Researcher(s)
- Keira Halfpenny, Neuroscience, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Philip Gable, Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware
Abstract
All people experience emotions, but how much do they want to experience those
particular emotions? For example, an individual may ideally want to experience more joy than
they actually experience joy. This variation in desire for an emotion can influence motivation
depending on the magnitude and direction of that difference. Importantly, we sought to
investigate how value for emotion related to brain activity that also reflects emotional states
using resting state electroencephalography (EEG). Frontal alpha asymmetry, a neurological
measure of motivation and emotion was correlated with the Affect Valuation Questionnaire
(AVQ). Frontal asymmetry measures the difference in right (F8) minus left (F7) brain activity
over the frontal cortex. Relative left frontal asymmetry is associated with approach motivation
whereas relative right is associated with motivational conflict. The AVQ self-report scale
measures how participants feel and how they would ideally like to feel. Difference scores (Ideal-
Actual) were made to represent the discrepancy between how they currently feel an emotion
versus how often they would ideally like to experience that emotion. Bivariate correlations
revealed that the difference between ideal high-arousal positive emotions (e.g., enthusiasm,
excitement) and actual high-arousal positive emotions was negatively correlated with frontal
asymmetry (r = -0.092, p = 0.047), suggesting that greater relative right frontal activity was
associated with people failing to experience high-arousal positive emotions as much as they
would like. Likewise, the difference between ideal low-arousal negative emotions (e.g., dull,
sluggish) and actual low-arousal negative emotions was positively correlated with frontal
asymmetry (r = 0.101, p = 0.029), suggesting that greater relative right frontal activity was
associated with people experiencing low-arousal negative emotions more than they would like.
These correlational results suggest that as individuals have greater discrepancy between how
they actually feel and what they want to feel, they show greater relative right frontal asymmetry.
As individuals begin to value feelings in line with their actual states, then they tend to show
greater relative left frontal asymmetry. These results suggest that differences between ideal affect
states and actual affect states may relate to greater motivational conflict, thereby relating to
greater relative right frontal activity. These results provide a foundational neural basis for
investigating motivational discrepancies between idealized emotional experiences and typical
emotional experiences.