Title:	Evidence for the embodiment of the automatic approach bias
Authors:	Solzbacher, Johannes Czeszumski, Artur Walter, Sven König, Peter
ORCID of the author:	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7928-5018 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5317-7948 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3654-5267
Abstract:	Tendencies of approach and avoidance seem to be a universal characteristic of humans. Specifically, individuals are faster in avoiding than in approaching negative stimuli and they are faster in approaching than in avoiding positive stimuli. The existence of this automatic approach-avoidance bias has been demonstrated in many studies. Furthermore, this bias is thought to play a key role in psychiatric disorders like drug addiction and phobias. However, its mechanisms are far from clear. Theories of embodied cognition postulate that the nature of gestures plays a key role in this process. To shed light on the role of the involved gesture we employed a 2 × 2 factorial design with two types of stimuli. Participants had either to approach positive and avoid negative stimuli (congruent conditions) or to avoid positive stimuli and approach negative stimuli (incongruent conditions). Further, they responded either with a joystick or a button press on a response pad. Participants reacted faster in congruent conditions, i.e., avoiding negative stimuli and approaching positive stimuli, than in incongruent conditions. This replicates the known approach and avoidance bias. However, direct analysis of the button press condition revealed no reaction time advantage for congruent trials compared to incongruent trials. In contrast, in the joystick condition participants were significantly faster performing congruent reactions than incongruent reactions. This interaction, a significant reaction time advantage, when the response is enacted by moving a joystick towards or away from the body provides evidence that approach-avoidance tendencies have a crucial bodily component.
Citations:	Solzbacher J, Czeszumski A, Walter S and König P (2022): Evidence for the embodiment of the automatic approach bias. Front. Psychol. 13:797122.
URL:	https://doi.org/10.48693/312 https://osnadocs.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/ds-202305038875
Subject Keywords:	approach-avoidance task; cognition; automatic approach-avoidance tendencies; automatic approach bias; embodiment; action
Issue Date:	9-Sep-2022
License name:	Attribution 4.0 International
License url:	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Type of publication:	Einzelbeitrag in einer wissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift [Article]
Appears in Collections:	FB08 - Hochschulschriften Open-Access-Publikationsfonds

This item is licensed under a Creative Commons License