Séminaire SCALab

Pascal HOT, 

Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC-UMR CNRS 5105)

Département de Psychologie, Université Savoie Mont Blanc

Incidental Emotion Influences on Cognition – The Role of Interoception

Emotional influences can be categorized into two types: so-called integral emotions and incidental emotions. Incidental emotions (IEs) refer to situations in which an individual is in an emotional state that is unrelated to the activity in which they are engaged. A substantial body of research shows that incidental emotions modulate numerous cognitive processes, including perception, attention, memory, judgment, and decision-making. Appraisal theories of emotion offer a promising conceptual framework for explaining how emotions that are dissociated from the task can nevertheless influence information processing. Although these theories identify interoceptive feedback as a key element in explaining the influence of incidental emotions, they also predict that physiological feedback exerts only indirect effects, mediated by sequences of appraisal of these physiological inputs.

To evaluate these models, I will present findings from studies using emotional and decision-making paradigms conducted in various populations selected to test the predictions of appraisal models. First, we will examine a series of behavioral data assessing the effects of different incidental emotions. Second, I will present electrophysiological data aimed at better understanding the interactions between the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the central nervous system (CNS) in the context of these incidental influences.