Morera, Y. 1 , León, J. A. 2 & de Vega, M. 1
1 Universidad de La Laguna
2 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Connectives are text devices that signal the relation between adjacent sentences. In a double task paradigm, participants listened to first clause sentences in which a causal or an adversative connective was provided and an emotional positive or negative connotation was varied: a) Because/Although he was a very talent artist… b) Because/Although he was not a very talent artist… Then, an emotional icon was presented in the centre of the screen, which could be either a “happy” or a “sad” icon. After that, two words appeared on the screen and participants had to choice the most congruent with the sentence meaning (e.g., 1) He triumphed or 2) He failed). When there was no delay between the sentence and the emotional icon (Exp.1), a match effect with respect to the first clause meaning occurred (faster responses in a) sentences + happy-icon and in b) + sad-icon, compare to mismatched conditions: a) + sad-icon and b) + happy-icon). However, when the delay was 1000 ms (Exp.2), responses were faster when the emotional icon matched the second clause meaning (1) + happy-icon and 2) + sad-icon). The results are related with the role of connectives in activating emotional inferences.