U.S. Army NSRDEC, Cognitive Science, Natick, MA, USA.
Cognition. 2013 Apr;127(1):93-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2012.11.015. Epub 2013 Jan 30.
Several studies have demonstrated that affective states influence the number of associations formed between remotely related concepts. Someone in a neutral or negative affective state might draw the association between cold and hot, whereas someone in a positive affective state might spontaneously form the more distant association between cold and sneeze. Could the reverse be true, that generating increasingly broad or narrow associations will put someone in a more or less positive affective state? We test this possibility by using verbal free association tasks, and asking whether the breadth of semantic associativity between cue words and generated responses might predict resulting affective states. Two experiments show that generating broader associations, regardless of their valence, changes affect; specifically, broader associations lowered negative affect and marginally increased positive affect over time. These findings carry implications for theories positing interactions between brain areas mediating associative processing and affect, and may hold promise for enhancing affect in clinical contexts.
多项研究表明，情感状态会影响远距离相关概念之间联想的数量。处于中性或负面情绪状态的人可能会联想到冷与热之间的联系，而处于积极情绪状态的人可能会自发地形成冷与打喷嚏之间更遥远的联系。相反的情况是否成立，即产生越来越广泛或狭窄的联想是否会使人处于更积极或更消极的情绪状态？我们通过使用口头自由联想任务来检验这种可能性，并询问提示词和生成反应之间语义联想的广度是否可以预测产生的情绪状态。两项实验表明，无论联想的极性如何，产生更广泛的联想都会改变情绪；具体来说，更广泛的联想会随着时间的推移降低负面情绪，适度增加正面情绪。这些发现对假设大脑区域中介联想处理和情绪之间相互作用的理论具有启示意义，并可能为改善临床环境中的情绪提供希望。
