Impulsive action and motivation

Stepping into emotions: investigating the effect of angry and fearful faces on forward stepping and quiet stance

Introduction

Facial expressions conveying an emotion may affect social interactions, such as approach- or avoidance-related behaviors. A specific facial feature is the gaze direction. An emotional facial expression such as anger will elicit distinct behavioral tendencies, depending on whether the angry gaze is directed toward the onlooker, or in a different direction. We tested whether facial expressions of anger and fear, combined with direct or averted gaze, elicit approach- or avoidance tendencies, using a go/no-go variant of the whole-body stepping task.

Method

Healthy adults stood on a force plate, recording the center of pressure (COP). Participants were presented with angry or fearful faces; either with direct or averted gaze. Participants had to identify the emotion, and "depending on instructions- either make a single step forward, or remain in a quiet stance. From the COP of the forward steps, we derived parameters such as reaction time and step size. From the quiet standing trials we derived parameters of postural sway, indicative of postural "freeze." We used analysis of variance to analyze the outcomes.

Results and discussion

First, we found that steps were initiated faster with angry faces than with fearful faces, in line with existing literature. Second, we did not observe a significant effect of gaze direction. Forward steps with direct and averted gaze had similar COP characteristics. Finally, we had expected to find freeze (postural immobility) with fearful faces, but this was also not observed. We discuss various explanations for the finding, and implications for research into the motoric grounding of social interactions.

Individual differences in intracortical inhibition predict action control when facing emotional stimuli

Efficient inhibitory control in the context of prepotent actions is vital. However, such action inhibition may be profoundly influenced by affective states. Interestingly, research indicates that action control can be either impaired or improved by emotional stimuli. Thus, a great deal of confusion surrounds our knowledge of the complex dynamics subtending emotions and action control. Here, we aimed to investigate whether negative stimuli, even when non-consciously presented and task-irrelevant, can affect action control relative to neutral stimuli. Additionally, we tested whether individual differences in intracortical excitability may predict action control capabilities. To address these issues, we asked participants to complete a modified version of the Stop Signal Task (SST) in which fearful or neutral stimuli were subliminally presented before the go signals as primes. Moreover, we assessed participants' resting-state corticospinal excitability, short intracortical inhibition (SICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF). Results demonstrated better action control capabilities when fearful stimuli were subliminally presented and interindividual SICI predicted stronger action inhibition capabilities. Taken together, these results shed new light on the intricate dynamics between action, consciousness, and motor control, suggesting that intracortical measures can be used as potential biomarkers of reduced motor inhibition in research and clinical settings.

Ability-Related Emotional Intelligence: An Introduction

Emotionally intelligent people are thought to be more skilled in recognizing, thinking about, using, and regulating emotions. This construct has garnered considerable interest, but initial enthusiasm has faded and it is time to take stock. There is consensus that ability-related measures of emotional intelligence (EI) can be favored to self-report tests, in part because the resulting scores cannot be equated with personality traits. However, there are questions surrounding measurement as well as predictive value. Experts in the field were encouraged to chart new directions, with the idea that these new directions could reinvigorate EI scholarship. Special Issue papers speak to theory, mechanism, measurement, and training. In addition, these papers seek to forge links with research traditions focused on interpersonal perception, emotional awareness, and emotion regulation. As a result of these efforts, new insights into what EI is and how it works can be anticipated in upcoming years.

Automatic Associations between Sexual Function Problems and Pursuing Help in Pelvic Physical Therapy Practice: The Psychometric Investigation of an Implicit Association Test

Not all women experiencing pelvic floor complaints and sexual function problems seek help in pelvic physical therapy practice. Decisions to seek help can result from explicit and implicit cognitive processes. Having found some explicit predictive factors for receiving help in this setting, this study examines possible complementary implicit associations between sexual function problems and pursuing help that might also be predictive. The Pursuing Help for Sexual Problems Implicit Association Test (PHSP-IAT) was specially developed for this purpose. The instrument's reliability and validity were evaluated. High reliability was found (Spearman's Rho = .95). Convergent and divergent validity analyses resulted in low and non-significant correlations between the PHSP-IAT and the chosen self-report measures. The PHSP-IAT was predictive for receiving help in pelvic physical therapy practice. Further research is necessary to determine the PHSP-IAT's validity and its predictive value in other healthcare settings.

Am I Winning or Losing? Probing the Appraisal of Partial Wins via Response Vigor

Attempts to obtain rewards are not always successful. Despite investing much time, effort, or money, sometimes individuals may not obtain any reward. Other times they may obtain some reward, but the obtained reward may be smaller than their initial investment, such as partial wins in gambling. It remains unclear how such ambiguous outcomes are appraised. To address this question, we systematically varied the payoffs for different outcomes in a computerized scratch card task across three experiments. To test outcome appraisal, we used response vigor as a novel proxy. In the scratch card task, participants turned three cards one by one. Depending on the turned cards, they either received an amount that was higher than the wager (win), an amount lower than the wager (partial win), or nothing (loss). Overall, participants responded to partial wins more slowly than losses, but more quickly than wins. Partial wins were therefore appraised to be better than losses, but worse than wins. Importantly, further analyses showed that outcome appraisal was not based on the net win or loss amount. Instead, participants primarily used the configuration of turned cards as a cue for the relative rank of an outcome within a specific game. Outcome appraisals thus utilize simple heuristic rules, rely on salient information (such as outcome-related cues in gambling), and are specific to a local context. Together, these factors may contribute to the misperception of partial wins as real wins in gambling. Future work may examine how outcome appraisal may be modulated by the salience of certain information, and investigate the appraisal process in contexts beyond gambling.

