Kissler Johanna, Herbert Cornelia, Winkler Irene, Junghofer Markus
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
Biol Psychol. 2009 Jan;80(1):75-83. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2008.03.004. Epub 2008 Mar 14.
Emotional words are preferentially processed during silent reading. Here, we investigate to what extent different components of the visual evoked potential, namely the P1, N1, the early posterior negativity (EPN, around 250 ms after word onset) as well as the late positive complex (LPC, around 500 ms) respond differentially to emotional words and whether this response depends on the availability of attentional resources. Subjects viewed random sequences of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant adjectives and nouns. They were first instructed to simply read the words and then to count either adjectives or nouns. No consistent effects emerged for the P1 and N1. However, during both reading and counting the EPN was enhanced for emotionally arousing words (pleasant and unpleasant), regardless of whether the word belonged to a target or a non-target category. A task effect on the EPN was restricted to adjectives, but the effect did not interact with emotional content. The later centro-parietal LPC (450-650 ms) showed a large enhancement for the attended word class. A small and topographically distinct emotion-LPC effect was found specifically in response to pleasant words, both during silent reading and the active task. Thus, emotional word content is processed effortlessly and automatically and is not subject to interference from a primary grammatical decision task. The results are in line with other reports of early automatic semantic processing as reflected by posterior negativities in the ERP around 250 ms after word onset. Implications for models of emotion-attention interactions in the brain are discussed.
在默读过程中，情感词汇会被优先处理。在此，我们研究视觉诱发电位的不同成分，即P1、N1、早期后部负波（EPN，在单词开始后约250毫秒）以及晚期正复合波（LPC，在单词开始后约500毫秒）对情感词汇的反应有何不同，以及这种反应是否取决于注意力资源的可用性。受试者观看由愉悦、中性和不愉快的形容词和名词组成的随机序列。他们首先被要求简单地阅读单词，然后数形容词或名词。P1和N1没有出现一致的效应。然而，在阅读和计数过程中，对于引起情绪波动的词汇（愉悦的和不愉快的），EPN都会增强，无论该单词属于目标类别还是非目标类别。对EPN的任务效应仅限于形容词，但该效应与情感内容没有相互作用。稍后的中央顶叶LPC（450 - 650毫秒）对被关注的单词类别有很大增强。在默读和主动任务期间，特别在对愉悦词汇的反应中发现了一个小的且在地形上有差异的情感 - LPC效应。因此，情感词汇内容能轻松且自动地被处理，并且不受初级语法判断任务的干扰。这些结果与其他关于早期自动语义处理的报告一致，如单词开始后约250毫秒ERP中的后部负波所反映的那样。文中还讨论了这些结果对大脑中情感 - 注意力相互作用模型的启示。
