Effects of implicit power motive on the processing of anger faces: An event-related potential study

Implicit motives are one form of motivation that regulates cognitive and emotional processing. In this study, we investigated the impact of implicit power motive (nPower) on the processing of anger faces. Event-related potentials were recorded while high- and low-nPower individuals performed a face version of an emotion Stroop task comprised of anger and neutral faces. It was found that nPower does not modify early perceptual and attentional components (P2 and N2), but a later component is affected. Indeed, power-motivated participants showed enhanced P3/LPPs (Late positive potentials) amplitude compared to low-nPower subjects, in response to anger stimuli. These findings demonstrate that anger faces have greater salience for high-nPower individuals and are subject to a more salient, conscious processing.     

Motor activity and spatial proximity: Relationships to infant emotions and maternal postpartum depression

The ability to express emotions is a protective factor for infant development. Despite the multimodal nature of emotion expression, research has mainly focused on facial expressions of emotions. The present study examined motor activity and spatial proximity in relation to positive and negative infant facial expressions and maternal postpartum depression during face-to-face interactions at four months. Video cameras and a motion capture system recorded mother-infant interactions. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to analyze the effect of micro-coded infant positive and negative facial affect and maternal depression diagnosis on automatically extracted measures of motor activity and spatial proximity, including speed of mothers’ arm movements (nondepressed = 32; PPD = 16), and infants’ arm movements (nondepressed = 29; PPD = 17), and head distance (nondepressed = 45; PPD = 27). Results showed that the speed of infants’ arm movements and head distance were greater during negative compared to positive infant affect. Further, the results demonstrated that the speed of PPD mothers’ arm movements was slower than the speed of nondepressed mothers’ arm movements. In the discussion, it is suggested that increased speed of infant arm movements during negative affect functions to elicit faster caregiving responses, and that increased head distance during negative infant affect functions to decrease the intensity of the interaction. Finally, the slower speed of arm movements in PPD mothers suggests psychomotor retardation, which is proposed to limit these mothers’ abilities to engage their infants during the interaction.     

Suppression history of distractor location biases attentional and oculomotor control

Past selection experience greatly affects the deployment of attention such that targets are more readily selected if their features or locations were more frequently selected in the past. Crucially, recent studies have shown similar experience-dependent effects also for salient task irrelevant stimuli: distractors exerted less interference if they appeared at a location where they were presented more often, relatively to other possible locations. Here we investigated the effects of such suppression history on the immediate behavioural correlates of attentional deployment, i.e., eye movements. Participants were to make saccadic eye movements to a target stimulus, while ignoring a highly distracting irrelevant visual onset appearing abruptly on the screen in a proportion of trials. Crucially, this irrelevant onset occurred more frequently in two locations on the visual display and our results showed that, relatively to distractors elsewhere, onsets presented at these locations became easier to ignore, giving rise to reduced oculomotor capture. Consistent with the notion that experience can alter attentional deployment towards spatial locations, these findings indicate that, through learning, the priority of high frequency locations becomes suppressed, attenuating the intrinsic saliency of distractors appearing therein. Traces left by individual events of attentional suppression decrease the processing priority of coordinates within topographic maps of the visual space.     

言语工作记忆内容在语义水平的注意捕获

采用工作记忆−视觉搜索双任务范式, 探讨不同呈现方式下与言语工作记忆内容语义水平匹配的刺激的注意捕获效应。结果发现：(1)视觉呈现下, 与言语工作记忆内容知觉和语义匹配的刺激均能捕获注意, 且在视觉搜索快速反应的阶段仍能捕获注意; (2)听觉呈现下, 与言语工作记忆内容语义匹配的刺激不能捕获注意, 反而被抑制, 但在视觉搜索快速反应的早期阶段却能捕获注意。研究表明, 基于视听呈现的言语工作记忆内容在语义水平对注意的引导作用可发生在注意搜索过程快速反应的早期阶段。而晚期阶段由于受到跨通道注意选择的抑制, 听觉呈现下的语义表征不能捕获注意, 而视觉呈现下的语义表征仍能捕获注意。     

Body orientation and face orientation: two factors controlling apes’ begging behavior from humans

A number of animal species have evolved the cognitive ability to detect when they are being watched by other individuals. Precisely what kind of information they use to make this determination is unknown. There is particular controversy in the case of the great apes because different studies report conflicting results. In experiment 1, we presented chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos with a situation in which they had to request food from a human observer who was in one of various attentional states. She either stared at the ape, faced the ape with her eyes closed, sat with her back towards the ape, or left the room. In experiment 2, we systematically crossed the observers body and face orientation so that the observer could have her body and/or face oriented either towards or away from the subject. Results indicated that apes produced more behaviors when they were being watched. They did this not only on the basis of whether they could see the experimenter as a whole, but they were sensitive to her body and face orientation separately. These results suggest that body and face orientation encode two different types of information. Whereas face orientation encodes the observers perceptual access, body orientation encodes the observers disposition to transfer food. In contrast to the results on body and face orientation, only two of the tested subjects responded to the state of the observers eyes.     

