bjälkebring, Patrik Juslin, Terry Hartig  音楽鑑賞は鑑賞者の有意義な感情を喚起し一定の健康利益を高める可能性がある。同時に、音楽感情を調査、またそれらの健康への影響の可能性を考察する際には、音楽の嗜好など、個人差を考慮することが重要である。実地調査では、21人の女性が各自の好む音楽を一日30分、2週間、MP3プレイヤーを使って自宅で聴いた。一週間は自分で選択したリラックスする音楽を、もう一週間は自分で選択した活力を与える音楽を聴いた。自己申告によるストレス、感情、健康がアンケートを使って毎日計測され、唾液内のコルチゾール値は、毎週2日連続して６つのサンプルを使って計測された。実験グループは毎日30分のリラクゼーションを3週間行ったコントロール群 (N=20) と比較され、コントロール群はベースラインとなる週（リラクゼーションを始める前の週）に音楽なしのリラクゼーションも行った。結果は、実験グループ参加者が好みの音楽を聴いている時、著しく高い強さでポジティブな感情を経験し、音楽なしでリラックスしている時よりもストレスが少ないということを示した。また、コルチゾール値は、ベースライン週に比べて音楽介入のあった2週目の方が有意に減少していた。コントロール群では、ストレスレベル、感情知覚、コルチゾール値が、調査中3週間において安定を保持したことが報告された。これらの結果を合わせると、好みの音楽を聴くことはよりストレス感情とコルチゾール値を減少させ、音楽なしのリラクゼーションよりもポジティブな感情を増加させることが示唆される。キーワード：音楽鑑賞、コルチゾール、ストレス反応 Korean개인선곡 음악감상이 정서, 스트레스, 코티졸 레벨에 미치는 영향에 대한 임상 실험 연구Marie Helsing, Daniel Västfjäll, Pär Bjälkebring, Patrik Juslin, Terry Hartig음악을 듣는 것은 듣는 사람에게 중요한 정서를 이끌어 낼 수 있으며 특정한 건강 혜택들을 증진시킬 수 있다. 동시에, 음악적 정서를 조사할 때, 또한 그것들이 건강에 끼칠 수 있는 영향들을 고려할 때 음악적 취향과 같은 개인차를 고려해야 한다. 임상 실험에서, 21명의 여성들은 자신의 집에서 2주 동안 매일 30분씩 MP3 플레이어로 자신이 좋아하는 음악을 들었다. 첫 일주일 동안, 그들은 자신이 선택한 이완 음악을 들었고, 두 번째 일주일간은 자신이 선택한 에너지를 주는 음악을 들었다. 매일 질문지로 자신이 보고한 스트레스, 감정, 건강 등을 평가했고, 매주 2일 연속 6개의 샘플을 가지고 타액내 코티졸을 측정했다. 실험집단은 3주 동안 매일 30분씩 이완을 시키라고 지시를 받은 통제 집단(N=20)과 비교했으며, 음악 중재 전 일주일 동안 음악 없이 이완을 시켰던 때를 기초선 주간(baseline week)으로 정했다. 그 결과, 실험 집단의 참가자들은 음악없이 이완을 시켰던 때보다 자신이 선택한 음악을 들었을 때 유의미하게 더 높은 강도의 긍정적 정서와 더 적은 스트레스를 경험했다고 보고했다. 또한 기초선 주간으로부터 두 번째 음악 중재 주까지 코티졸의 유의미한 감소도 있었다. 통제 집단이 보고한 스트레스 수준, 인식한 감정, 코티졸 레벨은 3주 간의 연구 기간 내내 안정적이었다. 이런 결과들을 종합했을 때, 선호하는 음악을 듣는 것이 음악 없이 이완을 시키는 것보다 긍정적인 정서를 증가시켜주고 스트레스 감정과 코티졸 수준을 줄여주는 보다 효과적인 방법이 될 수 있음을 제안한다. 키워드: 음악 감상, 코티졸, 스트레스 반응 

Intuition and Moral Decision-Making - The Effect of Time Pressure and Cognitive Load on Moral Judgment and Altruistic Behavior

Do individuals intuitively favor certain moral actions over others? This study explores the role of intuitive thinking-induced by time pressure and cognitive load-in moral judgment and behavior. We conduct experiments in three different countries (Sweden, Austria, and the United States) involving over 1,400 subjects. All subjects responded to four trolley type dilemmas and four dictator games involving different charitable causes. Decisions were made under time pressure/time delay or while experiencing cognitive load or control. Overall we find converging evidence that intuitive states do not influence moral decisions. Neither time-pressure nor cognitive load had any effect on moral judgments or altruistic behavior. Thus we find no supporting evidence for the claim that intuitive moral judgments and dictator game giving differ from more reflectively taken decisions. Across all samples and decision tasks men were more likely to make utilitarian moral judgments and act selfishly compared to women, providing further evidence that there are robust gender differences in moral decision-making. However, there were no significant interactions between gender and the treatment manipulations of intuitive versus reflective decision-making.

