title: Subliminal affect valence words change conscious mood potency but not valence: is this evidence for unconscious valence affect?
abstract: Whether or not affect can be unconscious remains controversial. Research claiming to demonstrate unconscious affect fails to establish clearly unconscious stimulus conditions. The few investigations that have established unconscious conditions fail to rule out conscious affect changes. We report two studies in which unconscious stimulus conditions were met and conscious mood changes measured. The subliminal stimuli were positive and negative affect words presented at the objective detection threshold; conscious mood changes were measured with standard manikin valence, potency, and arousal scales. We found and replicated that unconscious emotional stimuli produced conscious mood changes on the potency scale but not on the valence scale. Were positive and negative affects aroused unconsciously, but reflected consciously in potency changes? Or were the valence words unconscious cognitive causes of conscious mood changes being activated without unconscious affect? A thought experiment is offered as a way to resolve this dilemma.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 4250 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. shevrin@umich.edu.
authors: Howard
authors: H
authors: Shevrin
authors: Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, Washington State University, PO Box 646520, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. jpanksepp@vetmed.wsu.edu.
authors: Jaak
authors: J
authors: Panksepp
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 4250 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. brakel@umich.edu.
authors: Linda A W
authors: LA
authors: Brakel
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 4250 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. jmsnodgr@umich.edu.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Snodgrass