Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, NY, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2011 Sep;11(3):321-31. doi: 10.3758/s13415-011-0036-z.
Emotion regulation decreases the processing of arousing stimuli, as indexed by the late positive potential (LPP), an electrocortical component that varies in amplitude with emotional arousal. Emotion regulation increases activity in the prefrontal areas associated with cognitive control, including the dosolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). The present study manipulated working memory load, known to activate the DLPFC, and recorded the LPP elicited by aversive and neutral IAPS pictures presented during the retention interval. The LPP was larger on low-load compared to high-load trials, and on trials with aversive compared to neutral pictures. These LPP data suggest that emotional content and working memory load have opposing effects on attention to distracting stimuli. State anxiety was associated with reduced modulation of the LPP by working memory load. Results are discussed in terms of competition for attention between emotion and cognition and suggest a relationship between DLPFC activation and the allocation of attentional resources to distracting visual stimuli-a relationship that may be disrupted with increasing anxiety.
情绪调节会降低唤醒刺激的加工，这可以通过晚正电位 (LPP) 来衡量，LPP 是一种与情绪唤醒强度相关的脑电成分。情绪调节会增加与认知控制相关的前额叶区域的活动，包括背外侧前额叶皮层 (DLPFC)。本研究通过操纵工作记忆负荷来激活 DLPFC，并记录了在保持间隔期间呈现的厌恶和中性 IAPS 图片引发的 LPP。与高负荷试验相比，低负荷试验的 LPP 更大，与中性图片相比，厌恶图片的 LPP 更大。这些 LPP 数据表明，情绪内容和工作记忆负荷对注意力分散刺激的注意具有相反的影响。状态焦虑与工作记忆负荷对 LPP 的调节减少有关。结果从情绪和认知之间的注意力竞争的角度进行了讨论，并表明 DLPFC 的激活与将注意力资源分配给分散视觉刺激之间存在关系——这种关系可能会随着焦虑的增加而受到干扰。