Anticipated Guilt for Not Helping and Anticipated Warm Glow for Helping Are Differently Impacted by Personal Responsibility to Help

One important motivation for people behaving prosocially is that they want to avoid negative and obtain positive emotions. In the prosocial behavior literature however, the motivations to avoid negative emotions (e.g., guilt) and to approach positive emotions (e.g., warm glow) are rarely separated, and sometimes even aggregated into a single mood-management construct. The aim of this study was to investigate whether anticipated guilt if not helping and anticipated warm glow if helping are influenced similarly or differently when varying situational factors related to personal responsibility to help. Helping scenarios were created and pilot tests established that each helping scenario could be formulated both in a high-responsibility version and in a low-responsibility version. In Study 1 participants read high-responsibility and low-responsibility helping scenarios, and rated either their anticipated guilt if not helping or their anticipated warm glow if helping (i.e., separate evaluation). Study 2 was similar but here participants rated both their anticipated guilt if not helping and their anticipated warm glow if helping (i.e., joint evaluation). Anticipated guilt was clearly higher in the high-responsibility versions, but anticipated warm glow was unaffected (in Studies 1a and 1b), or even higher in the low-responsibility versions (Study 2). In Studies 3 (where anticipated guilt and warm glow were evaluated separately) and 4 (where they were evaluated jointly), personal responsibility to help was manipulated within-subjects. Anticipated guilt was again constantly higher in the high-responsibility versions but for many types of responsibility-manipulations, anticipated warm glow was higher in the low-responsibility versions. The results suggest that we anticipate guilt if not fulfilling our responsibility but that we anticipate warm glow primarily when doing over and beyond our responsibility. We argue that future studies investigating motivations for helping should measure both anticipated negative consequences for oneself if not helping, and anticipated positive consequences for oneself if helping.

Auditory-Induced Emotion Mediates Perceptual Categorization of Everyday Sounds

Research has shown that emotion categorization plays an important role in perception and categorization in the visual domain. In the present paper, we investigated the role of auditory-induced emotions for auditory perception. We further investigated whether the emotional responses mediate other perceptual judgments of sounds. In an experiment, participants either rated general dissimilarities between sounds or dissimilarities of specific aspects of sounds. The results showed that the general perceptual salience map could be explained by both the emotional responses to, and perceptual aspects of, the sounds. Importantly, the perceptual aspects were mediated by emotional responses. Together these results show that emotions are an integral part of auditory perception that is used as the intuitive basis for categorizing everyday sounds.

Adult Age Differences in Dual Information Processes: Implications for the Role of Affective and Deliberative Processes in Older Adults' Decision Making

Age differences in affective/experiential and deliberative processes have important theoretical implications for judgment and decision theory and important pragmatic implications for older-adult decision making. Age-related declines in the efficiency of deliberative processes predict poorer-quality decisions as we age. However, age-related adaptive processes, including motivated selectivity in the use of deliberative capacity, an increased focus on emotional goals, and greater experience, predict better or worse decisions for older adults depending on the situation. The aim of the current review is to examine adult age differences in affective and deliberative information processes in order to understand their potential impact on judgments and decisions. We review evidence for the role of these dual processes in judgment and decision making and then review two representative life-span perspectives (based on aging-related changes to cognitive or motivational processes) on the interplay between these processes. We present relevant predictions for older-adult decisions and make note of contradictions and gaps that currently exist in the literature. Finally, we review the sparse evidence about age differences in decision making and how theories and findings regarding dual processes could be applied to decision theory and decision aiding. In particular, we focus on prospect theory ( Kahneman & Tversky, 1979 ) and how prospect theory and theories regarding age differences in information processing can inform one another.

