The effects of valid and invalid expectations about stimulus valence on behavioural and electrophysiological responses to emotional pictures

Johnen, Ann-Kathrin and Harrison, Neil (2019) The effects of valid and invalid expectations about stimulus valence on behavioural and electrophysiological responses to emotional pictures. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 144. pp. 47-55. ISSN 0167-8760

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Abstract

Previous studies have shown that uncertainty about the expected valence of an upcoming stimulus modulates behavioural and neural responses to the stimulus.
However, relatively little is known about how invalid emotion expectations (i.e. expecting a positive picture but seeing a negative picture) affect neural and
behavioural responses. To investigate this, two experiments were conducted where participants viewed and rated the pleasantness of emotional pictures that were
preceded by a cue. In Experiment 1, there were three cue conditions: uncertain, valid and invalid. The uncertain cue did not indicate the valence of the upcoming
picture, whereas cues in the valid condition (70% of positive and negative cues) correctly indicated the valence of the upcoming picture. The remaining trials were
invalid, where the valence of the picture differed from the expected valence. Behavioural results showed that invalidly cued negative pictures elicited more neutral
valence ratings compared to validly cued pictures. In Experiment 2 we replicated the findings of Experiment 1, and in addition found an increased amplitude for the
early (400–600 ms) portion of the late positive potential (LPP) for invalidly compared to validly cued pictures. Together, these results show that invalid expectations
influence the neural and behavioural processing of subsequently presented emotional pictures, where invalidly cued pictures led to attenuated (i.e., more neutral) emotional responses, and enhanced early LPP amplitude, compared to validly cued pictures.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Psychophysiology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, vol 144, August 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.08.002
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Neil Harrison
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2019 10:50
Last Modified:	20 Sep 2019 10:50
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2938

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