Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential
Directed attention is a fundamental mental resource for voluntarily managing the focus and direction of cognitive resources. The present study investigated how processing of unpleasant and neutral images is affected by emotion and previous directed attention. The results showed that there was enhanc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01127/full |
| _version_ | 1811267952331194368 |
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| author | Yuming Chen Yuming Chen Dandan Zhang Dandan Zhang Donghong Jiang Donghong Jiang |
| author_facet | Yuming Chen Yuming Chen Dandan Zhang Dandan Zhang Donghong Jiang Donghong Jiang |
| author_sort | Yuming Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Directed attention is a fundamental mental resource for voluntarily managing the focus and direction of cognitive resources. The present study investigated how processing of unpleasant and neutral images is affected by emotion and previous directed attention. The results showed that there was enhanced early posterior negativity, anterior N2, and parietal late positive potential (LPP) in response to unpleasant pictures compared to neutral pictures. Furthermore, attention history (i.e., whether stimuli were previously attended to) modulated the amplitudes of the anterior N2 and parietal LPP. Most notably, an interaction between attention history and emotion was found in the LPP: pictures with an ‘attended history’ evoked larger LPP amplitudes than pictures with an ‘unattended history,’ but this effect was only significant for unpleasant pictures (not for neutral pictures). These results suggest that directed attention to affective pictures facilitates subsequent neural processing of these pictures, and that this effect was amplified by unpleasant emotions experienced in the LPP. The current findings provide further empirical evidence of a two-stage model of emotion-attention interaction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T21:12:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dc61e8d469a84c4187335477f1c6e62b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T21:12:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-dc61e8d469a84c4187335477f1c6e62b2022-12-22T03:16:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-07-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.01127356170Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive PotentialYuming Chen0Yuming Chen1Dandan Zhang2Dandan Zhang3Donghong Jiang4Donghong Jiang5Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaDepartment of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaCenter of Psychological Counseling, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaDirected attention is a fundamental mental resource for voluntarily managing the focus and direction of cognitive resources. The present study investigated how processing of unpleasant and neutral images is affected by emotion and previous directed attention. The results showed that there was enhanced early posterior negativity, anterior N2, and parietal late positive potential (LPP) in response to unpleasant pictures compared to neutral pictures. Furthermore, attention history (i.e., whether stimuli were previously attended to) modulated the amplitudes of the anterior N2 and parietal LPP. Most notably, an interaction between attention history and emotion was found in the LPP: pictures with an ‘attended history’ evoked larger LPP amplitudes than pictures with an ‘unattended history,’ but this effect was only significant for unpleasant pictures (not for neutral pictures). These results suggest that directed attention to affective pictures facilitates subsequent neural processing of these pictures, and that this effect was amplified by unpleasant emotions experienced in the LPP. The current findings provide further empirical evidence of a two-stage model of emotion-attention interaction.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01127/fulldirected attentionattention historyemotionearly posterior negativity (EPN)parietal late positive potential (LPP) |
| spellingShingle | Yuming Chen Yuming Chen Dandan Zhang Dandan Zhang Donghong Jiang Donghong Jiang Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential Frontiers in Psychology directed attention attention history emotion early posterior negativity (EPN) parietal late positive potential (LPP) |
| title | Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential |
| title_full | Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential |
| title_short | Effects of Directed Attention on Subsequent Processing of Emotions: Increased Attention to Unpleasant Pictures Occurs in the Late Positive Potential |
| title_sort | effects of directed attention on subsequent processing of emotions increased attention to unpleasant pictures occurs in the late positive potential |
| topic | directed attention attention history emotion early posterior negativity (EPN) parietal late positive potential (LPP) |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01127/full |
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