Greater Emotional Gain from Giving in Older Adults: Age-Related Positivity Bias in Charitable Giving

Older adults have been shown to avoid negative and prefer positive information to a higher extent than younger adults. This positivity bias influences their information processing as well as decision-making. We investigate age-related positivity bias in charitable giving in two studies. In Study 1 we examine motivational factors in monetary donations, while Study 2 focuses on the emotional effect of actual monetary donations. In Study 1, participants (n = 353, age range 20-74 years) were asked to rate their affect toward a person in need and then state how much money they would be willing to donate to help this person. In Study 2, participants (n = 108, age range 19-89) were asked to rate their affect toward a donation made a few days prior. Regression analysis was used to investigate whether or not the positivity bias influences the relationship between affect and donations. In Study 1, we found that older adults felt more sympathy and compassion and were less motivated by negative affect when compared to younger adults, who were motivated by both negative and positive affect. In Study 2, we found that the level of positive emotional reactions from monetary donations was higher in older participants compared to younger participants. We find support for an age-related positivity bias in charitable giving. This is true for motivation to make a future donation, as well as affective thinking about a previous donation. We conclude that older adults draw more positive affect from both the planning and outcome of monetary donations and hence benefit more from engaging in monetary charity than their younger counterparts.

The Arithmetic of Emotion: Integration of Incidental and Integral Affect in Judgments and Decisions

Research has demonstrated that two types of affect have an influence on judgment and decision making: incidental affect (affect unrelated to a judgment or decision such as a mood) and integral affect (affect that is part of the perceiver’s internal representation of the option or target under consideration). So far, these two lines of research have seldom crossed so that knowledge concerning their combined effects is largely missing. To fill this gap, the present review highlights differences and similarities between integral and incidental affect. Further, common and unique mechanisms that enable these two types of affect to influence judgment and choices are identified. Finally, some basic principles for affect integration when the two sources co-occur are outlined. These mechanisms are discussed in relation to existing work that has focused on incidental or integral affect but not both.

Regulation of experienced and anticipated regret in daily decision making

Decisions were sampled from 108 participants during 8 days using a web-based diary method. Each day participants rated experienced regret for a decision made, as well as forecasted regret for a decision to be made. Participants also indicated to what extent they used different strategies to prevent or regulate regret. Participants regretted 30% of decisions and forecasted regret in 70% of future decisions, indicating both that regret is relatively prevalent in daily decisions but also that experienced regret was less frequent than forecasted regret. In addition, a number of decision-specific regulation and prevention strategies were successfully used by the participants to minimize regret and negative emotions in daily decision making. Overall, these results suggest that regulation and prevention of regret are important strategies in many of our daily decisions.

Scope insensitivity in helping decisions: Is it a matter of culture and values?

The singularity effect of identifiable victims refers to people's greater willingness to help a single concrete victim compared with a group of victims experiencing the same need. We present 3 studies exploring values and cultural sources of this effect. In the first study, the singularity effect was found only among Western Israelis and not among Bedouin participants (a more collectivist group). In Study 2, individuals with higher collectivist values were more likely to contribute to a group of victims. Finally, the third study demonstrates a more causal relationship between collectivist values and the singularity effect by showing that enhancing people's collectivist values using a priming manipulation produces similar donations to single victims and groups. Moreover, participants' collectivist preferences mediated the interaction between the priming conditions and singularity of the recipient. Implications for several areas of psychology and ways to enhance caring for groups in need are discussed.

Happiness and arousal: framing happiness as arousing results in lower happiness ratings for older adults

Older adults have been shown to describe their happiness as lower in arousal when compared to younger adults. In addition, older adults prefer low arousal positive emotions over high arousal positive emotions in their daily lives. We experimentally investigated whether or not changing a few words in the description of happiness could influence a person’s rating of their happiness. We randomly assigned 193 participants, aged 22–92 years, to one of three conditions (high arousal, low arousal, or control). In line with previous findings, we found that older participants rated their happiness lower when framed as high in arousal (i.e., ecstatic, to be bursting with positive emotions) and rated their happiness higher when framed as low in arousal (i.e., satisfied, to have a life filled with positive emotions). Younger adults remained uninfluenced by the manipulation. Our study demonstrates that arousal is essential to understanding ratings of happiness, and gives support to the notion that there are age differences in the preference for arousal.