Whose DAM account? Attentional learning explains Booth and Waxman

Booth and Waxman (Cognition 84 (2002) B11) have recently shown that linguistic cues to animacy affect children's novel name extensions. They argue that this demonstration contradicts two central tenets of our attentional learning account of object naming, which Booth and Waxman characterize as the "dumb attentional mechanism" or "DAM" account. In the present article, we show that the first of these tenets has never been a feature of the attentional learning account, and that the second tenet, which is central to our account, is not addressed by Booth and Waxman's findings. We suggest that the debate about the nature of children's language and cognition would profit from an increased awareness of the different levels of analysis at which different researchers are working.     

Subjective visibility report is facilitated by conscious predictions only

Predictions in the visual domain have been shown to modulate conscious access. Yet, little is known about how predictions may do so and to what extent they need to be consciously implemented to be effective. To address this, we administered an attentional blink (AB) task in which target 1 (T1) identity predicted target 2 (T2) identity, while participants rated their perceptual awareness of validly versus invalidly predicted T2s (Experiment 1 & 2) or reported T2 identity (Experiment 3). Critically, we tested the effects of conscious and non-conscious predictions, after seen and unseen T1s, on T2 visibility. We found that valid predictions increased subjective visibility reports and discrimination of T2s, but only when predictions were generated by a consciously accessed T1, irrespective of the timing at which the effects were measured (short vs. longs lags). These results further our understanding of the intricate relationship between predictive processing and consciousness.     

意义关联的注意定向效应：基于空间位置的抑制和捕获

采用线索化范式, 通过3个实验建立线索和靶子的意义关联, 考察了意义性线索在不同空间位置的注意定向效应。结果表明, 在下视野出现抑制效应, 且位置越下抑制效应越显著; 在上视野出现捕获效应, 且位置越上捕获效应越显著; 同时注意定向效应的程度受引导线索性质的影响。这些结果说明：(1)客体间的意义关联能够引导视觉空间注意, 表现出不同空间位置的注意定向效应; (2)客体性质能够影响意义关联的注意定向, 表现为客体的生动性越高, 调节能力越强, 抽象性越高, 调节能力越弱; (3)意义关联的注意定向具有规律性变化, 表现为基于空间位置的抑制和捕获效应。     

工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响

采用注意捕获范式, 通过行为和事件相关脑电位(ERP)实验, 探讨工作记忆表征精度加工需求对注意引导的影响, 行为结果发现, 在低精度加工需求条件下, 只有一个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获大于低激活状态; 而在高精度加工需求条件下, 有两个工作记忆表征引导注意, 且处于高、低激活状态的工作记忆表征产生的注意捕获没有差异。ERP结果显示, 高精度加工需求条件下诱发的NSW和LPC大于低精度加工需求条件; 在高精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配比不匹配时, 诱发更大的N2和更小的N2pc, 而在低精度加工需求条件下, 干扰项与记忆项匹配和不匹配时诱发的N2、N2pc没有差异。研究表明, 工作记忆表征精度加工需求影响注意引导的机制可能是高精度加工需求下, 工作记忆表征消耗的认知资源增加, 搜索目标获得的资源减少, 干扰项捕获的注意增加。     

Effects of chronic exercise on attentional bias among individuals with methamphetamine use disorder

BackgroundIndividuals with substance use disorder show attentional bias toward drug-related cues, which may be associated with attentional control deficits. Although exercise improves attention in healthy people, whether individuals with substance use disorder also benefit is unknown. We explored the effects of chronic exercise on behavioral and neural correlates of attentional bias in men with methamphetamine use disorder.MethodsSixty-one such men were randomized to high- or moderate-intensity exercise or to a control group with little exercise for 12 weeks. The dot-probe task assessed attentional bias before and after exercise intervention, with event-related potentials recorded during the task to determine underlying neural mechanisms.ResultsAttentional bias scores and event-related potential amplitudes significantly decreased after high- or moderate-intensity chronic exercise, but not in controls.ConclusionsChronic exercise reduces attentional bias in individuals with methamphetamine use disorder by enhancing early identification of drug-related stimuli and diverting attention to reduce conflict processing.