Attachment insecurity and strategies for regulation: when emotion triggers attention

Attachment-related strategies are thought to be critical for regulation and processing of emotional information. This study examined biases in selective attention to emotional stimuli as a function of insecure attachment. Participants searched for a single target image preceded by to-be-ignored distracters depicting emotional images varying in valence and arousal. Results revealed that, in general, negative distracters affected accuracy levels, and that the anxious attached participants showed a clear interference of the emotional distracters. In contrast, the avoidant group evinced a higher control on such interference. In addition, arousal ratings to distracter images indicated superior emotional activation only for anxious attached participants. Consistent with the evolutionary-based attachment theory threat-related stimuli prompted priority attentional responses. Present findings are in line with evidence showing the deployment of distinct strategies in insecurely attached individuals for the regulation of attention to emotional information.     

Accelerative and decelerative effects of hedonic valence and emotional arousal during visual scene processing

Perceptual processing of natural scene pictures is enhanced when the scene conveys emotional content. Such “motivated attention” to pleasant and unpleasant pictures has been shown to improve identification accuracy in non-speeded behavioural tasks. An open question is whether emotional content also modulates the speed of visual scene processing. In the present studies we show that unpleasant content reliably slowed two-choice categorization of pictures, irrespective of physical image properties, perceptual complexity, and categorization instructions. Conversely, pleasant content did not slow or even accelerated choice reactions, relative to neutral scenes. As indicated by lateralized readiness potentials, these effects occurred at cognitive processing rather than motor preparation/execution stages. Specifically, analysis of event-related potentials showed a prolongation of early scene discrimination for stimuli perceived as emotionally arousing, regardless of valence, and reflected in delayed peaks of the N1 component. In contrast, the timing of other processing steps, reflected in the P2 and late positive potential components and presumably related to post-discriminatory processes such as stimulus–response mapping, appeared to be determined by hedonic valence, with more pleasant scenes eliciting faster processing. Consistent with this model, varying arousal (low/high) within the emotional categories mediated the effects of valence on choice reaction speed. Functionally, arousal may prolong stimulus analysis in order to prevent erroneous and potentially harmful decisions. Pleasantness may act as a safety signal allowing rapid initiation of overt responses.     

Time-sharing in rats: effect of distracter intensity and discriminability

Interruptions (gaps) and unfamiliar events (distracters) during a timed signal delay the timed response of humans and other animals. To explore this phenomenon, we manipulate the intensity of auditory distracters (Experiment 1), and we dissociate the role of distracter intensity, distracter similarity with the intertrial interval, and dissimilarity from the timed auditory signal (Experiment 2). When the intertrial interval and the timed signal were silent, the delay in response after an auditory distracter increased with its intensity: Rats ignored (ran through) a 40-dB distracter, stopped timing during a 75-dB distracter, and reset after a 100-dB distracter. However, when timing was signaled by a 70-dB noise, rats reset both for 40- and 100-dB distracters, stopped for both 55- and 85-dB distracters, and run for the 70-dB distracter. Data are accounted for by a time-sharing model assuming 2 concurrent processes-time accumulation and memory decay controlled by the discriminability of the interrupting event-whose interplay results in a continuum of responses, from run to reset.     

The Effect of Nontemporal Information Processing on Time Estimation in Pigeons

Pigeons' ability to time a stimulus while simultaneously engaged in another information-processing task was examined in three experiments using a matching-to-sample procedure. Pigeons were trained to match temporal samples of 2 and 10 s and were tested with durations of 2, 3, 4.5, 6.7, or 10 s while simultaneously processing information from another dimension. Experiment 1 revealed that the psychophysical curve for long judgments taken when pigeons also had to evaluate line orientation was shifted to the right of a control curve taken from trials on which only time had to be judged. In Experiment 2, results from probe duration tests showed that processing the spatial location of a stimulus while attending to duration caused a more general loss of timing ability across the probe durations (shorter durations were judged as longer and longer durations were judged as shorter). In Experiment 3, a distracter light was illuminated on some probe trials to determine how such a perceptual distraction would affect time judgments on the probe trials. Results showed a general loss of timing ability similar to that found in Experiment 2. It is proposed that the data might best be explained by a divided-attention effect rather than by a systematic effect on the timing mechanism.     

