6533b7d1fe1ef96bd125d558

RESEARCH PRODUCT

ERP correlates of masked affective priming with emoticons

Montserrat ComesañaIsabel FragaAna PiñeiroManuel PereaAna P. PinheiroAna Paula Soares

subject

05 social sciencesZhàngCognitionAffective priming050105 experimental psychologyDevelopmental psychologyHuman-Computer Interaction03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)Time course0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesEmoticonValence (psychology)Psychology030217 neurology & neurosurgeryGeneral Psychology

description

Emoticons seem to enrich computer-mediated communication by improving enjoyment, perceived richness and usefulness of information (Huang, Yen, & Zhang, 2008). Despite their extensive use over the last decades, the way emoticons affect subsequent emotional/cognitive processing is not fully understood. Here we conducted a masked priming experiment that explored the time course of the masked affective priming effect while recording event-related potentials. Type of prime (emoticon vs. word) and prime valence (positive vs. negative) were manipulated to assess their influence in the processing of positive/negative target words. Results showed a masked affective priming effect in early (N2) and late temporal windows (LPC). This effect was observed in early components for negative target words and in later components for positive target words. Furthermore, it was restricted to those targets preceded by emoticon primes. Thus, the processing of emoticons seems to be privileged when compared with the words to which they refer.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2013-05-01Computers in Human Behavior
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.10.020