ABSTRACT

Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated that an observer’s current mood can influence their processing of facial stimuli, for instance, the appraisal of facial affect. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between current mood and face processing in participants’ daily lives, thereby making use of naturally occurring affective states. We employed Ambulatory Assessment (AA) and included two experimental tasks to test whether current mood predicts how participants evaluate (i) the valence of emotional faces and (ii) facial trustworthiness. We hypothesised a mood-congruent processing, such that individuals would rate pictures of faces more negatively and less trustworthy, the more negative their current mood was. We recruited 42 participants who completed a 7-day AA study with six random prompts per day. At each prompt, participants provided self-reports on momentary mood and completed an emotion rating task and a hypothetical distrust game. Results show that negative momentary mood was significantly associated with higher levels of distrust, but was not significantly associated with more negative emotion ratings. We discuss the incremental value and feasibility of implementing experimental tasks in AA contexts and the opportunities this opens for assessing affective and cognitive processes in natural environments.

摘要

先前的实验室研究表明，观察者当前的情绪会影响他们对面部刺激的处理，例如对面部情感的评价。本研究的目的是探索参与者日常生活中当前情绪与面部处理之间的关联，从而利用自然发生的情感状态。我们采用动态评估 (AA) 并包括两项实验任务来测试当前情绪是否预测参与者如何评估 (i) 情绪面孔的效价和 (ii) 面部可信度。我们假设了一种与情绪一致的处理，这样个人会对面部图片的评价越消极，可信度越低，他们当前的情绪越消极。我们招募了 42 名参与者，他们完成了一项为期 7 天的 AA 研究，每天有 6 次随机提示。在每次提示时，参与者提供了关于瞬间情绪的自我报告，并完成了情绪评级任务和假设的不信任游戏。结果表明，消极的瞬间情绪与更高的不信任水平显着相关，但与更多的负面情绪评级没有显着相关。我们讨论了在 AA 环境中实施实验任务的增量价值和可行性，以及这为评估自然环境中的情感和认知过程带来的机会。