Calls of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks reflect their behavioural contexts

Animal vocalisations can often inform conspecifics about the behavioural context of production and the underlying affective states, hence revealing whether a situation should be approached or avoided. While this is particularly important for socially complex species, little is known about affective expression in wild colonial animals, and even less to about their young. We studied vocalisations of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks in the Hornsund breeding colony, Svalbard. Little auks are highly colonial seabirds, and adults convey complex behavioural contexts through their calls. We recorded chick calls during two contexts of opposite affective valence: handing by a human, and while they interact with their parents inside the nest. Using permuted discriminant function analysis and a series of linear mixed models, we examined the effect of the production context/associated affective valence on the acoustic parameters of those calls. Calls were reliably classified to their context, with over 97% accuracy. Calls uttered during handling had higher mean entropy, fundamental frequency, as well as lower spectral centre of gravity and a less steep spectral slope compared to calls produced during interactions with a parent inside the nest. The individuality of handling calls, assessed by information content, was lower than the individuality of calls uttered in the nest. These findings suggest that seabird chicks can effectively communicate behavioural/affective contexts through calls, conveying socially important messages early in development. Our results are mostly in line with emotional expression patterns observed across taxa, supporting their evolutionary continuity.

Keeping distance or getting closer: How others' emotions shape approach-avoidance postural behaviors and preferred interpersonal distance

Understanding the influence of emotions on social interactions is important for a global understanding of the dynamics of human behavior. In this study, we investigated the interplay between emotions, spontaneous approach or avoidance tendencies, and the regulation of interpersonal distance. Fifty-seven healthy adults participated in a three-part experiment involving exposure to approaching or withdrawing emotional faces (neutral, happy, sad, fearful, disgusted, angry). The sequence began with an initial computerized stop-distance task, followed by a postural task in which participants' approach or avoidance tendencies were quantified via center of pressure (CoP-Y) displacements on a force platform, and concluded with a final computerized stop-distance task. Our findings revealed a gradient in postural responses, with the most forward CoP-Y displacements for neutral and happy faces, indicative of approach tendencies. These were followed by lesser forward displacements for sad and fearful faces, and most pronounced backward displacements for disgusted and angry faces, indicating avoidance. Furthermore, we observed modulations in participants' preferred interpersonal distance based on emotional cues, with neutral and happy faces associated with shorter distances, and disgusted and angry faces linked to larger distances. Despite these similar results, no direct correlation was found between CoP-Y and preferred interpersonal distance, underscoring a dissociation between spontaneous and voluntary social behaviors. These results contribute to a better understanding of how emotional expressions shape social interactions and underscore the importance of considering emotional cues, postural action tendencies, and interpersonal distance in facilitating successful social interactions.

Task-related modulation of motor response to emotional bodies: A TMS motor-evoked potential study

Exposure to emotional body postures during perceptual decision-making tasks has been linked to transient suppression of motor reactivity, supporting the monitoring of emotionally relevant information. However, it remains unclear whether this effect occurs implicitly, i.e., when emotional information is irrelevant to the task. To investigate this issue, we used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess motor excitability while healthy participants were asked to categorize pictures of body expressions as emotional or neutral (emotion recognition task) or as belonging to a male or a female actor (gender recognition task) while receiving TMS over the motor cortex at 100 and 125 ms after picture onset. Results demonstrated that motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) were reduced for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the emotion recognition task. Conversely, MEPs increased for emotional body postures relative to neutral postures during the gender recognition task. These findings indicate that motor inhibition, contingent upon observing emotional body postures, is selectively associated with actively monitoring emotional features. In contrast, observing emotional body postures prompts motor facilitation when task-relevant features are non-emotional. These findings contribute to embodied cognition models that link emotion perception and action tendencies.

Cognitive and affective reflection increases appreciation for less preferred subcategories of experiential goods

Attitudes, particularly negative attitudes toward experiential goods, are difficult to change. As a result, people tend to choose and consume experiential goods from their preferred subcategory (e.g., prefer impressionist art so primarily choose to view impressionist paintings) while disregarding options from less preferred subcategories (e.g., ignore cubist or surrealist paintings). This research investigates the consequences of reflection while consuming experiential goods from less preferred subcategories. Namely, an initial, negative reflexive response can be overridden by a reflective appraisal which increases appreciation for experiential goods from less preferred subcategories. Six studies show how a reflective appraisal differs from a reflexive response (i.e., a reflective appraisal has more cognitive and affective thoughts than evaluative thoughts, respectively), that reflective appraisals can supplant reflexive responses to experiential goods in less preferred subcategories, and that reflective appreciation training encourages reflective appraisal. A reflective appraisal improves the intent to consume, enhances appreciation of the consumption, and increases the consumption of novel experiential goods in less preferred subcategories.

Posturography Approaches: An Insightful Window to Explore the Role of the Brain in Socio-Affective Processes

A significant amount of research has highlighted the importance of a motor component in the brain's processing of emotional, motivational and social information. Posturography has emerged as an interesting way to assess motor correlates associated with this process. In this review, we highlight recent results within the functional context of painful stimulus perception and discuss the interest in broadening the use of posturography to other motivational and societal functional contexts. Although characterized by significant feasibility, the single measurement of the COP's anteroposterior displacement presents limitations for attesting approach-avoidance behavior towards a visual target. Here, we discuss a number of methodological avenues that could go some way towards overcoming these limitations.

The CRAVE and ARGE scales for motivation states for physical activity and sedentarism: Brazilian Portuguese translation and single-item versions

Motivation states for physical activity and sedentarism potentially vary from moment to moment. The CRAVE scale (Cravings for Rest and Volitional Energy Expenditure) was developed to assess transient wants and desires to move. Three studies were conducted with the aims of: (1) translating and validating the scale in Brazilian Portuguese, (2) examining changes with exercise, and (3) determining the best single-item for Move and Rest subscales for English and Portuguese. In Study 1, six bilingual speakers translated the scale into Brazilian Portuguese [named Anseios por Repouso e Gastos com Energia (ARGE)]. The ARGE had good content validity coefficients across three dimensions (0.89-0.91), as determined by three independent, bilingual referees. 1,168 participants (mean age = 30.6, SD = 12.2) from across Brazil completed an online version of the ARGE. An Exploratory Factor Analysis found two clear, oblique, and inversely related factors (Move and Rest; GFI = 1.00, RMSR = 0.03). Reliability was good (Cronbach α's: 0.93 and 0.92). Two models of the scale (10 vs. 13 items) were compared with Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The previously validated version using 10 scored items (GFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.07, RMSR = 0.02) outperformed the version scored with 13 items. State anxiety and exercise behavior had small associations with Move and Rest (-0.20 to 0.26). In Study 2, ARGE Move scores had high correspondence post-session (ICC = 0.83) for 9 women performing short Sprint Interval Training (sSIT; 6 sessions). Large, but non-significant, effects were detected for changes in motivation states with sSIT. In Study 3, IRT analyses found that for the United States sample, "be physically active" and "be still" were the most representative items for Move and Rest, respectively, while for the Brazil sample they were "exert my muscles" and "be a couch potato." Overall, it was found that: (A) the ARGE scale demonstrated good psychometric properties, (B) the original scoring (with 10 items) resulted in the best model, (C) it had small associations with exercise behavior, and (D) the subscales were reduced to single items that varied by country, indicating potential cultural differences in the concept of motivation states for physical activity.

