Different Motivation Approach Positive Emotions Affect Cognitive Control

With the rise and development of Positive Psychology movement, it is becoming increasingly appreciated that positive emotions can contribute strongly to cognitive processing. A wide range of studies have found that positive emotions broaden attentional and cognitive scope and increase cognitive flexibility. However, it is important to note that not all forms of positive emotions have only one cognitive consequence. The motivational dimensional model of affect proposed by Gable and Harmon-Jones (2010a), posits that the influence of positive emotions on cognitive processes is moderated by its approach motivational intensity. Specifically, positive affect high in approach motivation narrows cognition, whereas positive affect low in approach motivation broadens cognition. In line with this model, there is growing evidence that positive affect is not a unitary construct with only one cognitive consequence.However, most previous studies were limited because they examined only how approach motivation of positive affects influences attentional and cognitive scope. Moreover, few experiments have yet to examine how approach motivation of positive affects influences cognitive control. As most previous cognitive control studies have not considered the approach motivational intensity of positive affects, there is not general consensus on the effect of positive emotions on cognitive control. Therefore, two experiments in this study, employing appetitive dessert and pleasant scenery pictures to elicit positive emotions with differentiated approach motivational intensity, were conducted to investigate this issue.In the present research,32appetitive dessert pictures were employed to evoke high approach motivated positive affect,32pleasant scenery pictures to elicit low approach motivated positive affect, and36neutral pictures (including4pictures used in practice experiments) in control condition. Forty undergraduates (17females) were employed to assess the pleasure, arousal and motivational dimension of these100emotional pictures on a Likert9type scale. Results of the rating demonstrated that there are no significant differences on the pleasure and arousal between dessert and scenery pictures, but they are both higher than neutral pictures on both above dimensions. In respect of the motivational intensity, dessert pictures are the highest, neutral pictures are the lowest, and scenery pictures are intermediate. These results suggest that dessert and scenery pictures could reliably evoke high and low approach-motivated positive affect, respectively.In experiment1, a modified stop-signal task was used to explore the influence of approach motivation of positive affects on inhibition control. Ninety-one undergraduates were randomly assigned to three conditions:high approach condition (30,17females), low approach condition (31,17females), and neutral condition (30,15females). One-way ANOVAs demonstrated that both effects of emotional pictures on response execution and inhibition were significant. Scheffe post hoc tests revealed that, compared to neutral condition, response execution was faster in high approach-motivated positive affect condition, while response inhibition was faster in low approach-motivated positive affect condition.In experiment2, we used typical numerical classification tasks to examine the influence of approach motivation of positive affects on task switching. Forty new undergraduates (28females) participated in the experiment. Repeated measures ANOVAs and Bonferroni post hoc tests on reaction time and error rate showed that positive affect high in approach motivation facilitated repeated task, while positive affect low in approach motivation reduced switched task error. Furthermore, results showed that positive affect high in approach motivation increased reaction time switch costs, whereas positive affect low in approach motivation reduced both reaction time switch costs and error switch costs.In summary, this research suggests that positive affect high in approach motivation facilitates cognitive stability, thus enhaces response execution with the same task sets, while impairs cognitive control, thus slows task switch. Conversely, positive affect low in approach motivation enhances cognitive control, thus facilitates response inhibition and task switch. The current research extends previous work with attention, memory, and cognitive categorization processes to inhibition and switch processes. Taken together, this line of research suggests that positive affect should not be thought of as a unitary construct that aids only in broadening and facilitating. The effects of positive affect on cognitive processes are modulated by its approach motivational intensity.