For which side the bell tolls: the laterality of approach-avoidance associative networks
Open accessAbstract
The two hemispheres of the brain appear to play different roles in emotion and/or motivation. A great deal of previous research has examined the valence hypothesis (left hemisphere = positive; right = negative), but an increasing body of work has supported the motivational hypothesis (left hemisphere = approach; right = avoidance) as an alternative. The present investigation (N = 117) sought to provide novel support for the latter perspective. Left versus right hemispheres were briefly activated by neutral lateralized auditory primes. Subsequently, participants categorized approach versus avoidance words as quickly and accurately as possible. Performance in the task revealed that approach-related thoughts were more accessible following left-hemispheric activation, whereas avoidance-related thoughts were more accessible following right-hemispheric activation. The present results are the first to examine such lateralized differences in accessible motivational thoughts, which may underlie more "downstream" manifestations of approach and avoidance motivation such as judgments, decision making, and behavior.
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The left hemisphere is more involved in approach motivation, while the right hemisphere is more involved in avoidance motivation.
“Such findings are consistent with the motivational hypothesis emerging from EEG studies that the left hemisphere is more involved in motivating approach behavior and the right hemisphere is more involved in motivating avoidance behavior (106).”
From Disorganized attachment in infancy predicts greater amygdala volume in adulthood (2016) · cites this paper as [106]
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- Authors
- Fetterman, A. K., Ode, S., & Robinson, M. D.
- Affiliations
- North Dakota State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fetterman, Adam K.
- Venue
- Motivation and Emotion
- Published
- 2012-05-25
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 33-38
- ISSN
- 0146-7239 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6644
- PMC
- PMC3711864
- OpenAlex
- W1987067041
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 0.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Motivation and Emotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (2p20rr020151-06a1)
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM103505)
- National Center for Research Resources (P20-RR-020-151)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Keywords
- hemispheric lateralization, approach motivation, avoidance motivation, valence hypothesis, associative networks, emotion and motivation, word classification
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