Affect modification through evaluative conditioning with music

Positive and Neutral Updating Reconsolidate Aversive Episodic Memories via Different Routes

Aversive memories are long-lasting and prone to burden our emotional wellbeing and mental health. Yet, how to remedy the maladaptive effects of aversive memories remains elusive. Using memory reactivation and emotional updating manipulations, we investigated how positive and neutral emotion may update aversive memories for reconsolidation in humans. We found that positive updating after reactivation was equivalent to neutral updating in impairing true memories of a previous aversive event after a 12-hour wakeful delay, but induced more false memory. Moreover, additional 12-hour delay with overnight sleep did not further enlarge true memory differences, but attenuated the effect of reactivation and updating on false memory. Interestingly, the neutral rather than the positive updating reduced the emotional arousal of the aversive memory 24 hours later. Our findings could serve as references for real-world therapeutic applications regarding how positive and neutral updating may reshape aversive memories, especially when taking wake- and sleep-filled reconsolidation into account.

Modulating disgust in mental contamination: Experimental evidence for the role of disgust

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Disgust has been associated with mental contamination (MC), although the evidence has hitherto been nonexperimental. Furthermore, strategies that can target both disgust and MC have not been well explored. We investigated the role of disgust in MC by inducing disgust via olfaction within the "dirty kiss" paradigm and conversely, to see if pairing pleasant olfactory stimulus during re-exposure, based on counterconditioning, can reduce MC. We also examined whether disgust constructs (propensity and sensitivity) and trait MC are associated with state MC arising from the "dirty kiss".

METHODS

MC was first evoked using the "dirty kiss" paradigm, in which participants (N = 90) visualized receiving a non-consensual kiss from a physically dirty man (time 1). After a break, participants repeated the "dirty kiss" task in a room that was scented to smell either disgusting, pleasant or neutral (time 2). Participants completed measures of disgust and trait MC after the experiment.

RESULTS

Participants in the disgust condition reported increased feelings of dirtiness at time 2. Disgust propensity predicted feelings of dirtiness at time 1. Disgust sensitivity and trait MC were not associated with state MC indices.

LIMITATIONS

The use of a non-clinical female sample, extraneous factors during the break and contextual factors arising from room change at time 2 are some potential limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Induced disgust within a MC paradigm resulted in increased feelings of dirtiness, suggestive of disgust-based emotional reasoning. Pairing pleasant olfactory stimulus was not effective at attenuating MC or disgust.

Behavioral and neural processes in counterconditioning: Past and future directions

Counterconditioning refers both to the technique and putative process by which behavior is modified through a new association with a stimulus of an opposite valence. Similar to extinction, counterconditioning is considered a form of inhibition that interferes with the expression of the originally learned response without erasing it. But whereas interest in extinction continues to rise, counterconditioning has received far less attention. Here, we provide an in-depth review of counterconditioning research and detail whether counterconditioning is any more effective than extinction at preventing relapse of the originally learned behavior. We consider the clinical implications of counterconditioning, describe recent neurobiological and neuroimaging research in this area, and consider future avenues in need of further investigation.

Background soundscapes influence the perception of ice-cream as indexed by electrophysiological measures

Listening to specific soundscapes can influence multisensory flavour perception. In the present study, changes in people's perception of the flavour of ice-cream were tracked over time as they listened to a café soundscape, and when this soundscape was overlaid with either bird, machine, or forest soundscapes. In addition, emotions and electrophysiological measures were recorded in order to help understand any changes in taste/flavour perception. The results of Temporal Dominance of Sensation (TDS) analysis revealed that cocoa was dominant early in the consumption episode while listening to the control café soundscape. Sweetness and creaminess were dominant at the start of the consumption episode while listening to the café-forest soundscape. Creaminess was dominant at the start of the consumption episode while listening to the café-bird soundscape. Bitterness was perceived at the end of the consumption period while listening to the café control and café-machine soundscapes. These findings demonstrate the crossmodal influence of audition on perception in the chemical senses. As expected, negative emotions were significantly higher when listening to the machine soundscape, while positive emotions were significantly higher when listening to café-forest and café-bird soundscapes. Evaluating ice-cream while listening to the café-machine soundscape evoked negative emotions associated with bitterness and creaminess, that were also associated with increased heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RESP). When listening to the café-forest soundscape, ice-cream was associated with sweetness, and positive emotions (e.g., love, satisfaction, happiness, amusement and enjoyment). This might have led to increased blood volume pulse (BVP) amplitude, which is itself indicative of a relaxed state. Enhancing eating experiences by means of atmospheric soundscapes that are designed specifically to accentuate specific aspects of multisensory taste/flavour perception is currently an area of interest in the food sciences literature and will likely lead to future commercial applications.

