affectivecognition

Affective cognition refers to the interaction between affective states—emotions, moods, and arousal—and cognitive processes. It encompasses how emotions influence perception, attention, memory, reasoning, and decision making, as well as how cognitive processes shape emotional experience.

Theoretical frameworks describe how affect and cognition integrate. The Affect Infusion Model posits that the influence of mood on judgments depends on processing strategy, with four levels: direct access, motivated evaluation, superficial processing, and integration. Appraisal theories emphasize that emotions arise from evaluations of events relative to goals and beliefs, biasing subsequent thought. The somatic marker hypothesis proposes that bodily states guide decision making under uncertainty. Researchers also study affective priming, mood-congruent memory, and emotion–cognition interference such as emotional Stroop effects.

Neural and methodological approaches link affective cognition to brain systems including the amygdala for affective salience, the prefrontal cortex for regulation and control, the anterior cingulate for conflict monitoring, and the insula for interoceptive awareness.

Applications and implications span clinical, educational, and organizational domains. In clinical psychology, mood disorders and affective biases influence cognitive performance and therapeutic outcomes. In education and marketing, affective states can shape attention, learning, judgment, and choice. Methodologically, affective cognition research uses mood induction, self-report scales (for example, PANAS), behavioral tasks, computational modeling, and neuroimaging, while acknowledging challenges in separating affect from cognition and accounting for individual or cultural variability. See also affective neuroscience, emotion regulation, and cognitive bias.