Fear Learning in Genital Pain: Toward a Biopsychosocial, Ecologically Valid Research and Treatment Model

Although fear learning mechanisms are implicated in the development, maintenance, exacerbation, and reduction of genital pain, systematic research on how fear of genital pain emerges, spreads, persists, and reemerges after treatment is lacking. This paper provides an overview of the literature on pain-related fear, integrates the ideas on learning and sexual arousal responding, and specifies the pathways through which compromised learning may contribute to the development and persistence of genital pain. In order to refine theories of genital pain and optimize treatments, we need to adopt a biopsychosocial framework to pain-related fear learning and uncover potential moderators that shape individual trajectories. This involves examining the role of physiological processes, subjective experiences, as well as partner and relational cues in fear acquisition, excessive generalization and impaired safety learning, extinction of fear, counterconditioning, and return of fear. Recent methodological advances in fear conditioning and sex research are promising to enable more symptom-specific and ecologically valid experimental paradigms.

The neural correlates of apathy in the context of aging and brain disorders: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies

Introduction

Apathy is a prevalent mood disturbance that occurs in a wide range of populations, including those with normal cognitive aging, mental disorders, neurodegenerative disorders and traumatic brain injuries. Recently, neuroimaging technologies have been employed to elucidate the neural substrates underlying brain disorders accompanying apathy. However, the consistent neural correlates of apathy across normal aging and brain disorders are still unclear.

Methods

This paper first provides a brief review of the neural mechanism of apathy in healthy elderly individuals, those with mental disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and traumatic brain injuries. Further, following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the structural and functional neuroimaging meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation method is performed on the apathy group with brain disorders and the healthy elderly, aiming at exploring the neural correlates of apathy.

Results

The structural neuroimaging meta-analysis showed that gray matter atrophy is associated with apathy in the bilateral precentral gyrus (BA 13/6), bilateral insula (BA 47), bilateral medial frontal gyrus (BA 11), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left caudate (putamen) and right anterior cingulate, while the functional neuroimaging meta-analysis suggested that the functional connectivity in putamen and lateral globus pallidus is correlated with apathy.

Discussion

Through the neuroimaging meta-analysis, this study has identified the potential neural locations of apathy in terms of brain structure and function, which may offer valuable pathophysiological insights for developing more effective therapeutic interventions for affected patients.

Seabird's cry: repertoire and vocal expression of contextual valence in the little auk (Alle alle)

Many seabird species breed in colonies counting up to hundreds of thousands of individuals. Life in such crowded colonies might require special coding-decoding systems to reliably convey information through acoustic cues. This can include, for example, developing complex vocal repertoires and adjusting the properties of their vocal signals to communicate behavioural contexts, and thus regulate social interactions with their conspecifics. We studied vocalisations produced by the little auk (Alle alle)-a highly vocal, colonial seabird-over mating and incubation periods on the SW coast of Svalbard. Using passive acoustic recordings registered in a breeding colony, we extracted eight vocalisation types: single call, clucking, classic call, low trill, short call, short-trill, terror, and handling vocalisation. Calls were grouped by production context (based on the typically associated behaviour), to which a valence (positive vs negative) was later attributed, when possible, according to fitness threats, i.e. predator or human presence (negative) and promoters, i.e. interaction with a partner (positive). The effect of the putative valence on eight selected frequency and duration variables was then investigated. The putative contextual valence significantly affected the acoustic properties of the calls. Calls assigned positive valence had higher fundamental frequency and spectral centre of gravity as well as shorter sound duration than these assigned negative valence. These results indicate that the little auk's vocal communication system may facilitate expression of complex behavioural contexts, and seems to include vocal plasticity within vocalisation types-however, more data are necessary to better understand this effect and possible interplays of other factors.

Too Tired and in Too Good of a Mood to Worry About Privacy: Explaining the Privacy Paradox Through the Lens of Effort Level in Information Processing

Policy-oriented Abstract

Data privacy is one of the most pressing issues today. The world is thirsty for novel, effective, and efficient policies to strike an appropriate balance between protecting individuals’ privacy and creating economic value from their personal information. Whereas governmental efforts, such as the enaction of General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act, and other privacy regulations, have been pushing boundaries to strike this balance, the effects of these types of initiatives on individuals’ privacy awareness and behavior are uncertain, likely to be nuanced, and will take time to sort out. In this paper, we explain the privacy paradox, a phenomenon with important implications that apply to policymakers, industry professionals, and individuals. The privacy paradox refers to a mismatch between individuals’ stated privacy concerns and their actual disclosure behaviors. In three behavioral experiments, we show how the paradox is revealed when individuals are cognitively tired especially when they are in a good mood. These findings do not indicate that individuals do not care about privacy because they do when they are not cognitively tired especially when they are in a bad mood. By explaining the privacy paradox, we inform existing and future privacy policies to strike that balance we all strive for.

Attention Towards Pupil Size in Humans and Bonobos (Pan paniscus)

Previous work has established that humans have an attentional bias towards emotional signals, and there is some evidence that this phenomenon is shared with bonobos, our closest relatives. Although many emotional signals are explicit and overt, implicit cues such as pupil size also contain emotional information for observers. Pupil size can impact social judgment and foster trust and social support, and is automatically mimicked, suggesting a communicative role. While an attentional bias towards more obvious emotional expressions has been shown, it is unclear whether this also extends to a more subtle implicit cue, like changes in pupil size. Therefore, the current study investigated whether attention is biased towards pupils of differing sizes in humans and bonobos. A total of 150 human participants (141 female), with a mean age of 19.13 (ranging from 18 to 32 years old), completed an online dot-probe task. Four female bonobos (6 to 17 years old) completed the dot-probe task presented via a touch screen. We used linear mixed multilevel models to examine the effect of pupil size on reaction times. In humans, our analysis showed a small but significant attentional bias towards dilated pupils compared to intermediate-sized pupils and intermediate-sized pupils when compared to small pupils. Our analysis did not show a significant effect in bonobos. These results suggest that the attentional bias towards emotions in humans can be extended to a subtle unconsciously produced signal, namely changes in pupil size. Due to methodological differences between the two experiments, more research is needed before drawing a conclusion regarding bonobos.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00146-1.