Not all about sex: neural and biobehavioral functions of human dance

This paper provides an integrative review of neuroscientific and biobehavioral evidence about the effects of dance on the individual across cultural differences. Dance moves us, and many derive aesthetic pleasure from it. However, in addition-and beyond aesthetics-we propose that dance has noteworthy, deeper neurobiological effects. We first summarize evidence that illustrates the centrality of dance to human life indirectly from archaeology, comparative psychology, developmental psychology, and cross-cultural psychology. Second, we review empirical evidence for six neural and biobehavioral functions of dance: (1) attentional focus/flow, (2) basic emotional experiences, (3) imagery, (4) communication, (5) self-intimation, and (6) social cohesion. We discuss the reviewed evidence in relation to current debates in the field of empirical enquiry into the functions of human dance, questioning the positions that dance is (1) just for pleasure, (2) all about sex, (3) just for mood management and well-being, and (4) for experts only. Being a young field, evidence is still piecemeal and inconclusive. This review aims to take a step toward a systematization of an emerging avenue of research: a neuro- and biobehavioral science of dance.

Affective responses to dance

The objective of the present work was the characterization of mechanisms by which affective experiences are elicited in observers when watching dance movements. A total of 203 dance stimuli from a normed stimuli library were used in a series of independent experiments. The following measures were obtained: (i) subjective measures of 97 dance-naïve participants' affective responses (Likert scale ratings, interviews); and (ii) objective measures of the physical parameters of the stimuli (motion energy, luminance), and of the movements represented in the stimuli (roundedness, impressiveness). Results showed that (i) participants' ratings of felt and perceived affect differed, (ii) felt and perceived valence but not arousal ratings correlated with physical parameters of the stimuli (motion energy and luminance), (iii) roundedness in posture shape was related to the experience of more positive emotion than edgy shapes (1 of 3 assessed rounded shapes showed a clear effect on positiveness ratings while a second reached trend level significance), (iv) more impressive movements resulted in more positive affective responses, (v) dance triggered affective experiences through the imagery and autobiographical memories it elicited in some people, and (vi) the physical parameters of the video stimuli correlated only weakly and negatively with the aesthetics ratings of beauty, liking and interest. The novelty of the present approach was twofold; (i) the assessment of multiple affect-inducing mechanisms, and (ii) the use of one single normed stimulus set. The results from this approach lend support to both previous and present findings. Results are discussed with regards to current literature in the field of empirical aesthetics and affective neuroscience.

Influence of Music on Anxiety Induced by Fear of Heights in Virtual Reality

Music is a potent mood regulator that can induce relaxation and reduce anxiety in different situations. While several studies demonstrate that certain types of music have a subjective anxiolytic effect, the reported results from physiological responses are less conclusive. Virtual reality allows us to study diverse scenarios of real life under strict experimental control while preserving high ecological validity. We aimed to study the modulating effect of music on the anxiety responses triggered by an immersive virtual reality scenario designed to induce fear of heights. Subjects experienced a virtual scenario depicting an exterior elevator platform ascending and descending the total height of its 350 meters tall supporting structure. Participants were allocated to either a group that experienced the elevator ride with background music or without, in a between-groups design. Furthermore, each group included participants with different degrees of fear of heights, ranging from low to high fear. Recordings of heart rate, galvanic skin response, body balance, and head movements were obtained during the experiments. Subjective anxiety was measured by means of three questionnaires. The scenario produced significant changes in subjective and physiological measures, confirming its efficacy as a stressor. A significant increase in state anxiety was found between pre and post-assessment in the silence group, but not in the music group, indicating that post-stress recovery was faster in the musical group. Results suggest that music can ameliorate the subjective anxiety produced by fear of heights.

