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Zsidó AN. The effect of emotional arousal on visual attentional performance: a systematic review. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1-24. [PMID: 37417982 PMCID: PMC10805986 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01852-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Although the arousal elicited by emotional stimuli, similarly to valence, is an integrative part of emotion theories, previous studies and reviews mostly focused on the valence of a stimulus and rarely investigated the role of arousal. Here, I systematically searched for articles that used visual attentional paradigms, manipulated emotional arousal by auditory or visual, task-relevant or task-irrelevant stimuli, measured behavioral responses, ocular behavior, or neural correlates. I found that task-relevant arousing stimuli draw and hold attention regardless of the modality. In contrast, task-irrelevant arousing stimuli impaired task performance. However, when the emotional content precedes the task or it is presented for a longer duration, arousal increased performance. Future directions on how research could address the remaining questions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andras N Zsidó
- Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, 6 Ifjusag Str., Pécs, 7624, Hungary.
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2
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Gomez P, von Gunten A, Danuser B. Eye gaze behavior during affective picture viewing: Effects of motivational significance, gender, age, and repeated exposure. Biol Psychol 2019; 146:107713. [PMID: 31173808 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2018] [Revised: 04/06/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
How top-down and bottom-up factors combine to determine eye movements during affective picture viewing is far from being completely understood. We investigated how observers' fixation frequency and scanpath length - two indices of information seeking and intake - are related to self-reported valence (pleasantness) and arousal and depend on gender, age, and repeated exposure during affective picture viewing. We tracked the eye movements of 157 younger, middle-aged, and older adults when viewing 14 picture series each consisting of six thematically and affectively similar pictures. Participants' valence and arousal ratings were registered for each series. Fixation frequency and scanpath length increased with self-rated unpleasantness and arousal and decreased across the six pictures within series. This decrease was age- and arousal-dependent. Compared to men, women exhibited a more exploratory scanning behavior. These findings suggest that observers' affective appraisal, gender and age and repeated exposure to affective visual stimuli influence visual information seeking and intake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Gomez
- Institut universitaire romand de Santé au Travail (Institute for Work and Health), University of Lausanne and University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Armin von Gunten
- Service of Old Age Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland
| | - Brigitta Danuser
- Institut universitaire romand de Santé au Travail (Institute for Work and Health), University of Lausanne and University of Geneva, Switzerland
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Astudillo C, Muñoz K, Maldonado PE. Emotional Content Modulates Attentional Visual Orientation During Free Viewing of Natural Images. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:459. [PMID: 30498438 PMCID: PMC6249414 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual attention is the process that enables us to select relevant visual stimuli in our environment to achieve a goal or perform adaptive behaviors. In this process, bottom-up mechanisms interact with top-down mechanisms underlying the automatic and voluntary orienting of attention. Cognitive functions, such as emotional processing, can influence visual attention by increasing or decreasing the resources destined for processing stimuli. The relationship between attention and emotion has been explored mainly in the field of automatic attentional capturing; especially, emotional stimuli are suddenly presented and detection rates or reaction times are recorded. Unlike these paradigms, natural visual scenes may be comprised in multiple stimuli with different emotional valences. In this setting, the mechanisms supporting voluntary visual orientation, under the influence of the emotional components of stimuli, are unknown. We employed a mosaic of pictures with different emotional valences (positive, negative, and neutral) and explored the dynamics of attentional visual orientation, assessed by eye tracking and measurements of pupil diameter. We found that pictures with affective content display increased dwelling times when compared to neutral pictures with a larger effect for negative pictures. The valence, regardless of the arousal levels, was the main factor driving the behavioral modulation of visual orientation. On the other hand, the visual exploration was accompanied by a systematic pupillary response, with the pupil contraction and dilation influenced by the arousal levels, with minor effects driven by the valence. Our results emphasize that arousal and valence should be considered different dimensions of emotional processing both interacting with cognitive processes such as visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Astudillo
- Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Kristofher Muñoz
- Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Pedro E. Maldonado
- Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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Dewhurst R, Foulsham T, Jarodzka H, Johansson R, Holmqvist K, Nyström M. How task demands influence scanpath similarity in a sequential number-search task. Vision Res 2018; 149:9-23. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2018.