Perceived facial expressions of emotion as motivational incentives: evidence from a differential implicit learning paradigm.
Participants (N = 216) were administered a differential implicit learning task during which they were trained and tested on 3 maximally distinct 2nd-order visuomotor sequences, with sequence color serving as discriminative stimulus. During training, 1 sequence each was followed by an emotional face, a neutral face, and no face, using backward masking. Emotion (joy, surprise, anger), face gender, and exposure duration (12 ms, 209 ms) were varied between participants; implicit motives were assessed with a picture-story exercise. For power-motivated individuals, low-dominance facial expressions enhanced and high-dominance expressions impaired learning. For affiliation-motivated individuals, learning was impaired in the context of hostile faces. These findings did not depend on explicit learning of fixed sequences or on awareness of sequence-face contingencies.
Schultheiss
Oliver C
OC
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA. oschult@umich.edu
Pang
Joyce S
JS
Torges
Cynthia M
CM
Wirth
Michelle M
MM
Treynor
Wendy
W
Derryberry
Douglas
D
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001245:Association Learning; D001364:Awareness; D003118:Color Perception; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012691:Serial Learning