A theory of the interaction of affect and cognition: It's about time

Investigates the hypothesis that perception, affect, and cognition are independent links in a chain that allows adaptation to environmental threats and suggests that these linked systems interact on the temporal dimension. This hypothesis is based upon three assumptions: that environmental threats can be arranged in a hierarchy based on differences in time course, that phylogenetically older brain structures must have been naturally selected because they allowed adaptation to more proximal threats, and that the brain systems of perception, affect and cognition are phylogenetically ordered in a manner that functionally maps onto this hierarchy of threats. Perception is defined as the inferential transduction of environmental energy into neural equivalents that allows adaptation to immediate threats and upon which affective responses are based. Affect is defined as the preferential response to perceptual information that allows adaptation to proximal threats and that provides an evaluative mechanism for cognitive simulations. Affect functions as a current "weather report" of the proximal affective environment. Cognition is defined as the inferential simulation of the environment based on perceptual information, preferences, and memory that allows adaptation to distal threats. Cognition functions as a "weather forecast" of possible future affective environments. Studies 1 and 2 use a public speaking paradigm and physiological measures to explore the hypothesis that time perspective can moderate affective arousal. Study 3 uses a written questionnaire to address limitations of Studies 1 & 2 and to explore the hypothesis that the manipulation of time perspective can influence affective preferences. Study 4 uses a computer administered design to explore the hypothesis that affective arousal can moderate time perspective. Study 5 uses a written questionnaire to explore the possibility that physical and temporal proximity are psychological equivalent. The results of these studies suggest that time perspective can moderate affective arousal and affective preferences, that affective arousal can moderate time perspective, and that temporal and physical distance may be psychologically equivalent.