The Relationship between Affect, Behaviour, and Cognition in Behavioural and Cognitive Treatments of Depression and Phobic Anxiety

Cognitive theories and therapies of emotional dysfunctions are based on the premise that the affective, behavioural, and cognitive response repertoires are fused and highly interdependent. Such views have been criticised with the argument that affect and cognition are relatively independent and that there is a much more direct and stronger link between affect and behaviour. In an attempt to clarify potential differences in the interplay between affect, behaviour, and cognition in unipolar depression and phobic anxiety, a quantitative review of the relative efficacy of performance-based (behavioural) versus cognitive intervention for these disorders was conducted. The relative superiority of cognitive over performance-based interventions in the treatment of unipolar depression supports the notion of a reasonably direct link between cognition and affect for this disorder providing a fairly effective pathway for treatment. On the other hand, the relative success of performance-based techniques in the treatment of phobias suggests that for these disorders the link between behaviour and affect is more direct and much stronger than the link between cognition and affect. It is concluded that the relative effectiveness of cognitive and performance-based intervention techniques depends on and points to differences in the specific type of affect-behaviour-cognition interface that underlies and is controlling depression and phobic anxiety.

Effects of approach-avoidance training on implicit and explicit evaluations of neutral, angry, and smiling face stimuli

A growing body of evidence shows that the prolonged execution of approach movements towards stimuli and avoidance movements away from them affects their evaluation. However, there has been no systematic investigation of such training effects. Therefore, the present study compared approach-avoidance training effects on various valenced representations of one neutral (Experiment 1, N = 85), angry (Experiment 2, N = 87), or smiling facial expressions (Experiment 3, N= 89). The face stimuli were shown on a computer screen, and by means of a joystick, participants pulled half of the faces closer (positive approach movement), and pushed the other half away (negative avoidance movement). Only implicit evaluations of neutral-expression were affected by the training procedure. The boundary conditions of such approach-avoidance training effects are discussed.

Learning to like disgust: neuronal correlates of counterconditioning

Converging lines of research suggest that exaggerated disgust responses play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of certain anxiety disorders. One strategy that might effectively alter disgust responses is counterconditioning. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine if the neuronal bases of disgust responses are altered through a counterconditioning procedure. One disgust picture (conditioned stimulus: CS+_disg) announced a monetary reward, while a second disgust picture (CS-_disg) was never paired with the reward. Two neutral control pictures (CS+_con/CS-_con) were conditioned in the same manner. Analyses of evaluative conditioning showed that both CS+ were rated significantly more positive after conditioning as compared to the corresponding CS−. Thereby, the CS+_disg and the CS+_con received an equal increase in valence ratings. Regarding the fMRI data, ANOVA results showed main effects of the conditioning procedure (i.e., CS+ vs. CS−) in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Further, main effects of the picture category (disgust vs. control) were found in the bilateral insula and the orbitofrontal cortex. No interaction effects were detected. In conclusion, the results imply that learning and anticipation of reward was not significantly influenced by the disgust content of the CS pictures. This suggests that the affect induced by the disgust pictures and the affect created by the anticipation of reward may not influence the processing of each other.

Ban the sunset? Nonpropositional content and regulation of pharmaceutical advertising

The risk that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals (DTCA) may increase inappropriate medicine use is well recognized. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration addresses this concern by subjecting DTCA content to strict scrutiny. Its strictures are, however, heavily focused on the explicit claims made in commercials, what we term their "propositional content." Yet research in social psychology suggests advertising employs techniques to influence viewers via nonpropositional content, for example, images and music. We argue that one such technique, evaluative conditioning, is operative in DTCA. We further argue that evaluative conditioning fosters unjustified beliefs about drug safety and efficacy, antagonising the autonomy of viewers' choices about advertised medicines. We conclude that current guidelines are deficient in failing to account for evaluative conditioning, and that more research and debate are needed to determine the permissibility of this and other forms of nonpropositional persuasion.

