Figure 4.

Basic trial structure of the Approach Avoidance Task. Participants are presented with an image which they must respond to with a motor action that simulates approach (e.g. pulling a joystick) or avoidance (e.g. pushing a joystick). The task is a measure of ‘implicit’ approach and avoidance, not explicit approach and avoidance. Participants are instructed to execute the action (“push” or “pull”) depending on an image property such as it being presented in landscape or portrait orientation, and not dependent on image content. In the example depicted, participants are instructed to pull the joystick for images in portrait orientation, and push the joystick for images in landscape orientation. Images increase in size (zoom in) or decrease in size (zoom out) in response to a “pull” or “push” action, respectively, to further simulate approach and avoidance. Approach bias values are calculated based on median reaction time differences between “push” and “pull” trials.