Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in...

Electronic data

  • 1-s2.0-S0028393214000062-main

    Rights statement: Open Access funded by Wellcome Trust Under a Creative Commons license

    Final published version, 1.52 MB, PDF document

    Available under license: CC BY

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in an interactive way: neuroimaging evidence for an approach-withdrawal framework

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published

Standard

Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in an interactive way: neuroimaging evidence for an approach-withdrawal framework. / Citron, Francesca M. M.; Gray, Marcus A.; Critchley, Hugo D. et al.
In: Neuropsychologia, Vol. 56, 04.2014, p. 79-89.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

APA

Vancouver

Citron FMM, Gray MA, Critchley HD, Weekes BS, Ferstl EC. Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in an interactive way: neuroimaging evidence for an approach-withdrawal framework. Neuropsychologia. 2014 Apr;56:79-89. Epub 2014 Jan 15. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.002

Author

Bibtex

@article{d7989b72a7ca4624bfc7a86f10661c07,
title = "Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in an interactive way: neuroimaging evidence for an approach-withdrawal framework",
abstract = "A growing body of literature shows that the emotional content of verbal material affects reading, wherein emotional words are given processing priority compared to neutral words. Human emotions can be conceptualised within a two-dimensional model comprised of emotional valence and arousal (intensity). These variables are at least in part distinct, but recent studies report interactive effects during implicit emotion processing and relate these to stimulus-evoked approach-withdrawal tendencies.The aim of the present study was to explore how valence and arousal interact at the neural level, during implicit emotion word processing. The emotional attributes of written word stimuli were orthogonally manipulated based on behavioural ratings from a corpus of emotion words. Stimuli were presented during an fMRI experiment while 16 participants performed a lexical decision task, which did not require explicit evaluation of a word's emotional content.Results showed greater neural activation within right insular cortex in response to stimuli evoking conflicting approach-withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive high-arousal and negative low-arousal words) compared to stimuli evoking congruent approach vs. withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive low-arousal and negative high-arousal words). Further, a significant cluster of activation in the left extra-striate cortex was found in response to emotional than neutral words, suggesting enhanced perceptual processing of emotionally salient stimuli.These findings support an interactive two-dimensional approach to the study of emotion word recognition and suggest that the integration of valence and arousal dimensions recruits a brain region associated with interoception, emotional awareness and sympathetic functions. ",
keywords = "Valence, Arousal, Approach, Withdrawal, Emotional words, fMRI, EVENT-RELATED FMRI, ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX, WORD RECOGNITION, NEURAL SYSTEMS, PROCESSING VALENCE, TEXT COMPREHENSION, NEGATIVE WORDS, AMYGDALA, INFORMATION, ACTIVATION",
author = "Citron, {Francesca M. M.} and Gray, {Marcus A.} and Critchley, {Hugo D.} and Weekes, {Brendan S.} and Ferstl, {Evelyn C.}",
year = "2014",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.002",
language = "English",
volume = "56",
pages = "79--89",
journal = "Neuropsychologia",
issn = "0028-3932",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Emotional valence and arousal affect reading in an interactive way

T2 - neuroimaging evidence for an approach-withdrawal framework

AU - Citron, Francesca M. M.

AU - Gray, Marcus A.

AU - Critchley, Hugo D.

AU - Weekes, Brendan S.

AU - Ferstl, Evelyn C.

PY - 2014/4

Y1 - 2014/4

N2 - A growing body of literature shows that the emotional content of verbal material affects reading, wherein emotional words are given processing priority compared to neutral words. Human emotions can be conceptualised within a two-dimensional model comprised of emotional valence and arousal (intensity). These variables are at least in part distinct, but recent studies report interactive effects during implicit emotion processing and relate these to stimulus-evoked approach-withdrawal tendencies.The aim of the present study was to explore how valence and arousal interact at the neural level, during implicit emotion word processing. The emotional attributes of written word stimuli were orthogonally manipulated based on behavioural ratings from a corpus of emotion words. Stimuli were presented during an fMRI experiment while 16 participants performed a lexical decision task, which did not require explicit evaluation of a word's emotional content.Results showed greater neural activation within right insular cortex in response to stimuli evoking conflicting approach-withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive high-arousal and negative low-arousal words) compared to stimuli evoking congruent approach vs. withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive low-arousal and negative high-arousal words). Further, a significant cluster of activation in the left extra-striate cortex was found in response to emotional than neutral words, suggesting enhanced perceptual processing of emotionally salient stimuli.These findings support an interactive two-dimensional approach to the study of emotion word recognition and suggest that the integration of valence and arousal dimensions recruits a brain region associated with interoception, emotional awareness and sympathetic functions. 

AB - A growing body of literature shows that the emotional content of verbal material affects reading, wherein emotional words are given processing priority compared to neutral words. Human emotions can be conceptualised within a two-dimensional model comprised of emotional valence and arousal (intensity). These variables are at least in part distinct, but recent studies report interactive effects during implicit emotion processing and relate these to stimulus-evoked approach-withdrawal tendencies.The aim of the present study was to explore how valence and arousal interact at the neural level, during implicit emotion word processing. The emotional attributes of written word stimuli were orthogonally manipulated based on behavioural ratings from a corpus of emotion words. Stimuli were presented during an fMRI experiment while 16 participants performed a lexical decision task, which did not require explicit evaluation of a word's emotional content.Results showed greater neural activation within right insular cortex in response to stimuli evoking conflicting approach-withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive high-arousal and negative low-arousal words) compared to stimuli evoking congruent approach vs. withdrawal tendencies (i.e., positive low-arousal and negative high-arousal words). Further, a significant cluster of activation in the left extra-striate cortex was found in response to emotional than neutral words, suggesting enhanced perceptual processing of emotionally salient stimuli.These findings support an interactive two-dimensional approach to the study of emotion word recognition and suggest that the integration of valence and arousal dimensions recruits a brain region associated with interoception, emotional awareness and sympathetic functions. 

KW - Valence

KW - Arousal

KW - Approach

KW - Withdrawal

KW - Emotional words

KW - fMRI

KW - EVENT-RELATED FMRI

KW - ANTERIOR CINGULATE CORTEX

KW - WORD RECOGNITION

KW - NEURAL SYSTEMS

KW - PROCESSING VALENCE

KW - TEXT COMPREHENSION

KW - NEGATIVE WORDS

KW - AMYGDALA

KW - INFORMATION

KW - ACTIVATION

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.002

DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.01.002

M3 - Journal article

VL - 56

SP - 79

EP - 89

JO - Neuropsychologia

JF - Neuropsychologia

SN - 0028-3932

ER -