How Positive Affect Modulates Proactive Control: Reduced Usage of Informative Cues Under Positive Affect with Low Arousal

Fröber, Kerstin; Dreisbach, Gesine · 2012 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00265

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Summary

This study investigates how positive affect and arousal levels modulate cognitive control, specifically distinguishing between proactive control (anticipatory preparation) and reactive control (transient correction). Guided by the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework, the authors address conflicting prior findings regarding whether positive affect reduces proactive reliance on cues or enhances reactive flexibility. The research posits that arousal is a critical, often overlooked variable, hypothesizing that positive affect combined with low arousal reduces proactive control, whereas high arousal may not produce the same effect. The authors conducted three experiments using undergraduate participants assigned to neutral, positive-low arousal, or positive-high arousal groups via the International Affective Picture System. Experiments 1 and 2 utilized a spatial response cueing task with informative cues (66% validity) to measure proactive control through the Cue Validity Effect (CVE). Experiment 2 increased task difficulty by adding a concurrent math task to prevent floor effects. Experiment 3 employed a cued task-switching paradigm with predictive cues (75% validity) to simultaneously assess proactive control (via CVE) and reactive control (via switch costs). Results from Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that positive affect with low arousal significantly reduced the CVE compared to both neutral and positive-high arousal groups, indicating reduced reliance on informative cues. This effect was robust in Experiment 2, where the low-arousal group showed smaller CVEs in both reaction times and error rates. In Experiment 3, the reduced CVE under positive-low arousal was specific to task repetitions, confirming diminished proactive control. Crucially, switch costs did not differ between affect groups, indicating that reactive control remained unaffected. The findings conclude that positive affect with low arousal specifically impairs proactive control by reducing the strategic use of predictive information, while leaving reactive control intact. This clarifies previous mixed results by highlighting the role of arousal: high-arousal positive affect did not reduce proactive control, suggesting that the flexibility often associated with positive mood is distinct from the reduction in anticipatory control observed under low-arousal conditions. The study underscores the importance of disentangling valence and arousal when examining affective influences on cognitive control mechanisms.

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• task switching