Pseudoinefficacy: negative feelings from children who cannot be helped reduce warm glow for children who can be helped

In a great many situations where we are asked to aid persons whose lives are endangered, we are not able to help everyone. What are the emotional and motivational consequences of "not helping all"? In a series of experiments, we demonstrate that negative affect arising from children that could not be helped decreases the warm glow of positive feeling associated with aiding the children who can be helped. This demotivation from the children outside of our reach may be a form of "pseudoinefficacy" that is non-rational. We should not be deterred from helping whomever we can because there are others we are not able to help.

Negative emotion provides cues for orienting auditory spatial attention

The auditory stimuli provide information about the objects and events around us. They can also carry biologically significant emotional information (such as unseen dangers and conspecific vocalizations), which provides cues for allocation of attention and mental resources. Here, we investigated whether task-irrelevant auditory emotional information can provide cues for orientation of auditory spatial attention. We employed a covert spatial orienting task: the dot-probe task. In each trial, two task-irrelevant auditory cues were simultaneously presented at two separate locations (left-right or front-back). Environmental sounds were selected to form emotional vs. neutral, emotional vs. emotional, and neutral vs. neutral cue pairs. The participants' task was to detect the location of an acoustic target that was presented immediately after the task-irrelevant auditory cues. The target was presented at the same location as one of the auditory cues. The results indicated that participants were significantly faster to locate the target when it replaced the negative cue compared to when it replaced the neutral cue. The positive cues did not produce a clear attentional bias. Further, same valence pairs (emotional-emotional or neutral-neutral) did not modulate reaction times due to a lack of spatial attention capture by one cue in the pair. Taken together, the results indicate that negative affect can provide cues for the orientation of spatial attention in the auditory domain.

Attentional and emotional prioritization of the sounds occurring outside the visual field

The ability to detect and localize sounds in an environment is critical for survival. Localizing sound sources is a computational challenge for the human brain because the auditory cortex seems to lack a topographical space representation. However, attention and task demands can modulate localization performance. Here, we investigated whether the localization performance for sounds occurring directly in front of or behind people could be modulated by emotional salience and sound-source location. We measured auditory-induced emotion by ecological sounds occurring in the frontal or rear perceptual fields, and employed a speeded localization task. The results showed that both localization speed and accuracy were higher, and that stronger negative emotions were induced when sound sources were behind the participants. Our results provide clear behavioral evidence that auditory attention can be influenced by sound-source location. Importantly, we also show that the effect of spatial location on attention is mediated by emotion, which is in line with the argument that emotional information is prioritized in processing. Auditory system functions as an alarm system and is in charge of detecting possible salient events, and alarming for an attention shift. Further, spatial processing in the auditory dorsal pathway has a function of guiding the visual system to a particular location of interest. Thus, an auditory bias toward the space outside the visual field can be useful, so that visual attention could be quickly shifted in case of emotionally significant information.

The affect heuristic, mortality salience, and risk: domain-specific effects of a natural disaster on risk-benefit perception

We examine how affect and accessible thoughts following a major natural disaster influence everyday risk perception. A survey was conducted in the months following the 2004 south Asian Tsunami in a representative sample of the Swedish population (N = 733). Respondents rated their experienced affect as well as the perceived risk and benefits of various everyday decision domains. Affect influenced risk and benefit perception in a way that could be predicted from both the affect-congruency and affect heuristic literatures (increased risk perception and stronger risk-benefit correlations). However, in some decision domains, self-regulation goals primed by the natural disaster predicted risk and benefit ratings. Together, these results show that affect, accessible thoughts and motivational states influence perceptions of risks and benefits.

The Effect of Interior Aircraft Noise on Pilot Performance

This study examined the effect of the interior sounds of an aircraft cockpit on ratings of affect and expected performance decrement. While exposed to 12 interior aircraft sounds, of which half were modified to correspond to what is experienced with an active noise reduction (ANR) headset, 23 participants rated their affective reactions and how they believed their performance on various tasks would be affected. The results suggest that implementation of ANR-technique has a positive effect on ratings of expected performance. In addition, affective reactions to the noise are related to ratings of expected performance. The implications of these findings for both research and pilot performance are discussed.

Regulation of Experienced and Anticipated Regret for Daily Decisions in Younger and Older Adults in a Swedish One-Week Diary Study

Regret and regret regulation were studied using a weeklong web-based diary method. 108 participants aged 19 to 89 years reported regret for a decision made and a decision to be made. They also reported the extent to which they used strategies to prevent or regulate decision regret. Older adults reported both less experienced and anticipated regret compared to younger adults. The lower level of experienced regret in older adults was mediated by reappraisal of the decision. The lower level of anticipated regret was mediated by delaying the decision, and expecting regret in older adults. It is suggested that the lower level of regret observed in older adults is partly explained by regret prevention and regulation strategies.