Temporal expectation weights visual signals over auditory signals

Temporal expectation is a process by which people use temporally structured sensory information to explicitly or implicitly predict the onset and/or the duration of future events. Because timing plays a critical role in crossmodal interactions, we investigated how temporal expectation influenced auditory–visual interaction, using an auditory–visual crossmodal congruity effect as a measure of crossmodal interaction. For auditory identification, an incongruent visual stimulus produced stronger interference when the crossmodal stimulus was presented with an expected rather than an unexpected timing. In contrast, for visual identification, an incongruent auditory stimulus produced weaker interference when the crossmodal stimulus was presented with an expected rather than an unexpected timing. The fact that temporal expectation made visual distractors more potent and visual targets less susceptible to auditory interference suggests that temporal expectation increases the perceptual weight of visual signals.     

Links between neuroticism,emotional distress,and disengaging attention: Evidence from a single-target RSVP task

Anxiety and depression are often associated with attention control deficits, but few studies have explored whether neuroticism can account for these links. In the present study, undergraduate students (n=146) completed self-report measures of neuroticism, worry, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression and also completed a visual attention task in which they were asked to identify a red target letter embedded within a rapid sequence of items. Neuroticism was associated with detection of the target when it was preceded by a distracter with which it shared a feature in common (a green letter). Specifically, these distracters produced longer attentional blinks in individuals with elevated levels of neuroticism. In contrast, target detection was not significantly associated with worry, anxious arousal, or anhedonic depression. We discuss the implications of this link between neuroticism and attention for cognitive models of emotional distress and disorders.     

Arousal (but not valence) amplifies the impact of salience

Previous findings indicate that negative arousal enhances bottom-up attention biases favouring perceptual salient stimuli over less salient stimuli. The current study tests whether those effects were driven by emotional arousal or by negative valence by comparing how well participants could identify visually presented letters after hearing either a negative arousing, positive arousing or neutral sound. On each trial, some letters were presented in a high contrast font and some in a low contrast font, creating a set of targets that differed in perceptual salience. Sounds rated as more emotionally arousing led to more identification of highly salient letters but not of less salient letters, whereas sounds’ valence ratings did not impact salience biases. Thus, arousal, rather than valence, is a key factor enhancing visual processing of perceptually salient targets.     

Links between neuroticism, emotional distress, and disengaging attention: evidence from a single-target RSVP task

Anxiety and depression are often associated with attention control deficits, but few studies have explored whether neuroticism can account for these links. In the present study, undergraduate students (n=146) completed self-report measures of neuroticism, worry, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression and also completed a visual attention task in which they were asked to identify a red target letter embedded within a rapid sequence of items. Neuroticism was associated with detection of the target when it was preceded by a distracter with which it shared a feature in common (a green letter). Specifically, these distracters produced longer attentional blinks in individuals with elevated levels of neuroticism. In contrast, target detection was not significantly associated with worry, anxious arousal, or anhedonic depression. We discuss the implications of this link between neuroticism and attention for cognitive models of emotional distress and disorders.     

The effect of expectancy of a threatening event on time perception in human adults

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a threatening stimulus in human adults in a temporal bisection task. In Experiment 1, for two anchor duration conditions (400/800 vs. 800/1600 ms), the participants completed trials in which the probe duration was followed by an aversive stimulus or a nonaversive stimulus. The results showed that the duration was judged longer when the participants expected an aversive rather than a nonaversive stimulus. In Experiment 2, the effect of the temporal localization of the aversive stimulus was also tested, with the aversive stimulus being presented at the beginning or at the end of the probe duration. The results revealed a temporal overestimation in each condition compared to the trials in which no aversive stimulus was presented. Furthermore, the temporal overestimation was greater when the expectation for the forthcoming threatening stimulus was longer. This temporal overestimation is explained in terms of a speeding-up of the neural timing system in response to the increase in the arousal level produced by the expectation of a threatening stimulus.     

Emotional distraction in boys with ADHD: Neural and behavioral correlates

Although, in everyday life, patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently distracted by goal-irrelevant affective stimuli, little is known about the neural and behavioral substrates underlying this emotional distractibility. Because some of the most important brain responses associated with the sudden onset of an emotional distracter are characterized by their early latency onset and short duration, we addressed this issue by using a temporally agile neural signal capable of detecting and distinguishing them. Specifically, scalp event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 20 boys with ADHD combined type and 20 healthy comparison subjects performed a digit categorization task during the presentation of three types of irrelevant, distracting stimuli: arousing negative (A−), neutral (N) and arousing positive (A+). Behavioral data showed that emotional distracters (both A− and A+) were associated with longer reaction times than neutral ones in the ADHD group, whereas no differences were found in the control group. ERP data revealed that, compared with control subjects, boys with ADHD showed larger anterior N2 amplitudes for emotional than for neutral distracters. Furthermore, regression analyses between ERP data and subjects’ emotional ratings of distracting stimuli showed that only in the ADHD group, emotional arousal (ranging from calming to arousing) was associated with anterior N2: its amplitude increased as the arousal content of the visual distracter increased. These results suggest that boys with ADHD are more vulnerable to the distracting effects of irrelevant emotional stimuli than control subjects. The present study provides first data on the neural substrates underlying emotional distractibility in ADHD.     

