Clouded judgments? The role of virtual weather in word valence evaluations.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Clouded judgments? The role of virtual weather in word valence evaluations.
Authors: Rocabado, Francisco (AUTHOR), Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni (AUTHOR)
Source: Cognition & Emotion. Nov2025, Vol. 39 Issue 7, p1446-1456. 11p.
Subjects: Environmental psychology, Psycholinguistics, Computational linguistics, Weather, Climate change, Virtual reality, Cognitive analysis, Emotion recognition
Abstract: Exploring the dynamic interface of environmental psychology and psycholinguistics, this investigation delves into how simulated weather conditions – sunny versus rainy – affect emotional perceptions of linguistic stimuli within a Virtual Reality (VR) framework. Participants assessed words' emotional valence being exposed to these distinct environmental simulations. Contrary to expectations, we found that while rainy conditions modestly prolonged response times, they did not significantly alter the emotional valence attributed to words. Our study shows that weather can affect emotional cognition, but intrinsic emotional word properties are resilient to environmental influences. This highlights the complex interplay between environmental factors and linguistic processing and reaffirms the importance of environmental contexts in cognitive and emotional evaluations, especially in the face of climate change. By integrating VR technology with environmental psychology and linguistics, our research offers novel insights into the subtle yet significant ways in which virtual and real-world environments converge to shape human emotional and cognitive responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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Abstract:Exploring the dynamic interface of environmental psychology and psycholinguistics, this investigation delves into how simulated weather conditions – sunny versus rainy – affect emotional perceptions of linguistic stimuli within a Virtual Reality (VR) framework. Participants assessed words' emotional valence being exposed to these distinct environmental simulations. Contrary to expectations, we found that while rainy conditions modestly prolonged response times, they did not significantly alter the emotional valence attributed to words. Our study shows that weather can affect emotional cognition, but intrinsic emotional word properties are resilient to environmental influences. This highlights the complex interplay between environmental factors and linguistic processing and reaffirms the importance of environmental contexts in cognitive and emotional evaluations, especially in the face of climate change. By integrating VR technology with environmental psychology and linguistics, our research offers novel insights into the subtle yet significant ways in which virtual and real-world environments converge to shape human emotional and cognitive responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:02699931
DOI:10.1080/02699931.2024.2354488