Perception of loudness is influenced by emotion

Loudness perception is thought to be a modular system that is unaffected by other brain systems. We tested the hypothesis that loudness perception can be influenced by negative affect using a conditioning paradigm, where some auditory stimuli were paired with aversive experiences while others were not. We found that the same auditory stimulus was reported as being louder, more negative and fear-inducing when it was conditioned with an aversive experience, compared to when it was used as a control stimulus. This result provides support for an important role of emotion in auditory perception.

Bringing meaning to numbers: the impact of evaluative categories on decisions

Decision makers are often quite poor at using numeric information in decisions. The results of 4 experiments demonstrate that a manipulation of evaluative meaning (i.e., the extent to which an attribute can be mapped onto a good/bad scale; this manipulation is accomplished through the addition of visual boundary lines and evaluative labels to a graphical format) has a robust influence in health judgments and choices and across diverse adult populations. The manipulation resulted in greater use of numeric quality-of-care information in judgments and less reliance on an irrelevant affective state among the less numerate. Recall results for provided quality-of-care numbers suggested that the manipulation did not influence depth of number processing with the exception of cost information that was not remembered as well. Results of a reaction-time paradigm revealed that feelings were more accessible than thoughts in the presence of the manipulation, suggesting that the effect may be due, at least in part, to an affective mechanism. Numeric information is often provided in decisions, but may not be usable by consumers without assistance from information providers. Implications for consumer decision making and the functions of affect are discussed.

Perceptual and emotional categorization of sound

This paper investigates how different types of data from psychoacoustical experiments may be combined to render further knowledge about the mechanisms underlying sound perception. Two studies were conducted with auditory alerts of short duration. First, an experiment where participants rated the dissimilarity among the auditory alerts was performed. This resulted in a two-dimensional multi-dimensional scaling solution. Second, an experiment where participants evaluated the stimuli with semantic descriptors and rated their emotional reactions to the sounds was performed. The output of this experiment was a reduced set of underlying perceptual and emotional dimensions. The results of the two experiments were then integrated by the use of multi-dimensional perceptual unfolding and a set mediation analyses. The integrative analyses showed that part of the cognitive categorization of the semantic descriptors was mediated by the emotional reactions to the sounds. The results are discussed in relation to theories of auditory perception and emotional response categorization.

Age differences in dual information-processing modes: implications for cancer decision making

Age differences in affective/experiential and deliberative processes have important theoretical implications for cancer decision making, as cancer is often a disease of older adulthood. The authors examined evidence for adult age differences in affective and deliberative information processes, reviewed the sparse evidence about age differences in decision making, and introduced how dual process theories and their findings might be applied to cancer decision making. Age-related declines in the efficiency of deliberative processes predict poorer-quality decisions as we age, particularly when decisions are unfamiliar and the information is numeric. However, age-related adaptive processes, including an increased focus on emotional goals and greater experience, can influence decision making and potentially offset age-related declines. A better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie cancer decision processes in our aging population should ultimately allow us to help older adults to better help themselves.

Self-representation in mediated environments: the experience of emotions modulated by auditory-vibrotactile heartbeat

In 1890, William James hypothesized that emotions are our perception of physiological changes. Many different theories of emotion have emerged since then, but it has been demonstrated that a specifically induced physiological state can influence an individual's emotional responses to stimuli. In the present study, auditory and/or vibrotactile heartbeat stimuli were presented to participants (N = 24), and the stimuli's effect on participants' physiological state and subsequent emotional attitude to affective pictures was measured. In particular, we aimed to investigate the effect of the perceived distance to stimuli on emotional experience. Distant versus close sound reproduction conditions (loudspeakers vs. headphones) were used to identify whether an "embodied" experience can occur in which participants would associate the external heartbeat sound with their own. Vibrotactile stimulation of an experimental chair and footrest was added to magnify the experience. Participants' peripheral heartbeat signals, self-reported valence (pleasantness) and arousal (activation) ratings for the pictures, and memory performance scores were collected. Heartbeat sounds significantly affected participants' heartbeat, the emotional judgments of pictures, and their recall. The effect of distance to stimuli was observed in the significant interaction between the spatial location of the heartbeat sound and the vibrotactile stimulation, which was mainly caused by the auditory-vibrotactile interaction in the loudspeakers condition. This interaction might suggest that vibrations transform the far sound condition (sound via loudspeakers) in a close-stimulation condition and support the hypothesis that close sounds are more affective than distant ones. These findings have implications for the design and evaluation of mediated environments.

