Don’t Tell Us How Strong It Feels! Converging and Discriminant Validity of an Indirect Measure of Emotional Evidence Accumulation Efficiency

TL;DR

This study explores a new way to measure emotional experiences by analyzing decision-making processes instead of relying on self-reports.

Contribution

The study introduces a computational model to infer emotional evidence accumulation efficiency from reaction times and choices.

Findings

Higher consummatory pleasure is linked to less efficient evidence accumulation for unpleasant emotions.

Most correlations between self-report measures and model-based estimates were absent or inconclusive.

The drift rate shows initial support for measuring online emotional experience indirectly.

Abstract

The prevalent method for measuring emotional experiences is self-report scales. However, this method is prone to bias, affected by retrospective errors, and limited in studying individual differences due to variability in how individuals interpret scale values. In the present study, we tested the convergent validity of an alternative approach, which infers emotional components from computational modeling as applied to binary pleasant/unpleasant reports about affective images. Reaction times and choices were modeled to estimate the drift rate (efficiency of emotional evidence accumulation) and the boundary (decision caution). Participants (N = 191) also completed five self-report questionnaires assessing affect, anhedonia, depressive symptoms, and pleasure. Only one correlation reached evidence level (Bayes Factor > 10): Higher consummatory pleasure was negatively associated with drift rate for unpleasant emotions (r(178) = −0.258). This suggests that individuals who typically experience greater in-the-moment pleasure accumulate evidence less efficiently toward unpleasant judgments. Other correlations were absent or inconclusive, potentially reflecting differences in temporal focus and in the specific facets of emotion for each measure. Overall, these results provide some initial support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the drift rate as an indirect measure of online emotional experience.

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