This line of research asks: Just how separable are the cognitive processes that help us make sense of the world and the affective processes that contribute to our preferences?
With Dr. Sara Cordes, I’ve examined how emotion intermingles with cognition in behavioral studies. I’ve found that number is underestimated under the influence of emotion:
- *Niemi Young, Laura & Cordes, S. (2013). Fewer things, lasting longer: The effect of emotion on quantity judgments. Psychological Science, 24,1057-1059 | APS Daily Observation
Numerical processing (both estimation and discrimination) can be disrupted by threatening content in the stimuli to be quantified.
- *Hamamouche, K., *Niemi, L., Cordes, S. (2017). Quantifying a threat: Evidence of a numeric processing bias. Acta Psychologica, doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.04.001.
Likewise, mathematical processing can be altered by the threat of a political opponent:
- *Niemi, L., Woodring, M., Young, L., Cordes, S. (2019). Partisan mathematical processing of political polling statistics: It’s the expectations that count. Cognition,186, 95-107.
*Contributed equally. Name changed from Laura Niemi Young to Laura Niemi in 2013.
LAURA NIEMI, PHD 