Past research has pointed to the importance of the left and right frontal brain regions in emotion and motivation. Research has suggested that left frontal brain activity is associated with positive emotions and approach behavior and right frontal brain activity is associated with negative emotions and withdrawal behavior. This research has created an impression that relatively greater left frontal brain activity is psychologically and physically healthier than relatively less left frontal brain activity. However, recent research has indicated that the findings associating greater left frontal brain activity and positive emotion resulted because the past research confounded approach motivation with positive emotional valence. Approach motivations and behaviors are not always associated positive affective valence and positive outcomes. Anger, greed, lust, and mania are some examples of approach motivations that are negative in valence and may have deleterious consequences. The PI, E. Harmon-Jones, has already conducted preliminary research suggesting that increased left frontal cortical activity is associated with both trait and state anger. In the current grant application, he proposes three experiments that are designed to directly test the relationship between anger and approach motivation and also examine whether manipulation of brain activity will affect anger. Study 1 will examine how individuals who differ in levels of trait approach motivation respond to situations designed to evoke a response of anger or fear. Additionally, approach motivation will be experimentally manipulated by asking some participants to write about a goal they intend to accomplish or about a typical day in their life, to examine if the increase in approach motivation will increase anger responses to the situation designed to evoke anger. Study 2 will manipulate anger by having some participants form facial expressions of anger. Others will form neutral, sad or fearful expressions. The effects of the emotion induced on approach motivation will be examined through persistence on an insolvable puzzle task while brain activity is monitored. Study 3 will manipulate asymmetrical frontal cortical activity using biofeedback, and assess whether this manipulation affects anger and fear responses. All studies will include appropriate comparison conditions (e.g., anger vs. fear) and include multiple assessments of anger (e.g., behavioral, self-reports, brain measures, cardiovascular measures). The proposed research will challenge contemporary views of emotion, which posit not only that greater left frontal activity is beneficial but also posit that approach motivation is involved only in positive emotions/affects. In addition, the proposed research will assist in better understanding anger, an emotion that can have harmful consequences to individuals (e.g., cardiovascular disease, personal relationships) and societies (e.g., aggression). Finally, the proposed research will lead to a better understanding of the emotional and motivational functions of frontal cortical regions, the role of approach motivation in anger and aggression, and brain mechanisms involved in anger and aggression. The proposed research will promote teaching, training, and learning, as undergraduate and graduate students will participate in all portions of the research process. As in his past research, the PI will work closely with students from both underrepresented and well-represented groups. The results of the research are likely to be disseminated widely, as the PI often delivers addresses at conferences and publishes in psychology's most widely-read journals.
