Abstract:
Although the importance of understanding the functionality and adaptability of emotions has been underscored since the advent of evolutionary theory (Darwin, 1872), investigations of cognitive control have predominately focused on ‘cool’ tasks that feature minimal emotional engagement, as opposed to affectively laden or ‘hot’ tasks. Since cognitive control has been found to be crucial for regulating emotions, the current project was designed to explore how emotion, primarily valence regulates cognitive control through two versions of the traditional Stroop task (Stroop, 1935): a ‘cool’ Colour-Word Stroop task and a ‘hot’ Face-Word emotional Stroop task. A novel two-alternative forced-choice reach tracking experimental technique was employed to assess continuous dynamics of behaviour across 42 adult participants, to investigate whether reach tracking can be used to target processes underlying the Colour-word and the Face-Word Stroop task and the extent to which they corelate. All participants completed two versions of the task by reaching to touch two response targets on the screen. Our results demonstrated that performance on the two tasks showed significant congruency effect patterns separately. However, the size of the congruency effects observed in the tasks were not significantly correlated. Additionally, we observed a significant effect of valence in the Face-Word emotional Stroop task, with more direct hand movements observed in response to an angry face relative to a happy face. Finally, our results indicate that the patterns of effects observed in the two-alternative forced-choice Colour-Word Stroop task present a mixture of patterns observed in two other prominent congruency tasks, the Eriksen flanker task and the Simon task. This work demonstrates the promise of using reach tracking to investigate the links among cognition and emotion and provides a foundation for future research to build upon.