Validation of a Swedish short self-report measure of core affect

This research aimed at validating two self-report composite rating scales of core affect that are useful when quick assessments are required, for instance, of current mood or recalled, anticipated, and experienced emotional reactions. The ratings were derived from the Swedish Core Affect Scales (SCAS) comprising six self-report rating scales of the two orthogonal dimensions of core affect, valence (unpleasantness-pleasantness) and activation (quietness-excitement). In three samples of university students who were requested to rate current moods, affect-inducing sounds, or affect-inducing pictures, the composite ratings were compared to SCAS, two widely used graphical rating scales of valence and activation, and skin conductance responses and the acceleratory peak of heart rate. Three different rating formats were also compared. The results showed that the composite ratings were reliable and yielded the expected correlations with the other ratings and with the physiological affect indicators. No effects of rating format were detected. It is concluded that the composite ratings of valence and activation may be used if quick assessments are called for. Choices can be made of any of three rating formats depending on purpose with the assessments.

Validation of a Swedish short self-report measure of core affect

This research aimed at validating two self-report composite rating scales of core affect that are useful when quick assessments are required, for instance, of current mood or recalled, anticipated, and experienced emotional reactions. The ratings were derived from the Swedish Core Affect Scales (SCAS) comprising six self-report rating scales of the two orthogonal dimensions of core affect, valence (unpleasantness-pleasantness) and activation (quietness-excitement). In three samples of university students who were requested to rate current moods, affect-inducing sounds, or affect-inducing pictures, the composite ratings were compared to SCAS, two widely used graphical rating scales of valence and activation, and skin conductance responses and the acceleratory peak of heart rate. Three different rating formats were also compared. The results showed that the composite ratings were reliable and yielded the expected correlations with the other ratings and with the physiological affect indicators. No effects of rating format were detected. It is concluded that the composite ratings of valence and activation may be used if quick assessments are called for. Choices can be made of any of three rating formats depending on purpose with the assessments.

Numeracy and decision making

A series of four studies explored how the ability to comprehend and transform probability numbers relates to performance on judgment and decision tasks. On the surface, the tasks in the four studies appear to be widely different; at a conceptual level, however, they all involve processing numbers and the potential to show an influence of affect. Findings were consistent with highly numerate individuals being more likely to retrieve and use appropriate numerical principles, thus making themselves less susceptible to framing effects, compared with less numerate individuals. In addition, the highly numerate tended to draw different (generally stronger or more precise) affective meaning from numbers and numerical comparisons, and their affective responses were more precise. Although generally helpful, this tendency may sometimes lead to worse decisions. The less numerate were influenced more by competing, irrelevant affective considerations. Analyses showed that the effect of numeracy was not due to general intelligence. Numerical ability appears to matter to judgments and decisions in important ways.

Numeracy and decision making

A series of four studies explored how the ability to comprehend and transform probability numbers relates to performance on judgment and decision tasks. On the surface, the tasks in the four studies appear to be widely different; at a conceptual level, however, they all involve processing numbers and the potential to show an influence of affect. Findings were consistent with highly numerate individuals being more likely to retrieve and use appropriate numerical principles, thus making themselves less susceptible to framing effects, compared with less numerate individuals. In addition, the highly numerate tended to draw different (generally stronger or more precise) affective meaning from numbers and numerical comparisons, and their affective responses were more precise. Although generally helpful, this tendency may sometimes lead to worse decisions. The less numerate were influenced more by competing, irrelevant affective considerations. Analyses showed that the effect of numeracy was not due to general intelligence. Numerical ability appears to matter to judgments and decisions in important ways.

Preference for negative emotions

This research demonstrates that preference for emotions sometimes cannot be equated with a positive-negative valence dimension. Participants were asked to make choices between pairs of affect-inducing options opposite in valence but equal in activation. The results showed that in absence of contextual cues or situational constraints, choices followed a pleasure-maximizing principle. However, when information was provided about a context cueing appropriateness of certain emotions over others, a preference reversal was observed so that negative emotions were preferred over positive emotions. These results are discussed in relation to current theories of pleasure-maximizing choice and behavior.

