Forester Glen, Halbeisen Georg, Walther Eva, Kamp Siri-Maria
University of Trier, Germany.
University of Trier, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2020 Dec;158:389-399. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.11.003. Epub 2020 Nov 9.
A neutral stimulus can acquire valence by being paired with a valenced stimulus, leading to a new attitude towards the previously neutral stimulus. There is, however, considerable debate about the mechanisms that underlie this process of affective attitude formation. Therefore, in the present study we employed a single-trial, intentional learning procedure that paired neutral with valenced words while recording ERP activity, and measured subsequent memory and subsequent attitudes for the pre-experimentally neutral words immediately following learning. Using traditional as well as single-trial ERP analyses, we found that frontal slow wave (FSW) activity, elicited while stimuli were being paired, was associated with both subsequent memory for the word pairs and subsequent attitudes towards the pre-experimentally neutral words. Specifically, FSW activity during the pairing of neutral with positive words was related to more positive subsequent attitudes, while during the pairing of neutral with negative words, it was associated with more negative subsequent attitudes, towards the pre-experimentally neutral words. Given that this FSW activity was also related to successful subsequent episodic memory retrieval for the word pairs, these findings provide evidence that the transfer of valence may depend on a process that supports associative episodic encoding during word paring. Further, a single-trial, mixed-effects model indicated that the relationship between encoding FSW activity and subsequent attitudes depended on the strength of the episodic memory trace. Thus, the present study provides novel evidence that a common mechanism contributes to both episodic memory encoding and affective attitude formation.
一个中性刺激可以通过与一个有价值的刺激配对而获得效价，从而导致对先前中性刺激产生新的态度。然而，对于这种情感态度形成过程背后的机制存在相当多的争论。因此，在本研究中，我们采用了一种单试次、有意学习程序，在记录ERP活动的同时将中性词与有价值的词配对，并在学习后立即测量对实验前中性词的后续记忆和后续态度。使用传统的以及单试次ERP分析，我们发现，在刺激配对时引发的额叶慢波（FSW）活动，与词对的后续记忆以及对实验前中性词的后续态度都有关联。具体而言，中性词与积极词配对时的FSW活动与更积极的后续态度相关，而中性词与消极词配对时，它与对实验前中性词更消极的后续态度相关。鉴于这种FSW活动也与词对后续情景记忆的成功提取有关，这些发现提供了证据，表明效价的转移可能依赖于一个在词对配对期间支持联想情景编码的过程。此外，一个单试次混合效应模型表明，编码FSW活动与后续态度之间的关系取决于情景记忆痕迹的强度。因此，本研究提供了新的证据，表明一个共同的机制对情景记忆编码和情感态度形成都有作用。