Does Evaluative Learning Rely on the Perception of Contingency?

An experiment is reported studying the impact of objective contingency and contingency judgments on cross-modal evaluative conditioning (EC). Both contingency judgments and evaluative responses were measured after a contingency learning task in which previously neutral sounds served as either weak or strong predictors of affective pictures. Experimental manipulations of contingency and US density were shown to affect contingency judgments. Stronger contingencies were perceived with high contingency and with low US density. The contingency learning task also produced a reliable EC effect. The magnitude of this effect was influenced by an interaction of statistical contingency and US density. Furthermore, the magnitude of EC was correlated with the subjective contingency judgments. Taken together, the results imply that propositional knowledge about the CS-US relationship, as reflected in contingency judgments, moderates evaluative learning. The data are discussed with respect to different accounts of EC.

Evaluative conditioning of fear and disgust in blood-injection-injury phobia: specificity and impact of individual differences in disgust sensitivity

The present study examines whether the repeated pairing of neutral facial expressions with phobic-relevant stimuli differentially influences evaluative ratings of fear and disgust between analogue blood-injection-injury (BII) phobic (n=40) and non-phobic (n=40) participants. Consistent with prior research, BII phobics reported greater disgust sensitivity than non-phobic participants even after controlling for between group differences in anxiety symptoms. Results from the evaluative conditioning experiment indicated that pre- to posttest increases in fear ratings were only marginally greater for phobic compared to non-phobic participants. However, increases in disgust from pre- to posttest were greater for phobic compared to non-phobic participants and greater for neutral expressions that were paired with threat-relevant stimuli compared to stimuli not paired with threat-relevant stimuli. Subsequent analysis also indicated that pre- to posttest increases in disgust ratings of neutral expressions that were paired with threat-relevant stimuli was moderated by disgust sensitivity levels among phobic and non-phobic participants. Heightened fear and disgust ratings were subsequently reduced by an extinction procedure. Implications of present findings in understanding the role of fear and disgust in BII phobia are discussed.

Guilty by mere association: evaluative conditioning and the spreading attitude effect

Five experiments investigated the phenomenon that attitude formation is not confined to the co-occurrence of an attitudinal object with an evaluated experience. The pairing of a target with a (dis)liked person not only affects the evaluation of the previously neutral person but spreads to other individuals who are (pre)associated with the target (spreading attitude effect). Experiments 1 and 2 provided evidence for the spreading attitude effect in appetitive as well as aversive evaluative conditioning. Experiment 3 showed that the spreading attitude effect is a robust phenomenon resistant to extinction. Experiment 4 demonstrated that attitude spread can be transferred to 2nd-order conditioning. Finally, Experiment 5 supports the notion that the spreading attitude effect is not dependent on cognitive resources. Implications for social as well as applied psychology are discussed.

The Additive Impact of Anxiety and a Placebo on Pain

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the effects of pain anxiety and a placebo/nocebo/neutral intervention on ice water-induced pain.

DESIGN

We divided 72 volunteers into high- and low-anxiety groups before randomly assigning them to experimental and control subgroups.

METHOD

Participants completed preimmersion tests of pain anxiety, pain worry, and mood. We scored first immersion pain behavior, experience, and intensity. Each subgroup then received an instruction designed to elicit a positive (placebo), negative (nocebo), or neutral response. After repeating the pain worry test, we gathered second immersion pain scores, and participants repeated the mood test, completed the treatment credibility measure, and were debriefed.

OUTCOME MEASURES

We used the Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale; self-rating Likert-type scales for pain worry, pain intensity, and pain-coping; the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (mood); timed measurements for pain threshold and pain tolerance; and a treatment credibility scale.

