Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study
Recently, we showed that when participants passively read about moral transgressions (e.g., adultery) they implicitly engage in the evaluative (good–bad) categorization of incoming information, as indicated by a larger event-related brain potential (ERP) positivity to immoral than moral scenarios (L...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50151/ |
| _version_ | 1848798168685215744 |
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| author | Kunkel, Angelika Filik, Ruth Mackenzie, Ian Grant Leuthold, Hartmut |
| author_facet | Kunkel, Angelika Filik, Ruth Mackenzie, Ian Grant Leuthold, Hartmut |
| author_sort | Kunkel, Angelika |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Recently, we showed that when participants passively read about moral transgressions (e.g., adultery) they implicitly engage in the evaluative (good–bad) categorization of incoming information, as indicated by a larger event-related brain potential (ERP) positivity to immoral than moral scenarios (Leuthold, Kunkel, Mackenzie, & Filik, 2015). Behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated that explicit moral tasks prioritize the semantic-cognitive analysis of incoming information but that implicit tasks, as used in Leuthold et al. (2015), favor their affective processing. Therefore, it is unclear whether an affective categorization process is also involved when participants perform explicit moral judgments. Thus, in two experiments, we used similarly constructed morality and emotion materials for which their moral and emotional content had to be inferred from the context. Target sentences from negative vs. neutral emotional scenarios and from moral vs. immoral scenarios were presented using rapid serial visual presentation. In Experiment 1, participants made moral judgments for moral materials and emotional judgments for emotion materials. Negative compared to neutral emotional scenarios elicited a larger posterior ERP positivity (LPP) about 200 ms after critical word onset, whereas immoral compared to moral scenarios elicited a larger anterior negativity (500-700 ms). In Experiment 2, where the same emotional judgment to both types of materials was required, a larger LPP was triggered for both types of materials. These results accord with the view that morality scenarios trigger a semantic-cognitive analysis when participants explicitly judge the moral content of incoming linguistic information but an affective evaluation when judging their emotional content. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:15:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-50151 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:15:29Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Springer |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-501512020-05-04T19:34:32Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50151/ Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study Kunkel, Angelika Filik, Ruth Mackenzie, Ian Grant Leuthold, Hartmut Recently, we showed that when participants passively read about moral transgressions (e.g., adultery) they implicitly engage in the evaluative (good–bad) categorization of incoming information, as indicated by a larger event-related brain potential (ERP) positivity to immoral than moral scenarios (Leuthold, Kunkel, Mackenzie, & Filik, 2015). Behavioral and neuroimaging studies indicated that explicit moral tasks prioritize the semantic-cognitive analysis of incoming information but that implicit tasks, as used in Leuthold et al. (2015), favor their affective processing. Therefore, it is unclear whether an affective categorization process is also involved when participants perform explicit moral judgments. Thus, in two experiments, we used similarly constructed morality and emotion materials for which their moral and emotional content had to be inferred from the context. Target sentences from negative vs. neutral emotional scenarios and from moral vs. immoral scenarios were presented using rapid serial visual presentation. In Experiment 1, participants made moral judgments for moral materials and emotional judgments for emotion materials. Negative compared to neutral emotional scenarios elicited a larger posterior ERP positivity (LPP) about 200 ms after critical word onset, whereas immoral compared to moral scenarios elicited a larger anterior negativity (500-700 ms). In Experiment 2, where the same emotional judgment to both types of materials was required, a larger LPP was triggered for both types of materials. These results accord with the view that morality scenarios trigger a semantic-cognitive analysis when participants explicitly judge the moral content of incoming linguistic information but an affective evaluation when judging their emotional content. Springer 2018-04-30 Article PeerReviewed Kunkel, Angelika, Filik, Ruth, Mackenzie, Ian Grant and Leuthold, Hartmut (2018) Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 18 (2). pp. 389-409. ISSN 1531-135X moral judgment emotion judgment affective evaluation LPP anterior negativity https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2Fs13415-018-0577-5 doi:10.3758/s13415-018-0577-5 doi:10.3758/s13415-018-0577-5 |
| spellingShingle | moral judgment emotion judgment affective evaluation LPP anterior negativity Kunkel, Angelika Filik, Ruth Mackenzie, Ian Grant Leuthold, Hartmut Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title | Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title_full | Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title_fullStr | Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title_short | Task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an ERP study |
| title_sort | task-dependent evaluative processing of moral and emotional content during comprehension: an erp study |
| topic | moral judgment emotion judgment affective evaluation LPP anterior negativity |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50151/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50151/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50151/ |