Automatic affective dynamics: An activation-habituation model of affective assimilation and contrast

Abstract

Our modeling approach seeks to better understand the computational dynamics of the affective and cognitive systems. One experimental phenomenon open to such dynamical analysis is affective priming -- or the influence of a prior stimulus on subsequent affective processing. In this type of procedure, 'assimilation priming' refers to when the response to the target is biased in favor of the prime, such as with brief or minimally attended primes. However, following long durations or highly attended primes, the response to the target is often biased against the prime, which is termed 'contrast priming'. We present a neural dynamics model of affective priming in which this transition from assimilation to contrast occurs automatically as a result of habituation. Unlike response strategies, this transition is predicted to rise and fall in a gradual nonlinear manner as a function of prime duration. We confirmed this prediction with a speeded affect judgment task that manipulated the exposure duration of valenced images. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.