Negative mood disrupts self- and reward-biases in perceptual matching

Abstract

There are established effects of self- and reward-biases even on simple perceptual matching tasks [Sui, J., He, X., & Humphreys, G. W. (2012). Perceptual effects of social salience: Evidence from self-prioritization effects on perceptual matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology, Human Perception and Performance, 38, 1105-1117]; however we know little about whether these biases can be modulated by particular interventions, and whether the biases then change in the same way. Here we assessed how the biases alter under conditions designed to induce negative mood. We had participants read a list of self-related negative or neutral mood statements [Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473-482] and also listen for 10 min to a passage of negative or neutral music, prior to carrying out perceptual matching with shapes associated to personal labels (self or stranger) or reward (£12 or £1). Responses to the self- and high-reward-associated shapes were selectively slower and less sensitive (d') following the negative mood induction procedures, and the decrease in mood correlated with decreases in the reaction time bias across "high saliency" (self and high-reward) stimuli. We suggest that negative mood may decrease self- and reward-biases through reducing attention to salient external stimuli.

Keywords: Associative learning; Negative mood; Reward-bias; Self-bias.

Figures

Figure 1. Performance in reaction times (RTs).

(A) RTs as a function of task (self vs. reward), mood (neutral mood intervention vs. negative mood intervention), and association (self or high reward vs. stranger or. low reward). (B) The effect of negative mood intervention on self- and reward-biases. (C) Correlation between (i) shifts in the valence of mood after the negative music (compared with the neutral music) and (ii) changes in the combined responses to self- and high-reward-associated shapes in RTs across the two sessions. Error bars represent standard errors.

Figure 2. Performance in d′.

(A) d′ as a function of task (self vs. reward), mood (neutral mood intervention vs. negative mood intervention), and association (self or high reward vs. stranger or low reward). (B) The effect of negative mood intervention on self- and reward-biases. (C) Correlation between (i) shifts in the valence of mood after the negative music (compared with the neutral music) and (ii) changes in the combined d′ in self- and high-reward-associated shapes in d′ across the two sessions. Error bars represent standard errors.