Directorate of Psychology & Sport, School of Health and Society, University of Salford, Salford, UK.
Brain Behav. 2021 Nov;11(11):e2387. doi: 10.1002/brb3.2387. Epub 2021 Oct 17.
Emotion has been shown to influence selective visual attention. However, studies in this field have revealed contradictory findings regarding the nature of this influence. One possible explanation for the variation in findings is that affective inter-individual differences impact both attention and emotion and may therefore moderate any influence of emotion on attention. The current work is a novel investigation of the effects of induced emotional states and the traits of extraversion and neuroticism on visual attention. This allowed a direct investigation of any impact of extraversion and neuroticism on the way in which emotion influences attention.
Participants were induced into positive, neutral, and negative emotional states before completing a change detection flicker task in which they were required to locate a change to a real-world scene as quickly and accurately as possible.
Participants scoring higher in extraversion were more accurate but slower at detecting changes. Importantly, this was particularly evident when induced into a negative emotional state compared to a neutral emotional state. Neuroticism had no impact on attention.
The current study provides evidence that extraversion can moderate the influence of negative emotion upon visual attention and may help to explain some of the contradictory findings in this research area. When considered independently, increased trait levels of extraversion were associated with improved change detection. Individuals higher in extraversion appear better equipped to regulate negative emotion compared to individuals lower in extraversion, supporting research linking extraversion to affective reactivity and models of psychopathology.
情绪已被证明会影响选择性视觉注意。然而，该领域的研究表明，这种影响的性质存在矛盾的发现。造成发现结果不一致的一个可能解释是，情感个体差异会同时影响注意力和情绪，因此可能会调节情绪对注意力的任何影响。目前的工作是对情绪诱导状态以及外向性和神经质特质对视觉注意力的影响进行的一项新的研究。这可以直接研究外向性和神经质特质对情绪影响注意力的方式的任何影响。
参与者在完成闪烁变化检测任务之前，被诱导进入积极、中性和消极的情绪状态，在该任务中，他们需要尽快、尽可能准确地定位到真实场景的变化。
外向得分较高的参与者的准确性更高，但检测变化的速度较慢。重要的是，与中性情绪状态相比，当参与者被诱导进入消极情绪状态时，这种情况尤其明显。神经质对注意力没有影响。
本研究提供了证据表明，外向性可以调节负性情绪对视觉注意力的影响，这可能有助于解释该研究领域的一些矛盾发现。当单独考虑时，特质水平较高的外向性与改善的变化检测相关。与外向性较低的个体相比，外向性较高的个体似乎更善于调节负性情绪，这支持了将外向性与情感反应性和精神病理学模型联系起来的研究。
