Previous studies have shown that money possesses affective properties even when it is not at stake within a given task. Smaller economic values are generally perceived as less arousing and neutral in valence, whereas larger ones are perceived as more arousing and positive in valence. Moreover, numerical cognitive processes seem to be less prominent than affective ones in the way we perceive economic values. To shed light on the basic affective components of monetary values, we ran three experiments on the perception of banknotes to test (i) whether banknotes with different values (5€ and 100€) trigger different emotional states, (ii) if values are horizontally mapped based on their valence, rather than on their numerical magnitude, and (iii) whether the lateralized sight (in the left or right visual field) of a positive (higher) monetary value interferes with the classification of a negative stimulus. Results showed a coherent pattern that corroborates the idea that money is indeed an affective stimulus, even when it is not at stake within the task. A higher monetary value was shown (i) to have intrinsic rewarding properties that influence the evaluation of a subsequent target, (ii) to be mentally mapped on the right side, which is related to positive approaching of affective stimuli in right-handers, and (iii) to be in conflict with negative-withdrawing targets, but only when the values were presented on the right-positive side of respondents. Results are discussed considering existing theories of the psychological value of money, highlighting the hedonic characteristics of this special affective stimulus.

先前的研究表明，即使在给定的任务中没有风险，金钱也具有情感属性。较小的经济价值通常被认为是不那么令人兴奋和中性的，而较大的经济价值则被认为是更令人兴奋和积极的。此外，在我们感知经济价值的方式中，数字认知过程似乎不如情感过程那么突出。为了阐明货币价值的基本情感成分，我们对纸币的感知进行了三个实验，以测试 (i) 不同价值的纸币（5 欧元和 100 欧元）是否会触发不同的情绪状态，(ii) 价值是否水平根据它们的价数而不是它们的数值大小绘制，(iii) 正面（较高）货币价值的侧向视线（在左侧或右侧视野中）是否会干扰负面刺激的分类。结果显示了一个连贯的模式，证实了金钱确实是一种情感刺激的想法，即使它在任务中没有危险。更高的货币价值被证明 (i) 具有影响后续目标评估的内在奖励特性，(ii) 将心理映射到右侧，这与右撇子积极接近情感刺激有关，以及(iii) 与消极的撤回目标相冲突，但仅当价值观呈现在受访者的积极一面时。考虑现有的货币心理价值理论，讨论结果，