Favieri Francesca, Troisi Giovanna, Forte Giuseppe, Corbo Ilaria, Marselli Giulia, Blasutto Barbara, Ponce Renato, Di Pace Enrico, Langher Viviana, Tambelli Renata, Casagrande Maria
Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Front Neurosci. 2024 Nov 22;18:1458627. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1458627. eCollection 2024.
Top-down mechanisms that regulate attentional control are influenced by task demands and individuals' goals, while bottom-up processes are influenced by salient stimuli. Analogous networks are involved in both processes (e.g., frontostriatal areas). However, they are affected differently by the emotional salience of stimuli, which determines the allocation of attention. This study aims to determine whether the recent pandemic experience continues to exert an influence on cognitive processes. To this end, the study will determine attentional biases toward pandemic-related stimuli compared to negative and neutral stimuli. Furthermore, the study will investigate whether pandemic-related stimuli influence top-down and bottom-up attentional processes and whether the latter affect autonomic control as indexed by Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
Ninety-six undergraduate students completed a Flicker Task with stimuli categorized by emotional valence (neutral, negative non-COVID, negative COVID-related). This paradigm involves the presentation of two different pictures, which are identical except for a specific detail. The task required to detect the specific detail that has been changed. Given that the task employs images of natural scenes, participants tend to focus more on specific areas of the scene than others. As a result, changes in central interest (CI) areas are detected more rapidly than changes in marginal interest (MI) areas. Participants' response times (RTs) at the task and their HRV data were used to assess attentional performance and the associated autonomic nervous system activity.
The results indicate slower responses to COVID-related stimuli than negative and neutral stimuli for both CI and MI changes, requiring the involvement of bottom-up (CI changes) and top-down (MI changes) processes. The HRV was associated with a slower detection of CI changes in COVID-related scenes.
These findings highlight the intricate interplay between emotional salience, attentional mechanisms, and physiological responses to threatening stimuli. Contextual factors, particularly those related to pandemic-related stress, influence attentional processing and its relationship with autonomic activity.
调节注意力控制的自上而下机制受任务需求和个体目标的影响，而自下而上的过程则受显著刺激的影响。这两个过程都涉及类似的神经网络（例如额纹状体区域）。然而，它们受刺激的情感显著性影响的方式不同，情感显著性决定了注意力的分配。本研究旨在确定近期的疫情经历是否继续对认知过程产生影响。为此，该研究将确定与负面和中性刺激相比，对与疫情相关刺激的注意力偏差。此外，该研究将调查与疫情相关的刺激是否会影响自上而下和自下而上的注意力过程，以及后者是否会影响以心率变异性（HRV）为指标的自主控制。
96名本科生完成了一项闪烁任务，刺激按情感效价分类（中性、非新冠负面、与新冠相关的负面）。该范式涉及呈现两张不同的图片，除了一个特定细节外，它们是相同的。任务要求检测已更改的特定细节。鉴于该任务使用自然场景图像，参与者往往会比其他区域更关注场景的特定区域。因此，中央兴趣（CI）区域的变化比边缘兴趣（MI）区域的变化被检测得更快。参与者在任务中的反应时间（RTs）及其HRV数据用于评估注意力表现和相关的自主神经系统活动。
结果表明，对于CI和MI变化，与新冠相关的刺激的反应比负面和中性刺激更慢，这需要自下而上（CI变化）和自上而下（MI变化）过程的参与。HRV与在与新冠相关场景中CI变化的检测较慢有关。
这些发现突出了情感显著性、注意力机制和对威胁性刺激的生理反应之间的复杂相互作用。情境因素，特别是与疫情相关压力有关的因素，会影响注意力处理及其与自主活动的关系。
