Humans live in a world laden with affective meaning; yet, traditional research on attentional deployment relies largely on the presentation of meaningless stimuli (e.g., sudden onsets and unique colors). Evidence for attentional biases to emotional stimuli comes from work with clinically anxious patients, but these reports have frequently forgone careful consideration of important distinctions, such as those between reflexive and voluntary attention shifts, transient and sustained attention components, and spatial and temporal attention. Here, a range of experiments is designed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying emotion-based attentional biases. For example, the degree to which emotional stimuli capture temporal attention will be explored through the use of an """"""""attentional blink"""""""" paradigm. Implicit measures of attention capture will be obtained through spatial cueing tasks, and by measuring reaction times and accuracy in response to neutral and emotional stimuli. Conclusions will be informed by neuroimaging. For example, direct thalamic-amygdala connections suggest that emotional stimuli may be processed without attention, as would be implied should amygdala activation occur without evidence for attention capture. Also, difficulty in ignoring emotional stimuli should be reflected in anterior cingulate cortex activation. This research will help to lay bare the functional """"""""anatomy"""""""" by which emotion-based attentional biases occur. ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32MH066572-01A1
Application #
6646328
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BBBP-6 (03))
Program Officer
Desmond, Nancy L
Project Start
2003-04-01
Project End
2004-03-31
Budget Start
2003-04-01
Budget End
2004-03-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$39,700
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Most, Steven B (2013) Setting sights higher: category-level attentional set modulates sustained inattentional blindness. Psychol Res 77:139-46
Most, Steven B; Chun, Marvin M; Johnson, Matthew R et al. (2006) Attentional modulation of the amygdala varies with personality. Neuroimage 31:934-44
Most, Steven B; Chun, Marvin M; Widders, David M et al. (2005) Attentional rubbernecking: cognitive control and personality in emotion-induced blindness. Psychon Bull Rev 12:654-61
Most, Steven B; Scholl, Brian J; Clifford, Erin R et al. (2005) What you see is what you set: sustained inattentional blindness and the capture of awareness. Psychol Rev 112:217-42