Pitchford Brent, Arnell Karen M
Department of Psychology, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2019 Jan;81(1):173-187. doi: 10.3758/s13414-018-1610-z.
People often inhibit or override their dominant response tendencies in order to complete tasks successfully. Exerting such self-control has been shown to influence attentional breadth differently depending on approach-motivated tendencies, as indexed by individuals' behavioral activation system (BAS) scores. Approach motivation and attentional breadth have previously been associated with frontal alpha asymmetry (i.e., lateralized cortical activity in the frontal regions) where greater left-frontal activation is associated with greater approach motivation and reduced attentional breadth. The process model of self-control posits that exercising self-control leads to a subsequent increase in approach behavior in high BAS individuals, and this could be due to a shift towards left-hemisphere-frontal processing. This was the first study to examine both frontal asymmetry and attentional breadth before and after exercising self-control in low and high BAS individuals. Greater BAS, and greater difficulty exercising self-control, both positively related to more narrowed attentional breadth after completing the manipulation relative to before, but only after exercising self-control. However, breadth of attention and changes in attentional breadth were unrelated to frontal asymmetry, suggesting that the influence of self-control on individuals' attentional breadth was not due to changes in frontal activation patterns.
人们常常抑制或克服其占主导地位的反应倾向，以便成功完成任务。研究表明，根据个体的行为激活系统（BAS）得分所反映的趋近动机倾向，施加这种自我控制对注意广度的影响会有所不同。先前，趋近动机和注意广度与额叶α不对称性（即额叶区域的皮质活动偏侧化）有关，其中左额叶激活增强与趋近动机增强和注意广度减小相关。自我控制的过程模型假定，在高BAS个体中，进行自我控制会导致随后趋近行为增加，这可能是由于向左侧半球额叶加工的转变。这是第一项在低BAS和高BAS个体中考察自我控制前后的额叶不对称性和注意广度的研究。更高的BAS以及更大的自我控制难度，在完成操作后相对于操作前，均与更窄的注意广度呈正相关，但这种情况仅在进行自我控制之后出现。然而，注意广度和注意广度的变化与额叶不对称性无关，这表明自我控制对个体注意广度的影响并非源于额叶激活模式的变化。