Sensorimotor inhibition during emotional processing

Visual processing of emotional stimuli has been shown to engage complex cortical and subcortical networks, but it is still unclear how it affects sensorimotor integration processes. To fill this gap, here, we used a TMS protocol named short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI), capturing sensorimotor interactions, while healthy participants were observing emotional body language (EBL) and International Affective Picture System (IAPS) stimuli. Participants were presented with emotional (fear- and happiness-related) or non-emotional (neutral) EBL and IAPS stimuli while SAI was tested at 120 ms and 300 ms after pictures presentation. At the earlier time point (120 ms), we found that fear-related EBL and IAPS stimuli selectively enhanced SAI as indexed by the greater inhibitory effect of somatosensory afferents on motor excitability. Larger early SAI enhancement was associated with lower scores at the Behavioural Inhibition Scale (BIS). At the later time point (300 ms), we found a generalized SAI decrease for all kind of stimuli (fear, happiness or neutral). Because the SAI index reflects integrative activity of cholinergic sensorimotor circuits, our findings suggest greater sensitivity of such circuits during early (120 ms) processing of threat-related information. Moreover, the correlation with BIS score may suggest increased attention and sensory vigilance in participants with greater anxiety-related dispositions. In conclusion, the results of this study show that sensorimotor inhibition is rapidly enhanced while processing threatening stimuli and that SAI protocol might be a valuable option in evaluating emotional-motor interactions in physiological and pathological conditions.

My Fear Is Not, and Never Will Be, Your Fear: On Emotions and Feelings in Animals

Do nonhuman animals (henceforth, animals) have emotions, and if so, are these similar to ours? This opinion piece aims to add to the recent debate about this question and provides a critical re-evaluation of what can be concluded about animal and human emotions. Emotions, and their cognitive interpretation, i.e., feelings, serve important survival functions. Emotions, we believe, can exist without feelings and are unconsciously influencing our behavior more than we think, and possibly more so than feelings do. Given that emotions are expressed in body and brain, they can be inferred from these measures. We view feelings primarily as private states, which may be similar across closely related species but remain mostly inaccessible to science. Still, combining data acquired through behavioral observation with data obtained from noninvasive techniques (e.g., eyetracking, thermography, hormonal samples) and from cognitive tasks (e.g., decision-making paradigms, cognitive bias, attentional bias) provides new information about the inner states of animals, and possibly about their feelings as well. Given that many other species show behavioral, neurophysiological, hormonal, and cognitive responses to valenced stimuli equivalent to human responses, it seems logical to speak of animal emotions and sometimes even of animal feelings. At the very least, the contemporary multi-method approach allows us to get closer than ever before. We conclude with recommendations on how the field should move forward.

COVID-19 Vaccination Intention Associated with Behaviors towards Protection and Perceptions Regarding the Pandemic

Background: The impressively rapid availability of different types of COVID-19 vaccines and, on the other hand, the degree of their effectiveness as opposed to the likelihood of serious or non-serious side effects place a fairly large percentage of the population at a crossroads regarding the choice to get vaccinated or not, hence threatening achievement of total immunization coverage and full immunity. This study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccination intention in Greece regarding protection behaviors and perceptions of the pandemic. Methods: A total of 3753 participants completed a specially designed electronic questionnaire anonymously and voluntarily. The study population consisted of healthcare workers, students, members of professional societies, teachers, and professors. The questionnaire was composed of four parts pertaining to demographic data and possible changes in hygiene attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: In total, 43.3% of the participants stated that SARS-CoV-2 poses a significant risk. The most widespread protection practice was avoiding crowded places (90.1%), followed by reducing the use of public transport (86.1%) and washing their hands with soap and water more often than usual (84.2%). Women undertook significantly more behavioral changes than men and participants of other nationalities. About half of the participants (44%) implemented seven behavioral changes. Lower personal and general perceived risk due to COVID-19 was significantly associated with lower intention to get vaccinated. Conclusion: Strong hesitancy was observed towards COVID-19 vaccination. There is a need for further studies to be conducted to investigate the benefits and safety of vaccines for the purpose of better informing the public. Healthcare personnel can and should play a key role in this process.

The effect of choice on intentional and incidental memory

Recent studies have revealed that memory performance is better when participants have the opportunity to make a choice regarding the experimental task (choice condition) than when they do not have such a choice (fixed condition). These studies, however, used intentional memory tasks, leaving open the question whether the choice effect also applies to incidental memory. In the current study, we first repeated the choice effect on the 24-h delayed intentional memory performance (experiment 1). Next, using an incidental paradigm in which participants were asked to judge the category of the items instead of intentionally memorizing them, we observed the choice effect on judgment during encoding and memory performance in a 24-h delayed surprise test (experiment 2). Participants judged more accurately and quickly and had better recognition memory for items in the choice condition than for items in the fixed condition. These results are discussed in terms of the role of choice in both intentional and incidental memory.

Grey matter volume abnormalities in the first depressive episode of medication-naïve adult individuals: a systematic review of voxel based morphometric studies

BACKGROUND

To identify the reliable and consistent grey matter volume (GMV) abnormalities associated with major depressive disorder (MDD), we excluded the influence of confounding clinical characteristics, comorbidities and brain degeneration on brain morphological abnormalities by inclusion of non-comorbid and non-geriatric drug-naïve MDD individuals experiencing first episode depressive.

METHODS

The PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct and Google scholar databases were searched for papers published in English up to April 2020.