RESULTS

Pain anxiety and the placebo interventions significantly altered participants' pain scores, with best-to-worse scores reported by the low pain-anxiety/placebo, high anxiety/placebo, low anxiety/neutral, low anxiety/nocebo, high anxiety neutral, and high anxiety/nocebo groups. The high pain-anxiety group demonstrated the greatest response to the placebo/nocebo intervention in the expected directions in pain, worry, and anxious mood scores and in decreased self-confidence in managing pain (this was also negatively affected by the nocebo in each pain-anxiety group).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates that the interaction of the personality variable of pain anxiety with the placebo/nocebo response has an impact on pain, worry, and mood.

Associative learning of likes and dislikes: a review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning

Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative stimuli. Although evaluative conditioning appears to be subjected to certain boundary conditions, significant evaluative conditioning effects have been obtained using a large variety of stimuli and procedures. Some data suggest that evaluative conditioning can occur under conditions that do not support other forms of Pavlovian conditioning, and several models have been proposed to account for these differences. In the present article, the authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research.

Counterconditioning in the treatment of spider phobia: effects on disgust, fear and valence

From the perspective that disgust is a core feature of spider phobia, we investigated whether the treatment efficacy could be improved by adding a counterconditioning procedure. Women with a clinically diagnosed spider phobia (N = 34) were randomly assigned to the regular one-session exposure condition (EXP) or to the exposure with counterconditioning condition (CC). In the CC-condition tasty food-items were used during the regular exposure exercises and the participants' favourite music was played. Both treatment conditions appeared very effective in reducing avoidance behaviour and self-reported fear of spiders, strongly attenuated the disgusting properties of spiders and altered the affective evaluations in a positive direction. CC was not more effective in altering the affective valence of spiders than EXP and was not superior with respect to the long term treatment efficacy at 1 year follow up. Apparently, regular exposure treatment is already quite effective in altering the affective-evaluative component of spider phobia and it remains to be seen whether it is possible to further improve treatment outcome by means of procedures which are specifically designed to reduce the spiders' negative affective valence.

Does background music in a store enhance salespersons' persuasiveness?

Background music has been studied as a key element of the store atmosphere in terms of its emotional effects; however, previous studies have shown also that music may have cognitive influence on consumers. How does music affect the salespersons' persuasive efforts within the store? To answer this question an experimental study was designed to assess the effects of four levels of arousing music conditions (no-low-moderate high arousing music). The level of pleasure of the musical pieces was controlled for. Music does not moderate significantly the effects of the salespersons on the intent to buy, but low and moderately arousing music (similarly low and moderately interesting musical pieces) does influence significantly the effects on the acceptance of the salesperson's arguments and the "desire to affiliate," i.e., to enter into communication.

Human evaluative conditioning: acquisition trials, presentation schedule, evaluative style and contingency awareness

Two different processes may be operative in human Pavlovian conditioning: signal learning and evaluative learning. Whereas most studies on evaluative conditioning focused on a mere demonstration of the phenomenon or on a theoretical analysis of the underlying processes, some basic parameters of evaluative learning are still unexplored. Hence, using the standard neutral picture--(dis)liked picture pairing paradigm (Baeyens, Eelen & Van den Bergh, 1990), in this study the effect of two parameters of evaluative conditioning was assessed on a between-subjects base, namely the Number of Acquisition Trials (2/5/10/20) and the Presentation Schedule of the stimulus pairs (blockwise or random). Additionally, the study included an exploratory analysis of the potential effects of the Evaluative Style of subjects (Feelers vs Thinkers, operationalized in terms of speed of emitting evaluations). Finally, the relationship between contingency awareness and evaluative learning was reassessed. Neutral-liked conditioning was found to be quadratically related to the number of acquisition trials (increase in effect up to 10 trials, decrease from 10 to 20 trials), whereas neutral-disliked conditioning linearly increased with increasing numbers of trials. Randomized vs blockwise presentation schedules of the stimulus pairs did differentially affect the overall pattern of conditioning, but in a way which was both unexpected and difficult to account for theoretically. Both the Evaluative Style of subjects and contingency awareness were demonstrated to be generally orthogonal to conditioned shifts in CS valence. Based on these findings, some practical suggestions are provided for the application of evaluating conditioning based therapeutical interventions to affective-behavioral disorders which are centred around inappropriate (dis)likes.

