National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2023 Aug;30(4):1388-1395. doi: 10.3758/s13423-023-02258-6. Epub 2023 Mar 1.
Our visual experience often varies based on momentary thoughts and feelings. For example, when positive concepts are invoked, visual objects may appear brighter (e.g., a "brighter" smile). However, it remains unclear whether this phenomenological experience is driven by a genuine top-down modulation of brightness perception or by a mere response bias. To investigate this issue, we use pupillometry as a more objective measure of perceived brightness. We asked participants to judge the brightness level of an iso-luminant gray color patch after evaluating the valence of a positive or negative word. We found that the gray color patch elicited greater pupillary light reflex and more frequent "brighter" responses after observers had evaluated the valence of a positive word. As pupillary light reflex is unlikely driven by voluntary control, these results suggest that the conceptual association between affect and luminance can modulate brightness perception.
我们的视觉体验常常受到瞬间的思想和情感的影响。例如，当积极的概念被唤起时，视觉对象可能会显得更亮（例如，“更亮”的笑容）。然而，目前尚不清楚这种现象学体验是由亮度感知的真实自上而下的调制驱动的，还是仅仅是反应偏差的结果。为了研究这个问题，我们使用瞳孔计作为一种更客观的亮度感知测量方法。我们要求参与者在评估一个积极或消极单词的效价后，判断等亮度灰色色块的亮度水平。我们发现，在观察者评估了一个积极单词的效价后，灰色色块引起了更大的瞳孔光反射和更频繁的“更亮”反应。由于瞳孔光反射不太可能受到自愿控制，因此这些结果表明，情感和亮度之间的概念关联可以调节亮度感知。