RESULTS

A total of 21 voxel based morphometric (VBM) studies comparing 845 individuals in the first depressive episode and medication-naïve with 940 healthy control subjects were included. The results showed a grey matter volumes reductions in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), frontal and temporal gyri, temporal pole, insular lobe, thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, hippocampus, cingulate cortex, and amygdala. In addition, increased grey matter volumes in the postcentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, insula, basal ganglia, thalamus, amygdala, cuneus, and precuneus differentiated the first depressive episode in medication-naïve individuals from healthy subjects.

CONCLUSION

The present systematic review provided additional support for the involvement of grey matter structural abnormalities in limbic-cortical circuits as possibly specific structural abnormalities in the early stage of MDD.Key pointsDistinct brain regions in MDD patients might be associated with the early stages of illness, and thus it is critical to study the causal relationship between brain structures and the onset of the disease to improve the evaluation in clinic.Grey matter alterations in the fronto-limbic networks in the first episode, medication-naïve MDD might suggest that these abnormalities may play an important role in the neuropathophysiology of MDD at its onset.First episode, medically naïve depressive patients show grey matter volume alterations in brain regions mainly associated with emotion regulation including parietal-temporal regions, PFC, insular lobe, thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum and limbic structures that may be specific changes in early stage of MDD.Genotype-diagnosis interaction effects on brain morphology in the cortico-limbic-striatal circuits, including the PFC, amygdala, hippocampus and striatum that might be implicated in the dysfunctional regulation of emotion in first-episode MDD patients.Future longitudinal and prospective studies should be conducted to identify the core structural brain changes in people at-risk for MDD and explore the association of their brain volumes with symptom onset.

Why Do Viewers Engage in Video Game Streaming? The Perspective of Cognitive Emotion Theory and the Moderation Effect of Personal Characteristics

Video game streaming (VGS) has attracted millions of users and shown unprecedented growth globally. With technological development, these appealing media have largely influenced the sustainable development of society and the economy. VGS creates a pleasant atmosphere and provides various novel features to please the viewers, induce positive emotions, and facilitate users’ engagement. Integrating several personal characteristics as moderators, this study applied cognitive emotion theory to explore the antecedent of viewers’ engagement in VGS. Using 308 empirical data, the research results reveal that broadcaster attractiveness and the para-social relationship are positively associated with the viewers’ positive emotion, which eventually leads to engagement. In addition, personal characteristics play significant roles as moderators between VGS features and the viewers’ positive emotions. The results provide theoretical implications for VGS research and useful insights for VGS platform managers and policymakers to enable a sustainable profit model and the growth of VGS.

Emotional Experiences of Cybersecurity Breach Victims

This study investigated emotional reactions to cybersecurity breaches. Based on prior research, a context-specific instrument was developed. This new instrument covered all five emotion components identified by the componential emotion approach. In total, 145 participants that experienced a cybersecurity breach reported on their appraisals, action tendencies, bodily reactions, expressions, subjective feelings, and regulation attempts. A principal component analysis on a total of 75 emotion reactions revealed a clear three-dimensional structure. The first dimension represented the extent to which the person was generally emotionally affected. The second dimension revealed constructive action tendencies and subjective feelings that were opposed to unconstructive action tendencies, expressions, and bodily reactions. The third dimension revealed cognitive motivational reactions that were opposed to affective reactions. This study clearly indicated that cybersecurity breaches do not only form a challenge for engineers, but also have important psychological ramifications that need to be addressed. Although some people have a tendency to react with constructive and proactive actions that are likely to limit the negative consequences of the cybersecurity breach, others experience a strong negative affective stress reaction and are unlikely to take the appropriate steps to deal with the security breach situation. These people, especially, can be expected to be vulnerable to psychological complaints and possibly psychopathology. The newly developed instrument uses a comprehensive approach to assess emotional reactions to cybersecurity threats and provides an efficient way to identify potentially problematic reactions.

Subanesthetic ketamine with an AMPAkine attenuates motor impulsivity in rats

The concept of 'impulse control' has its roots in early psychiatry and today has progressed into a well-described, although poorly understood, multidimensional endophenotype underlying many neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorders). There is mounting evidence suggesting that the cognitive and/or behavioral dimensions underlying impulsivity are driven by dysfunctional glutamate (Glu) neurotransmission via targeted ionotropic Glu receptor (GluR) [e.g., N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)] mechanisms and associated synaptic alterations within key brain nodes. Ketamine, a noncompetitive NMDAR antagonist and FDA-approved for treatment-resistant depression, induces a 'glutamate burst' that drives resculpting of the synaptic milieu, which lasts for several days to a week. Thus, we hypothesized that single and repeated treatment with a subanesthetic ketamine dose would normalize motor impulsivity. Next, we hypothesized that AMPAR positive allosteric modulation, alone or in combination with ketamine, would attenuate impulsivity and provide insight into the mechanisms underlying GluR dysfunction relevant to motor impulsivity. To measure motor impulsivity, outbred male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on the one-choice serial reaction time task. Rats pretreated with single or repeated (3 days) administration of ketamine (10 mg/kg; i.p.; 24-h pretreatment) or with the AMPAkine HJC0122 (1 or 10 mg/kg; i.p.; 30-min pretreatment) exhibited lower levels of motor impulsivity vs. control. Combination of single or repeated ketamine plus HJC0122 also attenuated motor impulsivity vs. control. We conclude that ligands designed to promote GluR signaling represent an effective pharmacological approach to normalize impulsivity and subsequently, neuropsychiatric disorders marked by aberrant impulse control.

Understanding the Behavioral Consequences of Upward Social Comparison on Social Networking Sites: The Mediating Role of Emotions

With the increase in upward social comparison occurring on social networking sites (SNSs) globally, SNS researchers have examined the impact of upward social comparison. However, they focused mainly on psychological outcomes (e.g., well-being). To extend the existing studies, this study investigates the behavioral consequences of upward social comparison through the underlying mechanisms of emotions. Drawing on Smith’s typology of social comparison-based emotions, we developed a conceptual model that integrates upward social comparison on Instagram, upward comparison emotions (upward contrastive emotions and upward assimilative emotions), and the behavioral responses (SNS discontinuance, posting of comments). A structural equation modeling analysis revealed that upward social comparison in Instagram usage provoked upward contrastive emotions including anger, depression, and envy, which, in turn, induced Instagram discontinuance and the posting of malicious comments on Instagram. Additionally, upward assimilative emotions including admiration, optimism, and inspiration triggered the posting of favorable comments on Instagram. This study enhances our understanding of SNS social comparison by revealing how upward social comparison on Instagram is related to behavioral consequences.

