607
Views
1
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Articles

Effects of positive affect and positive emotions on executive functions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ORCID Icon
Pages 1-22 | Received 02 Feb 2023, Accepted 21 Oct 2023, Published online: 09 Nov 2023
 

ABSTRACT

Positive emotions (PEs) impact cognitive processes, including executive functions (EFs; i.e. inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility). However, previous reviews and meta-analyses report contradicting results. Thus, this review takes a novel approach to overcome conflicting findings by clearly conceptualising PE induction and by providing a detailed description of the tasks used to assess EFs, as well as by exclusively focusing on EFs. A systematic literature review and meta-analysis was performed. Study inclusion criteria required that subjects were healthy individuals over 18 years, PEs were induced in a controlled laboratory setting, a baseline measurement and a control condition was required, and finally, EFs were measured as a dependent variable using valid measurement instruments. The literature search was performed on PRIMUS, including relevant databases such as ERIC, MEDLINE, Psych ARTICLES, Psych INFO or SocINDEX. From a total of 6,661 identified articles, only 13, which featured 20 experimental studies, were included. Results show that the overall induction of PEs successfully caused an increase in valence and/or positive emotions. However, no significant effects of PE on EFs were detected (d  =  −0.051, p  =  .405). Reasons and future research will be discussed.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Gantima Demirsöz and the entire Sport Psychology group at the Institute of Sport Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin for valuable and constructive suggestions on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Participants were provided four categories: Vehicle (bus, airplane, camel), vegetable (carrot, potato, garlic), clothes (skirt, shoes, handbag), and furniture (couch, lamp, telephone). Each example in each category is either strongly prototypical, moderately prototypical, or weakly prototypical. “Cognitive flexibility usually shows up in prototypicality ratings for the weak exemplars more than in ratings for the moderate or strong exemplars.” (*De Dreu et al., Citation2008, p. 745) For further details see also Rosch (Citation1975).

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.