We have hypothesized that increased attention to motivationally relevant stimuli, in the absence of aninstructional or task manipulation, represents a type of 'natural selective attention', in which cues thatactivate motivational systems naturally arouse and direct attention (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1997). Inthis project, the hypothesis that natural selective attention is primitively associated to defensive activationis explored. According to this hypothesis, novel stimuli activate primitive motivational circuits mediatingreactions to threat (defensive activation), initiating a series of sensory and motor reflexes with specificinformation processing and preparatory functions. Previous studies have confirmed that viewingunpleasant pictures prompts heightened attention and memory, as measured by classical measures oforienting and brain potentials; similar responses are found when attention is selectively directed to stimuliby instruction or task-relevance. In this project, we assess reflexive psychophysiological and neuralactivity as participants select and process relevant stimuli from the sensory array.
In Specific aim #1, weexplore the relationship between motivated and instructed attention, determining whether instructedattention to non-motivationally relevant stimuli (i.e. neutral) prompts similar orienting responses, neuralactivity, and memory performance as found in motivated attention.
In Specific Aim #2, we explore theextent to which aversive stimuli are naturally selected for processing when multiple cues are presented intime or space, with the hypothesis that aversive stimuli are naturally selected for enhanced processing.In each series, psychophysiological measures of orienting, brain measures of reactivity (i.e. EEG, BOLD),and memory performance are assessed. Taken together, this research will advance our understanding ofthe relationship between motivation and attention/memory, provide methods for assessingdisorders of these processes in clinical populations, and illuminate the utility of instructedattention in therapeutic settings.
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