Preference for current mood, anticipated emotional reaction, and experienced emotional reaction

Two experiments investigated how preference for emotions is related to valence and activation of current mood, anticipated emotional reaction, and experienced emotional reaction. In Experiment 1, 40 undergraduates on one occasion rated valence and activation of and preference for their emotional reaction to an aircraft noise, then on a later occasion rated valence and activation of and preference for their recalled or anticipated emotional reaction to the same aircraft noise. On both occasions they also rated valence and activation of current mood. In Experiment 2, another 40 undergraduates rated valence and activation of current mood followed by ratings of preference for and valence and activation of anticipated emotional reaction to descriptions of familiar emotion-eliciting situations. The results showed that preference is related to valence and activation of current mood, anticipated emotional reaction, or experienced emotional reaction. The valence of current mood was also found to influence preference for anticipated and experienced emotions.

The subjective sense of presence, emotion recognition, and experienced emotions in auditory virtual environments

Realistic aural rendering of events in mediated environments is becoming an increasingly important aspect in many multi-modal applications. In a between-group experiment with 45 participants, it was studied how ratings of presence (a sense of being in the mediated environment), emotional reactions to the auditory environment, and emotion recognition vary as a function of number of audio channels (mono, stereo, and six-channel reproduction). The results showed that stereo and six-channel reproduction resulted in significantly stronger changes in emotional reactions than the mono condition. Further, six-channel reproduction received the highest ratings of presence and emotional realism. Taken together, the result suggested that both emotional reactions and ratings of presence increase with spatialized sound. Further, emotional reactions and presence were highly correlated. The results are discussed in relation to theories of mediated presence and emotional reactions in an attempt to further delineate the concept of presence.

The dimensionality of anticipated affective reactions to risky and certain decision outcomes

In three experiments, anticipated affective reactions to risky and certain decision outcomes were investigated. It was shown that the two affect dimensions, valence and activation, describe anticipated affective reactions. When combined in a nonlinear dimension ranging from elation to disappointment, the results were found to replicate previous research showing that anticipated affective reactions are influenced by both sign (loss or gain), magnitude, and probability of outcomes. Preference for the anticipated affective reactions was furthermore related to both affect dimensions.

The Dimensionality of Anticipated Affective Reactions to Risky and Certain Decision Outcomes

Abstract. In three experiments, anticipated affective reactions to risky and certain decision outcomes were investigated. It was shown that the two affect dimensions, valence and activation, describe anticipated affective reactions. When combined in a nonlinear dimension ranging from elation to disappointment, the results were found to replicate previous research showing that anticipated affective reactions are influenced by both sign (loss or gain), magnitude, and probability of outcomes. Preference for the anticipated affective reactions was furthermore related to both affect dimensions.

Emotion and auditory virtual environments: affect-based judgments of music reproduced with virtual reverberation times

Emotions are experienced both in real and virtual environments (VEs). Most research to date have focused on the content that causes emotional reactions, but noncontent features of a VE (such as the realism and quality of object rendering) may also influence emotional reactions to the mediated object. The present research studied how noncontent features (different reverberation times) of an auditory VE influenced 76 participants' ratings of emotional reactions and expressed emotional qualities of the sounds. The results showed that the two emotion dimensions of pleasantness and arousal were systematically affected if the same musical piece was rendered with different reverberation times. Overall, it was found that high reverberation time was perceived as most unpleasant. Taken together, the results suggested that noncontent features of a VE influence emotional reactions to mediated objects. Moreover, the study suggests that emotional reactions may be a important aspect of the VE experience that can help complementing standard presence questionnaires and quality evaluations.

The measurement of core affect: a Swedish self-report measure derived from the affect circumplex

Three studies were conducted with the aim of developing a new Swedish self-report measure of core affect (the Swedish Core Affect Scale or SCAS). In Study 1,122 participants rated their current mood on 24 unipolar adjective scales. A revised set of 12 bipolar adjective scales was evaluated in Study 2 employing 96 participants who rated their current mood before and after a mood-inducing naturally occurring event. A slightly revised set of adjective scales was used in Study 3, in which another 96 participants rated several induced moods. The results showed that the adjective scale ratings could be aggregated as reliable measures of the independent valence and activation dimensions proposed in the affect circumplex, and that the aggregated measures discriminated mood differences within and between individuals.