The Auditory Affective Verbal Learning test: peripheral arousal correlates and implications for the lateralized priming of dichotic prosody identification

Few tests are available for the investigation of emotional learning. The purpose of the present study was to create and provide initial data on the utility of affective list alternatives for the well known Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVL). Results suggest that all lists (positive, negative, neutral) exhibited a Similar acquisition pattern and overall primacy effect. The purpose of the present study was to assess the utility of the AAVL in the production of peripheral arousal and cerebral asymmetry correlates of emotion.

Experiment 1 assessed the utility of the AAVL in the induction of physiological arousal. Sixty-three right-handed male undergraduates participated in the study. It was anticipated that affective verbal learning would lead to arousal patterns characteristic of different emotions (Izard, 1977), with significant increases in blood pressure following negative list learning and significant decreases following positive list learning. Since blood pressure increased Significantly following the learning of negatively valenced words and decreased significantly following the learning of positively valenced words, this was supported.

Experiment 2 assessed the influence of the AAVL on functional cerebral asymmetry using a dichotic listening paradigm. Sixty-three right-handed male undergraduates took part in the experiment. It was anticipated that the negative list would prime right cerebral systems, resulting in heightened left ear identification of sad or angry tones of voice. The positive list was predicted to prime left cerebral systems, resulting in subsequently heightened identification of happy or neutral tones of voice at the right ear. This hypothesis was not supported. The identification of tone of voice was significantly better with left ear (right hemisphere) presentations than with right ear presentations for the identification of sad and angry valences. In partial replication of Bryden and MacRae (1989), the identification of dichotically presented tones of voice also improved with practice across the two blocks of trials for the identification of angry tones of voice.

The AAVL provides an objective measure of emotional learning. Given the abundance of research on lateral asymmetries in emotional and verbal processing, the AAVL may provide an objective means for evaluating individual differences in affective verbal learning and potentially provide a tool for assessment of cerebral dysfunction in the clinic or in the assessment of affective disorders.