Emotional Reactions to Cybersecurity Breach Situations: Scenario-Based Survey Study

Background

With the ever-expanding interconnectedness of the internet and especially with the recent development of the Internet of Things, people are increasingly at risk for cybersecurity breaches that can have far-reaching consequences for their personal and professional lives, with psychological and mental health ramifications.

Objective

We aimed to identify the dimensional structure of emotion processes triggered by one of the most emblematic scenarios of cybersecurity breach, the hacking of one’s smart security camera, and explore which personality characteristics systematically relate to these emotion dimensions.

Methods

A total of 902 participants from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands reported their emotion processes triggered by a cybersecurity breach scenario. Moreover, they reported on their Big Five personality traits, as well as on key indicators for resilient, overcontrolling (internalizing problems), and undercontrolling (aggression) personality types.

Results

Principal component analyses revealed a clear 3-dimensional structure of emotion processes: emotional intensity, proactive versus fight/flight reactions, and affective versus cognitive/motivational reactions. Regression analyses revealed that more internalizing problems (β=.33, P<.001), resilience (β=.22, P<.001), and agreeableness (β=.12, P<.001) and less emotional stability (β=–.25, P<.001) have significant predictive value for higher emotional intensity. More internalizing problems (β=.26, P<.001), aggression (β=.25, P<.001), and extraversion (β=.07, P=.01) and less resilience (β=–.19, P<.001), agreeableness (β=–.34, P<.001), consciousness (β=–.19, P<.001), and openness (β=–.22, P<.001) have significant predictive value for comparatively more fight/flight than proactive reactions. Less internalizing problems (β=–.32, P<.001) and more emotional stability (β=.14, P<.001) and aggression (β=.13, P<.001) have significant predictive value for a comparatively higher salience for cognitive/motivational than affective reactions.

Conclusions

To adequately describe the emotion processes triggered by a cybersecurity breach, two more dimensions are needed over and above the general negative affectivity dimension. This multidimensional structure is further supported by the differential relationships of the emotion dimensions with personality characteristics. The discovered emotion structure could be used for consistent predictions about who is at risk to develop long-term mental well-being issues due to a cybersecurity breach experience.

The Social Brain and Emotional Contagion: COVID-19 Effects

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious infectious disease, responsible for a global pandemic that began in January 2020. Human/COVID-19 interactions cause different outcomes ranging from minor health consequences to death. Since social interaction is the default mode by which individuals communicate with their surroundings, different modes of contagion can play a role in determining the long-term consequences for mental health and emotional well-being. We examined some basic aspects of human social interaction, emphasizing some particular features of the emotional contagion. Moreover, we analyzed the main report that described brain damage related to the COVID-19 infection. Indeed, the goal of this review is to suggest a possible explanation for the relationships among emotionally impaired people, brain damage, and COVID-19 infection.

RESULTS

COVID-19 can cause several significant neurological disorders and the pandemic has been linked to a rise in people reporting mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety. Neurocognitive symptoms associated with COVID-19 include delirium, both acute and chronic attention and memory impairment related to hippocampal and cortical damage, as well as learning deficits in both adults and children.

CONCLUSIONS

Although our knowledge on the biology and long-term clinical outcomes of the COVID-19 infection is largely limited, approaching the pandemic based on lessons learnt from previous outbreaks of infectious diseases and the biology of other coronaviruses will provide a suitable pathway for developing public mental health strategies, which could be positively translated into therapeutic approaches, attempting to improve stress coping responses, thus contributing to alleviate the burden driven by the pandemic.

Motivation States for Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior: Desire, Urge, Wanting, and Craving

To better explain daily fluctuations in physical activity and sedentary behavior, investigations of motivation are turning from social cognitive frameworks to those centered on affect, emotion and automaticity, such as the Affect and Health Behavior Framework (AHBF), Integrated Framework and Affective-Reflective Theory (ART). This shift has necessitated: (a) re-examination of older theories and their constructs, such as drives, needs and tensions and (b) an inspection of competing theories from other fields that also attempt to explain dynamic changes in health behaviors. The Dynamical Model of Desire, Elaborated Intrusion Theory and others commonly share with AHBF the idea that human behavior is driven strongly by desires and/or the similar concepts of wants, urges, and cravings. These affectively-charged motivation states (ACMS) change quickly and may better explain physical activity behavior from one moment to the next. Desires for movement predominantly derive from negative but also positive reinforcement. Data from clinical populations with movement dysfunction or psychiatric disorders provides further evidence of these drivers of movement. Those with Restless Legs Syndrome, akathisia, tic disorders and exercise dependence all report strong urges to move and relief when it is accomplished. Motor control research has identified centers of the brain responsible for wants and urges for muscular movement. Models elaborated herein differentiate between wants, desires, urges and cravings. The WANT model (Wants and Aversions for Neuromuscular Tasks) conceptualizes desires for movement and rest as varying by magnitude, approach or avoidance-orientation (wants versus aversions) and as occupying independent dimensions instead of opposite ends of the same axis. For instance, one hypothetically might be in a state of both high desire for movement and rest simultaneously. Variations in motivation states to move and rest may also be associated with various stress states, like freezing or fight and flight. The first validated instrument to measure feelings of desire/want for movement and rest, the CRAVE Scale (Cravings for Rest and Volitional Energy Expenditure) is already shedding light on the nature of these states. With these advances in theory, conceptual modeling and instrumentation, future investigations may explore the effects of desires and urges for movement and sedentary behavior in earnest.

