Petrucci Manuel, Pecchinenda Anna
a Department of Psychology , Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.
Cogn Emot. 2017 Nov;31(7):1480-1492. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1233861. Epub 2016 Sep 30.
The role of cognitive control mechanisms in reducing interference from emotionally salient distractors was investigated. In two experiments, participants performed a flanker task in which target-distractor affective compatibility and cognitive load were manipulated. Differently from past studies, targets and distractors were presented at separate spatial locations and cognitive load was not domain-specific. In Experiment 1, words (positive vs. negative) and faces (angry, happy or neutral faces), were used respectively as targets and distractors, whereas in Experiment 2, both targets (happy vs. angry) and distractors were faces. Findings showed interference from distractor processing only when cognitive load was high. The present findings indicate that, when targets and distractors are presented at different spatial locations, cognitive control mechanisms are involved in preventing interference from positive (Exp. 1) or negative distractors (Exp. 2). The role of stimulus valence and type is also discussed with regard to different patterns of interference observed.
研究了认知控制机制在减少来自情绪显著干扰物的干扰方面的作用。在两项实验中，参与者执行了一项侧翼任务，其中对目标-干扰物情感相容性和认知负荷进行了操纵。与以往的研究不同，目标和干扰物在不同的空间位置呈现，且认知负荷并非特定领域的。在实验1中，分别使用单词（积极与消极）和面孔（愤怒、快乐或中性面孔）作为目标和干扰物，而在实验2中，目标（快乐与愤怒）和干扰物均为面孔。研究结果表明，只有当认知负荷较高时，才会出现干扰物加工带来的干扰。目前的研究结果表明，当目标和干扰物在不同空间位置呈现时，认知控制机制参与防止来自积极干扰物（实验1）或消极干扰物（实验2）的干扰。还针对观察到的不同干扰模式讨论了刺激效价和类型的作用。
