TY - JOUR
T1 - The Other End of the Line
T2 - Motivational Direction is Not Associated with Line-Bisection Bias
AU - Pugnaghi, Giulia
AU - Schnuerch, Robert
AU - Gibbons, Henning
AU - Memmert, Daniel
AU - Kreitz, Carina
PY - 2020/1
Y1 - 2020/1
N2 - The two hemispheres of the human brain are asymmetrically involved in representing a person’s motivational orientation: Approach motivation is reflected in greater activation of the left hemisphere, whereas avoidance motivation more strongly activates the right hemisphere. Visuospatial bias, as assessed in the line-bisection task, is often used as a simple behavioral measure of relative hemispheric activation. In three experiments, we investigated whether affect-induced approach and avoidance motivation are associated with spatial biases in line-bisection performance. Happy or terrifying pictures (Experiment 1, N = 70), happy or sad music (Experiment 2, N = 50), and joyful or frightening videos (Experiment 3, N = 90) were used to induce negative and positive affect. Mood-induction procedures successfully changed emotional states in the intended direction. However, our analyses revealed no effect of mood on visuospatial biases in the line-bisection task. Additional Bayesian analyses also provided more evidence against the hypothesized effect than in favor of it. Thus, visuospatial bias in line bisection does not seem to be a sensitive measure of approach and avoidance motivation induced by positive and negative affect.
AB - The two hemispheres of the human brain are asymmetrically involved in representing a person’s motivational orientation: Approach motivation is reflected in greater activation of the left hemisphere, whereas avoidance motivation more strongly activates the right hemisphere. Visuospatial bias, as assessed in the line-bisection task, is often used as a simple behavioral measure of relative hemispheric activation. In three experiments, we investigated whether affect-induced approach and avoidance motivation are associated with spatial biases in line-bisection performance. Happy or terrifying pictures (Experiment 1, N = 70), happy or sad music (Experiment 2, N = 50), and joyful or frightening videos (Experiment 3, N = 90) were used to induce negative and positive affect. Mood-induction procedures successfully changed emotional states in the intended direction. However, our analyses revealed no effect of mood on visuospatial biases in the line-bisection task. Additional Bayesian analyses also provided more evidence against the hypothesized effect than in favor of it. Thus, visuospatial bias in line bisection does not seem to be a sensitive measure of approach and avoidance motivation induced by positive and negative affect.
KW - approach-avoidance motivation
KW - emotion
KW - hemispheric asymmetry
KW - line bisection
KW - visuospatial bias
U2 - 10.1024/1421-0185/a000231
DO - 10.1024/1421-0185/a000231
M3 - Journal articles
SN - 1662-0879
SN - 1421-0185
VL - 79
SP - 5
EP - 14
JO - Swiss Journal of Psychology
JF - Swiss Journal of Psychology
IS - 1
ER -