An increase in stimulus arousal has differential effects on the processing speed of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli

The arousal value of a stimulus influences its salience, whereby higher arousal should lead to faster processing. However, in previous research, participants consistently made faster valence judgments for low arousal, pleasant stimuli than for high arousal, pleasant stimuli. The speed of valence and arousal judgments for pictures and words were investigated in three experiments. Valence judgments were faster for low arousal than for high arousal pleasant pictures and for high arousal than for low arousal unpleasant pictures and words. Moreover, arousal judgments were faster for low arousal than high arousal pleasant and for high arousal than low arousal unpleasant pictures and words. The current research confirms that the impact of valence and arousal on processing speed does not reflect on the labels (valence versus arousal) used when recording speeded judgments. Similarly to valence, stimulus arousal interacts differentially with the evaluation of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli producing a processing advantage for high arousal, unpleasant stimuli but not high arousal, pleasant stimuli.     

Does temporal preparation increase the rate of sensory information accumulation?

Recent studies showed that temporal preparation, i.e., the ability to prepare for an upcoming stimulus, improves perceptual processing. The mechanisms underlying this benefit are still controversial. Based upon the theoretical framework of accumulation models, it has been proposed that the accumulation of sensory stimulus information begins earlier when participants are temporally prepared than when they are unprepared. Alternatively, however, temporal preparation might also affect the accumulation rate of sensory information. In the present study, we examined these possibilities. Specifically, in three experiments, we manipulated participants' decision criterion. This manipulation should interact with any experimental manipulation affecting the rate of information processing, but produce additive effects with any manipulation affecting the onset of information accumulation rather than its rate. We obtained additive effects on RT, irrespective of whether the decision criterion was manipulated by increasing catch trial proportion or nogo trial proportion. These results suggest that temporal preparation improves perceptual processing by operating on the onset of sensory information accumulation rather than the rate of sensory information accumulation.     

Hand movements deviate toward distracters in the absence of response competition

In a series of experiments, participants reached to targets in the presence of visual distracters that were either adjacent to the target or located along the reach path. The reaching movements were affected by the presence of the distracters, with the movement paths deviating toward the distracters. Those deviations were observed under two different conditions: (a) one in which the distracter could potentially have been a movement target; and (b) another in which the distracter never was a possible target. Because the movement was affected by the distracter in both situations, the results suggested that response competition is not necessary for distracter-induced reach-path deviations. Instead, the authors propose that attention to a distracter is sufficient to affect the to-target movement. The movement deviations may reveal an effective mechanism for coping with stimulus-rich environments.     

Effects of tilted orientations and face-like configurations on visual search asymmetry in macaques

Visual search asymmetry has been used as an important tool for exploring cognitive mechanisms in humans. Here, we examined visual search asymmetry in two macaques toward two types of stimulus: the orientation of line stimuli and face-like stimuli. In the experiment, the monkeys were required to detect an odd target among numerous uniform distracters. The monkeys detected a tilted-lines target among horizontal- or vertical-lined distracters significantly faster than a horizontal- or vertical-lined target among tilted-lined distracters, regardless of the display size. However, unlike the situation in which inverted-face stimuli were introduced as distracters, this effect was diminished if upright-face stimuli were used as distracters. Additionally, monkeys detected an upright-face target among inverted-face distracters significantly faster than an inverted-face target among upright-face distracters, regardless of the display size. These results demonstrate that macaques can search a target efficiently to detect both tilted lines among non-tilted lines and upright faces among inverted faces. This clarifies that there are several types of visual search asymmetry in macaques.     