The triple response approach to assessment: a conceptual and methodological reappraisal

Despite its positive effects on the increased use of multiple assessments and improved assessment validity, the triple-response concept has led to some conceptual and practical confusion. This is mainly due to two problems: (1) a confounding of the content and method of assessment; and (2) an imprecise and vague use of the 'verbal-subjective mode' which has been expanded to include cognitive elements since the introduction of cognitive-behavioural theories and treatments. A new matrix is proposed that clearly distinguishes content and method of assessment. It also defines a separate cognitive/information-processing content area and introduces affect as an additional content area. Thus, four content areas are suggested: behavioural, physiological, cognitive, and affective, which can be measured in three different ways: by means of self-report, observation, and instruments or technical equipment. We point out the implications of these changes for (1) a more appropriate selection of assessment procedures and outcome measures in clinical research; (2) a more adequate individualization of treatment through matching individual response profiles to specific treatments; and (3) an improved understanding of the interrelationship between behavioural, physiological, cognitive, and affective processes in anxiety and depression. Finally, we suggest that the lack of agreement between measures of physiological, cognitive, behavioural and affective changes in some studies may be as much a reflection of the lack of agreement arising from spurious sources of variance within content areas as it is a reflection of the operation of different processes and systems.

The effects of contingent music and differential reinforcement on infantile colic

Infantile Colic is a behavioral syndrome characterized by paroxysms of excessive crying and increased motor activity, hypertonicity of the musculature, excessive flatus and erratic sleeping and feeding patterns. Ten to 40% of all infants are diagnosed as having Colic. The medical evidence to date does not justify any conclusions regarding the etiology or treatment of Colic. Typically, parents are advised to simply wait until Colic has run its course which is often 3-4 months. The behavioral program reported here was designed to increase behavior that competed with crying by reinforcing quiet alertness with music and parental attention. Concurrently, it attempted to inhibit excessive crying by a brief time-out procedure. A group of 8 infants diagnosed as Infant Colic were included in this study. The dependent variable, crying, was measured through direct observations based on hourly samples involving 30 observations of 2-min intervals. The independent variable consisted of a behavioral treatment package. A within-S reversal design was used to assess the functional properties of the treatment. The results show that across all 8 infants the introduction of the treatment package led to a substantial decrease in excessive crying of about 75% of the initial baseline. Further, a functional relationship was identified between the treatment and excessive crying behavior: crying decreased when the treatment was initially introduced, it resumed when the treatment was withdrawn and decreased again when the treatment was reinstated.

Acquired affective-evaluative value: conservative but not unchangeable

In a previous study on Evaluative Conditioning it was found that unlike signal-learning, evaluative learning is resistant to extinction. In the present experiment we tried to replicate and corroborate this finding. In addition, we investigated the effectiveness of a counterconditioning procedure to alter acquired evaluative value. On a within-subject base (n = 30), it was found that the mere contingent presentation of neutral with (dis)liked pictures of human faces was sufficient to change the affective-evaluative tone of the originally neutral stimuli in (negative) positive direction. Next, we replicated the finding that an extinction procedure does not have any influence on the acquired evaluative value of the originally neutral stimuli, and this even in subjects fully aware of the extinction presentations. We demonstrated the effectiveness of a counterconditioning procedure to alter acquired evaluative value, and in addition, found some evidence that awareness of the counterconditioning manipulations is not a prerequisite for its effectiveness. The theoretical consequences of these findings are phrased in terms of a fundamental distinction between signal-learning and evaluative learning, and some important implications for the behavioral treatment of affective-emotional disorders are suggested.