正性情绪加工的跨文化差异及其神经机制

Positive emotions are considered to be adaptive experiences and helpful to promote individual's psychological well-being. In our daily life, people normally tend to maximize their positive emotions and try to avoid experiencing negative emotions. Such emotional tendency is called hedonic style. However, under some cultural background (e.g., China), people considered positive emotions may give rise to potentially negative consequences and tend to reduce such positive experiences – which is called contra-hedonic style. Evidences showed that such contra-hedonic style influence individual’s processing of positive emotion in the implicit domain rather than the explicit domain. Also, its impact may have specific neurophysiology bases. However, the implicit factors and neurophysiology bases of such cultural relevant contra-hedonic style of positive emotions have been ignored in the literature. With this, the current project employs the technologies of implicit measures and ERP to study the effect of culture on the processing of positive emotions by two studies and four experiments. In study 1, we will focus on how culturally related emotional styles (hedonic vs. contra-hedonic style) influence people’s emotional experiences and preferences implicitly in an positive emotional event and the cross-cultural differences in such impacts. In study 2, we will focus on how people’s brain response to different culturally related positive emotional stimulus and influenced by the priming of hedonic vs. contra-hedonic style. Results of the current will shed lights on how culture modulates the processing of positive emotions from a cultural neuroscience perspective.

正性情绪被认为是一种具有适应价值的情绪体验,有助于促进个体身心健康。在日常生活中,人们大多倾向于追求正性情绪最大化,同时尽量避免负性情绪的产生。然而,个体的情绪加工偏好并非总是由享乐目标所引导的,实际上,在某些文化背景下(比如,中国),人们可能认为正性情绪存在潜在消极的影响,倾向于减弱正性情绪体验,这被称作非享乐情绪模式。对正性情绪的非享乐主义模式很可能不是在外显评价范畴,而通过内隐信念的模式影响个体的情绪加工,具有其神经生物基础。而正性情绪加工的这些方面恰恰被大多数研究所忽视。由此,本项目通过两个跨文化研究四个实验探讨文化对个体正性情绪加工的调节作用,计划运用内隐测量和ERP技术,把文化对正性情绪加工的调节影响扩展至内隐层面(研究一),把情绪加工神经机制的研究放置于不同文化背景下,针对正性情绪刺激, 探讨文化对正性情绪加工神经生理激活的调节影响（研究二）。

正性情绪体验具有提高创造性、改善情绪状态和调节身心健康等适应性特征。已有大多研究结果遵循享乐主义的情绪模式，即鼓励和肯定正性情绪的增强和扩大化。但在中国，存在与文化价值相关的非享乐情绪模式，而文化的影响在大多数正性情绪加工的相关研究中被忽视。此外，正性情绪的非享乐主义模式很可能通过内隐信念而非外显评价的方式影响个体的情绪加工。基于此，本项目采用新的研究视角（文化-神经科学视角）和实验范式（内隐层面测量与ERP技术）探讨非享乐情绪模式在中国文化下的形成、文化对正性情绪加工的影响及其神经生理基础。结果表明，正性刺激的态度和加工上存在跨文化和亚文化的差异，中国人对情绪控制的内隐态度比欧美人更为积极；在外显态度方面，与欧美人相比，中国人认为情绪表达是一种不那么积极和重要的调节策略。在对情绪进行非享乐态度的诱导后，汉族人对愉快情绪的偏好低于蒙古族人；经历过情绪的非享乐态度启动后，汉族人对愉快情绪的评价越消极，他们更少地倾向于参与愉快活动（研究一）。对于不同属性正性刺激加工的神经活动上也存在跨文化差异。对于社会积极刺激，维吾尔族人的P2和LPP早期成分大于汉族被试，而在非社会积极刺激上没有显著差异（研究二）。系列结果表明，文化通过内隐态度的塑造个体的情绪加工模式。