Effects of valence and arousal on implicit approach/ avoidance tendencies: A fMRI study.

To date, it is still a matter of debate, whether valence or valence and arousal interactively foster implicit approach and avoidance tendencies, and which neural circuitries underlie these effects. To address these questions, we investigated the effects of valence and arousal on implicit approach/avoidance tendencies during fMRI in healthy volunteers (N=46). The implicit approach of positive social scenes was associated with shorter response preparation times and increased activation of the lingual, parahippocampal and fusiform gyri. Valence and arousal did not influence reaction times interactively, but we observed increased activation of prefrontal, motor, temporal, middle cingulate and p…