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2017] [Revised: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 05/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Madan CR, Bayer J, Gamer M, Lonsdorf TB, Sommer T. Visual Complexity and Affect: Ratings Reflect More Than Meets the Eye. Front Psychol 2018; 8:2368. [PMID: 29403412 PMCID: PMC5778470 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2017] [Accepted: 12/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Pictorial stimuli can vary on many dimensions, several aspects of which are captured by the term 'visual complexity.' Visual complexity can be described as, "a picture of a few objects, colors, or structures would be less complex than a very colorful picture of many objects that is composed of several components." Prior studies have reported a relationship between affect and visual complexity, where complex pictures are rated as more pleasant and arousing. However, a relationship in the opposite direction, an effect of affect on visual complexity, is also possible; emotional arousal and valence are known to influence selective attention and visual processing. In a series of experiments, we found that ratings of visual complexity correlated with affective ratings, and independently also with computational measures of visual complexity. These computational measures did not correlate with affect, suggesting that complexity ratings are separately related to distinct factors. We investigated the relationship between affect and ratings of visual complexity, finding an 'arousal-complexity bias' to be a robust phenomenon. Moreover, we found this bias could be attenuated when explicitly indicated but did not correlate with inter-individual difference measures of affective processing, and was largely unrelated to cognitive and eyetracking measures. Taken together, the arousal-complexity bias seems to be caused by a relationship between arousal and visual processing as it has been described for the greater vividness of arousing pictures. The described arousal-complexity bias is also of relevance from an experimental perspective because visual complexity is often considered a variable to control for when using pictorial stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher R Madan
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Janine Bayer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Gamer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Sommer
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Perceiving emotions in robot body language: Acute stress heightens sensitivity to negativity while attenuating sensitivity to arousal. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Schoth DE, Liossi C. A Systematic Review of Experimental Paradigms for Exploring Biased Interpretation of Ambiguous Information with Emotional and Neutral Associations. Front Psychol 2017; 8:171. [PMID: 28232813 PMCID: PMC5299893 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Interpretation biases have been extensively explored in a range of populations, including patients with anxiety and depressive disorders where they have been argued to influence the onset and maintenance of such conditions. Other populations in which interpretation biases have been explored include patients with chronic pain, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol dependency among others, although this literature is more limited. In this research, stimuli with threatening/emotional and neutral meanings are presented, with participant responses indicative of ambiguity resolution. A large number of paradigms have been designed and implemented in the exploration of interpretation biases, some varying in minor features only. This article provides a review of experimental paradigms available for exploring interpretation biases, with the aim to stimulate and inform the design of future research exploring cognitive biases across a range of populations. A systematic search of the experimental literature was conducted in Medline, PsychINFO, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms were information, stimuli, and ambiguous intersected with the terms interpretation and bias*. Forty-five paradigms were found, categorized into those using ambiguous words, ambiguous images, and ambiguous scenarios. The key features, strengths and limitations of the paradigms identified are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Schoth
- Pain Research Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of SouthamptonSouthampton, UK
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Zhou L, Zhang YY, Wang ZJ, Rao LL, Wang W, Li S, Li X, Liang ZY. A Scanpath Analysis of the Risky Decision-Making Process. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/bdm.1943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Yang-Yang Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Zuo-Jun Wang
- Department of Psychology; Ningbo University; Ningbo China
| | - Li-Lin Rao
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Wei Wang
- Department of Medicine; Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; MA USA
| | - Shu Li
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Xingshan Li
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
| | - Zhu-Yuan Liang
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science; Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Beijing China
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Exploring Attentional Bias for Real-World, Pain-related Information in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Using a Novel Change Detection Paradigm. Clin J Pain 2015; 31:680-8. [DOI: 10.1097/ajp.0000000000000149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Chipchase SY, Chapman P. Trade-offs in visual attention and the enhancement of memory specificity for positive and negative emotional stimuli. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2012; 66:277-98. [PMID: 22928471 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2012.707664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Emotional influences on memory can lead to trade-offs in memory for gist or detail and trade-offs in memory for central or peripheral aspects of an event. Attentional narrowing has often been proposed as a theoretical explanation for this pattern of findings with negative emotion. These trade-offs have been less extensively investigated with positive emotion. In three experiments, we investigate memory for specific visual details of positive and negative stimuli, examine central-peripheral trade-offs in memory, and assess the hypothesis that attentional narrowing contributes to emotional enhancement of memory specificity. We found that memory for details was enhanced by negative and positive emotion. Central-peripheral trade-offs were found in memory for negative emotional stimuli but not in memory for positive emotional stimuli. These trade-offs with negative emotion were associated with attentional narrowing at the time of encoding, as measured by eye movements. There were no attentional effects at the time of encoding found with positive emotional stimuli. Evidence was found for the attentional narrowing hypothesis of memory specificity and central-peripheral trade-offs in memory for negative emotional events. Alternative explanations for the positive emotional enhancement of memory specificity are required.
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