Simultaneous affective experiences and potential for positive welfare
Welfare Footprint Institute. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/fwn2r (2023)
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Abstract
Because organisms frequently experience welfare challenges that overlap in time, assumptions about how concurrent affective states permit, exclude, or modulate one another can critically affect estimates of the actual times experienced in the affective states examined. When individuals are exposed to simultaneous pain sources that differ in their salience, the brain will prioritize processing of the more salient one, devoting a greater share of its limited attentional resources. Thus, high intensity pain is expected to diminish or eliminate attention to concurrent sources of less intense pain. With concurrent pain of similar intensity, the share of attention devoted to the painful experience is likely summated in a sub-additive way. The extent to which summation is sub-additive may, however, depend on pain intensity itself. Because pain of greater intensities demands a greater share of the organism’s attention, remaining attentional resources for the processing of additional pain would become progressively scarcer. Currently, knowledge is lacking on the share of attention associated with different levels of pain intensity.
Recommended citation:
Schuck-Paim, C. and Alonso, W. J. (2023). Simultaneous Affective Experiences and Potential for Positive Welfare. Welfare Footprint Institute Research Report Series. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/FWN2R