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Emotional Modulation of Attention: Fear Increases but Disgust Reduces the Attentional Blink
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 4, Iss 11, p e7924 (2009), PloS one, Vol. 4, no. 11, p. e7924 (2009), PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2009, 4 (11), pp.e7924. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0007924⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2009
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2009.
-
Abstract
- International audience; BACKGROUND: It is well known that facial expressions represent important social cues. In humans expressing facial emotion, fear may be configured to maximize sensory exposure (e.g., increases visual input) whereas disgust can reduce sensory exposure (e.g., decreases visual input). To investigate whether such effects also extend to the attentional system, we used the "attentional blink" (AB) paradigm. Many studies have documented that the second target (T2) of a pair is typically missed when presented within a time window of about 200-500 ms from the first to-be-detected target (T1; i.e., the AB effect). It has recently been proposed that the AB effect depends on the efficiency of a gating system which facilitates the entrance of relevant input into working memory, while inhibiting irrelevant input. Following the inhibitory response on post T1 distractors, prolonged inhibition of the subsequent T2 is observed. In the present study, we hypothesized that processing facial expressions of emotion would influence this attentional gating. Fearful faces would increase but disgust faces would decrease inhibition of the second target. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We showed that processing fearful versus disgust faces has different effects on these attentional processes. We found that processing fear faces impaired the detection of T2 to a greater extent than did the processing disgust faces. This finding implies emotion-specific modulation of attention. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on the recent literature on attention, our finding suggests that processing fear-related stimuli exerts greater inhibitory responses on distractors relative to processing disgust-related stimuli. This finding is of particular interest for researchers examining the influence of emotional processing on attention and memory in both clinical and normal populations. For example, future research could extend upon the current study to examine whether inhibitory processes invoked by fear-related stimuli may be the mechanism underlying the enhanced learning of fear-related stimuli.
- Subjects :
- Male
MESH: Facial Expression
Emotions
MESH: Fear
lcsh:Medicine
Poison control
Discrimination Learning
0302 clinical medicine
Attention
MESH: Memory
Discrimination learning
lcsh:Science
Neuroscience/Behavioral Neuroscience
Multidisciplinary
05 social sciences
Fear
Facial Expression
Neuroscience/Psychology
Pattern Recognition, Visual
[SDV.NEU]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]
Female
Cues
MESH: Face
Research Article
Adult
Adolescent
MESH: Pattern Recognition, Visual
Sensory system
Biology
Attentional Blink
050105 experimental psychology
03 medical and health sciences
Memory
Humans
MESH: Attentional Blink
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Attentional blink
MESH: Emotions
MESH: Adolescent
Neuroscience/Cognitive Neuroscience
Facial expression
MESH: Humans
MESH: Attention
Working memory
Neuroscience/Sensory Systems
lcsh:R
MESH: Adult
Social cue
MESH: Discrimination Learning
MESH: Male
Disgust
Face
lcsh:Q
MESH: Female
Neuroscience
MESH: Cues
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ee61c7689f6a1ed56c8ebad7e64e206b
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007924