Attention and the subjective expansion of time

During brief, dangerous events, such as car accidents and robberies, many people report that events seem to pass in slow motion, as if time had slowed down. We have measured a similar, although less dramatic, effect in response to unexpected, nonthreatening events. We attribute the subjective expansion of time to the engagement of attention and its influence on the amount of perceptual information processed. We term the effect time's subjective expansion (TSE) and examine here the objective temporal dynamics of these distortions. When a series of stimuli are shown in succession, the low-probability oddball stimulus in the series tends to last subjectively longer than the high-probability stimulus even when they last the same objective duration. In particular, (1) there is a latency of at least 120 msec between stimulus onset and the onset of TSE, which may be preceded by subjective temporal contraction; (2) there is a peak in TSE at which subjective time is particularly distorted at a latency of 225 msec after stimulus onset; and (3) the temporal dynamics of TSE are approximately the same in the visual and the auditory domains. Two control experiments (in which the methods of magnitude estimation and stimulus reproduction were used) replicated the temporal dynamics of TSE revealed by the method of constant stimuli, although the initial peak was not apparent with these methods. In addition, a third, control experiment (in which the method of single stimuli was used) showed that TSE in the visual domain can occur because of semantic novelty, rather than image novelty per se. Overall, the results support the view that attentional orienting underlies distortions in perceived duration.     

Selective reaching: distracter effects on movement kinematics as a function of target-distracter separation

The authors investigated distracter effects on the kinematics of reaching movements to determine when during reaching responses (reaction time, time to peak velocity, time after peak velocity, or peak velocity) distracter interference occurred and how target-distracter separation affected the locus of interference. Participants moved a pen on a digitizing tablet toward a target appearing with or without a distracter. With a small target-distracter separation, distracter interference occurred during time after peak velocity (similar amounts of interference from near and far distracters). With a large target-distracter separation, distracter interference occurred during time to peak velocity (more interference from near compared to far distracters). The results demonstrated that target-distracter separation is an important determinant of the locus of distracter interference.     

Emotion's influence on memory for spatial and temporal context

Individuals report remembering emotional items vividly. It is debated whether this report reflects enhanced memory accuracy or a bias to believe emotional memories are vivid. We hypothesised emotion would enhance memory accuracy, improving memory for contextual details. The hallmark of episodic memory is that items are remembered in a spatial and temporal context, so we examined whether an item's valence (positive, negative) or arousal (high, low) would influence its ability to be remembered with those contextual details. Across two experiments, high-arousal items were remembered with spatial and temporal context more often than low-arousal items. Item valence did not influence memory for those details, although positive high-arousal items were recognised or recalled more often than negative items. These data suggest that emotion does not just bias participants to believe they have a vivid memory; rather, the arousal elicited by an event can benefit memory for some types of contextual details.     

Aging and repetition priming for targets and distracters in a working memory task

A combined working memory/repetition priming task was administered to 13 young (mean age 23) and 13 elderly (mean age 69) adults. Each participant memorized a sample target face at the beginning of a trial and then determined whether each of 13 serially presented test faces matched the sample target. In each trial, both the target and one particular distracter face were repeated during the test phase. Within-trial repetition priming effects indicated the contribution of implicit memory to task performance. Response times decreased as items were tested repeatedly within a trial, but this decrement was greater for distracters than for targets. Young and older participants were equally accurate at identifying targets, but elderly were slightly less accurate for distracters. Elderly participants showed repetition priming effects for both targets and distracters, while the young showed such effects only for distracters. The results suggest that active maintenance in working memory, but not inhibition or rejection of distracters, may suppress implicit memory systems.     

Automatic influence of arousal information on evaluative processing: Valence–arousal interactions in an affective Simon task

Previous research showed that evaluation speed is faster for negative stimuli that are high in arousal and for positive stimuli that are low in arousal. The present study investigated whether arousal and valence analogously interact in automatic stimulus evaluations, i.e., if stimulus valence is irrelevant for the task. One sample of participants switched randomly between an evaluation task and an affective Simon task that assessed stimulus evaluations indirectly. Another sample completed a pure Simon task. In all conditions, the influence of affective stimuli on task performance was enhanced when valence and arousal were congruent (i.e., high-arousing negative and low-arousing positive stimuli) than when both stimulus dimensions were incongruent (i.e., low-arousing negative and high-arousing positive stimuli). These findings suggest that evaluative implications of stimulus arousal and valence are automatically inferred even when stimulus evaluation is irrelevant for the task at hand.     

情绪性记忆的定向遗忘效应

刺激的情绪性具有增强记忆的效果,那么,带有情绪信息的刺激对遗忘又会产生怎样的影响？已有研究从行为及认知神经机制层面探讨了情绪性刺激对定向遗忘效应的影响,但结果并不一致。总结已有文献发现,以情绪性刺激的材料类型、情绪效价、唤醒度和熟悉度为主的客观因素和以被试的情绪状态为主的主观因素均为影响定向遗忘效应产生及其稳定性的重要原因。这类研究是对有意遗忘研究领域的重要补充,也加深了人们对有意遗忘机制的理解。