TMS over the posterior cerebellum modulates motor cortical excitability in response to facial emotional expressions

Evidence suggests that the posterior cerebellum is involved in emotional processing. Specific mechanisms by which the cerebellum contributes to the perception of and reaction to the emotional state of others are not well-known. It is likely that perceived emotions trigger anticipatory/preparatory motor changes. However, the extent to which the cerebellum modulates the activity of the motor cortex to contribute to emotional processing has not been directly investigated. In this study, we assessed whether the activity of the posterior cerebellum influences the modulation of motor cortical excitability in response to emotional stimuli. To this end, we transiently disrupted the neural activity of the left posterior cerebellum using 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and examined its effect on motor cortical excitability witnessed during emotional face processing (in comparison to the effects of sham rTMS). Motor excitability was measured as TMS-based motor evoked potentials (MEPs) recorded from bilateral first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles during the viewing of negative emotional (i.e. fearful) and neutral facial expressions. In line with previous evidence, we found that MEP amplitude was increased during the viewing of fearful compared to neutral faces. Critically, when left posterior cerebellar activity was transiently inhibited with 1 Hz rTMS, we observed a reduction in amplitude of MEPs recorded from the contralateral (right) motor cortex during the viewing of emotional (but not neutral) faces. In turn, inhibition of the left posterior cerebellum did not affect the amplitude of MEPs recorded from the ipsilateral motor cortex. Our findings suggest that the posterolateral (left) cerebellum modulates motor cortical response to negative emotional stimuli and may serve as an interface between limbic, cognitive, and motor systems.

Cluster headache and anxiety: Results of the EUROLIGHT cluster headache project – An Internet-based, cross-sectional study of people with cluster headache

Objective:

The aim of this study is to evaluate how anxiety influences the burden of disease of cluster headache.

Methods:

Participants completed a modified version of the EUROLIGHT questionnaire. Anxiety was measured with the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale. An elevated level of anxiety was assumed when eight or more points were scored.

Results:

The data of 1089 participants were taken for analysis. The score of the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A) correlated weakly with the number of attacks in the last 30 days ( r = 0.17). A score of eight and above in the HADS-A was associated with hurting oneself during an attack (odds ratio (OR) = 2.63), worrying about future attacks (OR = 2.95) and reporting of both failed relationships (OR = 2.81) and career problems (OR = 2.65). The odds of feeling understood by family and friends as well as colleagues and employers were lower in anxious persons (OR = 0.35 and 0.40, respectively).

Conclusions:

Anxiety complicates dealing with cluster headache and strongly aggravates its burden. Instead of finding help in others, anxious persons feel misunderstood and withdraw; relationships fail and difficulties at work arise.

A direct and conceptual replication of post-loss speeding when gambling

To investigate the response to suboptimal outcomes, Verbuggen et al. (Verbruggen F, Chambers CD, Lawrence NS, McLaren IPL. 2017 Winning and losing: effects on impulsive action. J. Exp. Psychol.: Hum. Percept. Perform. 43, 147. (doi:10.1037/xhp0000284)) conducted a study in which participants chose between a gamble and a non-gamble option. The non-gamble option was a guaranteed amount of points, whereas the gamble option was associated with a higher amount but a lower probability of winning. The authors observed that participants initiated the next trial faster after a loss compared to wins or non-gambles. In the present study, we directly replicated these findings in the laboratory and online. We also designed another task controlling for the number of trials per outcome. In this task, participants guessed where a reward was hidden. They won points if they selected the correct location, but lost points if they selected the incorrect location. We included neutral trials as a baseline. Again, participants sped up after a loss relative to wins and neutral trials (but only with a response choice in neutral trials and a large sample size). These findings appear inconsistent with cognitive-control frameworks, which assume that suboptimal outcomes typically lead to slower responses; instead, they suggest that suboptimal outcomes can invigorate behaviour, consistent with accounts of frustrative non-reward and impulsive action.

Indignation for moral violations suppresses the tongue motor cortex: preliminary TMS evidence

We commonly label moral violations in terms of ‘disgust’, yet it remains unclear whether metaphorical expressions linking disgust and morality are genuinely shared at the cognitive/neural level. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we provide new insights into this debate by measuring motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) from the tongue generated by TMS over the tongue primary motor area (tM1) in a small group of healthy participants presented with vignettes of moral transgressions and non-moral vignettes. We tested whether moral indignation, felt while evaluating moral vignettes, affected tM1 excitability. Vignettes exerted a variable influence on MEPs with no net effect of the moral category. However, in accordance with our recent study documenting reduced tM1 excitability during exposure to pictures of disgusting foods or facial expressions of distaste, we found that the vignettes of highly disapproved moral violations reduced tM1 excitability. Moreover, tM1 excitability and moral indignation were linearly correlated: the higher the moral indignation, the lower the tM1 excitability. Respective changes in MEPs were not observed in a non-oral control muscle, suggesting a selective decrease of tM1 excitability. These preliminary findings provide neurophysiological evidence supporting the hypothesis that morality might have originated from the more primitive experience of oral distaste.

Eye contact enhances interpersonal motor resonance: comparing video stimuli to a live two-person action context

Previous research has shown a link between eye contact and interpersonal motor resonance, indicating that the mirroring of observed movements is enhanced when accompanied with mutual eye contact between actor and observer. Here, we further explored the role of eye contact within a naturalistic two-person action context. Twenty-two participants observed simple hand movements combined with direct or averted gaze presented via a live model in a two-person setting or via video recordings, while transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) to measure changes in M1 excitability. Skin conductance responses and gaze behavior were also measured to investigate the role of arousal and visual attention herein. Eye contact significantly enhanced excitability of the observer's M1 during movement observation within a two-person setting. Notably, participants with higher social responsiveness (Social Communication subscale of the Social Responsiveness Scale) displayed a more pronounced modulation of M1 excitability by eye gaze. Gaze-related modulations in M1 excitability were, however, not associated with differences in visual attention or autonomic arousal. In summary, the current study highlights the effectiveness and feasibility of adopting paradigms with high ecological validity for studying the modulation of mirror system processes by subtle social cues, such as eye gaze.

