Selective attention to task-irrelevant emotional distractors is unaffected by the perceptual load associated with a foreground task.
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Selective attention to task-irrelevant emotional distractors is unaffected by the perceptual load associated with a foreground task. / Hindi Attar, Catherine; Müller, Matthias M.
In: PLOS ONE, Vol. 7, No. 5, 5, 2012, p. 37186.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Selective attention to task-irrelevant emotional distractors is unaffected by the perceptual load associated with a foreground task.
AU - Hindi Attar, Catherine
AU - Müller, Matthias M
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - A number of studies have shown that emotionally arousing stimuli are preferentially processed in the human brain. Whether or not this preference persists under increased perceptual load associated with a task at hand remains an open question. Here we manipulated two possible determinants of the attentional selection process, perceptual load associated with a foreground task and the emotional valence of concurrently presented task-irrelevant distractors. As a direct measure of sustained attentional resource allocation in early visual cortex we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by distinct flicker frequencies of task and distractor stimuli. Subjects either performed a detection (low load) or discrimination (high load) task at a centrally presented symbol stream that flickered at 8.6 Hz while task-irrelevant neutral or unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) flickered at a frequency of 12 Hz in the background of the stream. As reflected in target detection rates and SSVEP amplitudes to both task and distractor stimuli, unpleasant relative to neutral background pictures more strongly withdrew processing resources from the foreground task. Importantly, this finding was unaffected by the factor 'load' which turned out to be a weak modulator of attentional processing in human visual cortex.
AB - A number of studies have shown that emotionally arousing stimuli are preferentially processed in the human brain. Whether or not this preference persists under increased perceptual load associated with a task at hand remains an open question. Here we manipulated two possible determinants of the attentional selection process, perceptual load associated with a foreground task and the emotional valence of concurrently presented task-irrelevant distractors. As a direct measure of sustained attentional resource allocation in early visual cortex we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by distinct flicker frequencies of task and distractor stimuli. Subjects either performed a detection (low load) or discrimination (high load) task at a centrally presented symbol stream that flickered at 8.6 Hz while task-irrelevant neutral or unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) flickered at a frequency of 12 Hz in the background of the stream. As reflected in target detection rates and SSVEP amplitudes to both task and distractor stimuli, unpleasant relative to neutral background pictures more strongly withdrew processing resources from the foreground task. Importantly, this finding was unaffected by the factor 'load' which turned out to be a weak modulator of attentional processing in human visual cortex.
KW - Humans
KW - Electroencephalography
KW - Analysis of Variance
KW - Attention/physiology
KW - Emotions/physiology
KW - Visual Cortex/physiology
KW - Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology
KW - Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology
KW - Humans
KW - Electroencephalography
KW - Analysis of Variance
KW - Attention/physiology
KW - Emotions/physiology
KW - Visual Cortex/physiology
KW - Discrimination (Psychology)/physiology
KW - Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0037186
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0037186
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
VL - 7
SP - 37186
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 5
M1 - 5
ER -