Exploring Determinants of Consumers’ Platform Usage in “Double Eleven” Shopping Carnival in China: Cognition and Emotion from an Integrated Perspective

There is a great deal of interest concerning how e-commerce in China can be developed in sustainable ways. Answering this question requires not only the strategic management at the aggregate level, but also developing a micro framework that can effectively understand the cognitive-behavioral pathway of consumers in various online contexts. This paper focuses on the “Double Eleven” Global Online Shopping Carnival (GOSC) in China and attempts to investigate the determinants of consumers’ behaviors of shopping platform usage. The distinguishing feature of this study is that we define GOSC as a unique scenario compared to normal online shopping context, where consumers’ emotional state towards such an event plays a larger role in determining behaviors. Based on Cognitive Emotion Theory (CET), the main findings of this paper suggest that (1) consumers’ behaviors of online platform usage can be affected by both cognitions related factors, including price value, gamification and personalized services, and by emotional state such as having arousal and being pleasured; (2) cognition has an effect on emotional state, such as the positive effect of price value on arousal and pleasure or gamification on arousal. Our study, therefore, has highlighted a number of key points to the sustainable development of GOSC. Limitations and further research directions are also discussed.

Clarifying the Role of Negative Emotions in the Origin and Control of Impulsive Actions

This critical review elaborates on the origin of impulsive actions and how these can be controlled. We focus in particular on the role of negative events. First, we outline how impulsive actions often originate from negative events that are (emotionally) appraised. A discrepancy between this current state and a desired goal state leads to action tendencies. The urgency of the resulting action depends on the importance of the goal and the size of the discrepancy. Second, we discuss how such impulsive actions can be regulated or controlled e.g. by biasing competition between different options, or by completely suppressing all motor output. Importantly, such control mechanisms might also depend on emotional factors. To reconcile these findings, we present a coherent theoretical framework, taking into account various cognitive, affective, and motivational mechanisms as well as contextual factors that play a crucial role in the origin and control of impulsive actions.

The inhibitory control of pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) weakens when previously learned environmental information becomes unpredictable

Inhibitory control (IC) is the ability to intentionally restrain initial, ineffective responses to a stimulus and instead exhibit an alternative behaviour that is not pre-potent but which effectively attains a reward. Individuals (both humans and non-human animals) differ in their IC, perhaps as a result of the different environmental conditions they have experienced. We experimentally manipulated environmental predictability, specifically how reliable information linking a cue to a reward was, over a very short time period and tested how this affected an individual’s IC. We gave 119 pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) the opportunity to learn to associate a visual cue with a food reward in a binary choice task. We then perturbed this association for half the birds, whereas control birds continued to be rewarded when making the correct choice. We immediately measured all birds’ on a detour IC task and again 3 days later. Perturbed birds immediately performed worse than control birds, making more unrewarded pecks at the apparatus than control birds, although this effect was less for individuals that had more accurately learned the initial association. The effect of the perturbation was not seen 3 days later, suggesting that individual IC performance is highly plastic and susceptible to recent changes in environmental predictability. Specifically, individuals may perform poorly in activities requiring IC immediately after information in their environment is perturbed, with the perturbation inducing emotional arousal. Our finding that recent environmental changes can affect IC performance, depending on how well an animal has learned about that environment, means that interpreting individual differences in IC must account for both prior experience and relevant individual learning abilities.

The effect of cathodal tDCS on fear extinction: A cross-measures study

BACKGROUND

Extinction-based procedures are often used to inhibit maladaptive fear responses. However, because extinction procedures show efficacy limitations, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been suggested as a promising add-on enhancer.

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we tested how cathodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects extinction and tried to unveil the processes at play that boost the effectiveness of extinction procedures and its translational potential to the treatment of anxiety disorders.

METHODS

We implemented a fear conditioning paradigm whereby 41 healthy women (mean age = 20.51 ± 5.0) were assigned to either cathodal tDCS (n = 27) or sham tDCS (n = 16). Fear responses were measured with self-reports, autonomic responses, and implicit avoidance tendencies.

RESULTS

Cathodal tDCS shows no statistically significant effect in extinction, according to self-reports, and seems to even negatively affect fear conditioned skin conductance responses. However, one to three months after the tDCS session and extinction, we found a group difference in the action tendencies towards the neutral stimuli (F (1, 41) = 12.04, p = .001, ηp2 = .227), with the cathodal tDCS group (as opposed to the sham group) showing a safety learning (a positive bias towards the CS-), with a moderate effect size. This suggests that cathodal tDCS may foster stimuli discrimination, leading to a decreased generalization effect.

DISCUSSION

Cathodal tDCS may have enhanced long-term distinctiveness between threatening cues and perceptively similar neutral cues through a disambiguation process of the value of the neutral stimuli-a therapeutic target in anxiety disorders. Future studies should confirm these results and extend the study of cathodal tDCS effect on short term avoidance tendencies.

Reappraising Reappraisal

What psychological mechanisms enable people to reappraise a situation to change its emotional impact? We propose that reappraisal works by shifting appraisal outcomes—abstract representations of how a situational construal compares to goals—either by changing the construal ( reconstrual) or by changing the goal set ( repurposing). Instances of reappraisal can therefore be characterized as change vectors in appraisal dimensional space. Affordances for reappraisal arise from the range of mental models that could explain a situation ( construal malleability) and the range of goals that the situation could serve ( goal set malleability). This framework helps to expand our conception of reappraisal, assess and classify different instances of reappraisal, predict their relative effectiveness, understand their brain mechanisms, and relate them to individual differences.

Emotional Impact and Perceived Effectiveness of Text-Only versus Graphic Health Warning Tobacco Labels on Adolescents

The study of smoking in adolescence is of major importance as nicotine dependence often begins in younger groups. Tobacco health warnings have been introduced to inform people of the negative consequences of smoking. This study assessed the emotions and perceived effectiveness of two formats of tobacco warnings on adolescents: Text-only versus graphic warning labels. In addition, we analyzed how emotions predicted their perceived effectiveness. In a cross-sectional study, 413 adolescents (131 smokers, 282 non-smokers) between 13-20 years of age rated their emotions (valence and arousal) and perceived effectiveness towards a set of tobacco warnings. Results showed that graphic warnings evoked higher arousal than text-only warning labels (p = .038). Most of the warning labels also evoked unpleasantness with smokers reporting higher unpleasantness regarding text-only warnings compared to non-smokers (p = .002). In contrast, perceived effectiveness of the warnings was lower in smokers than in non-smokers (p = .029). Finally, high arousal and being a non-smoker explained 14% of the variance of perceiving the warnings more effective. Given the role that warnings may play in increasing health awareness, these findings highlight how smoking status and emotions are important predictors of the way adolescents consider tobacco health labels to be effective.