Emotional content overrides spatial attention

Abstract

Selective attention is our capacity to filter or focus on particular features of our environment. We typically think of the top-down aspects of such a process. For example, we can selectively attend to particular regions or objects in our visual environment. However, not all of our attentional selection is driven voluntarily. Some stimuli have the capacity to at least partially override our top-down control mechanisms. For example, visual emotional stimuli signaling threat or reward have often been observed to capture our attention and receive prioritized processing in a bottom-up, stimulus-driven fashion, presumably due to their significant role in producing fast and adequate behavior in order to survive (Carretie, 2014;Todd et al., 2020;Vuilleumier, 2005Vuilleumier, , 2015.A central debate in the field of attention and emotion concerns the extent to which visual emotional cues can reflexively

Higher amplitudes in steady‐state visual evoked potentials driven by square‐wave versus sine‐wave contrast modulation – A dual‐laboratory study

“…In the current study we used cut‐outs from larger scenes with intermediate complexity. More complex stimuli (including faces and naturalistic scenes) are common in cognitive‐affective perception and attention research (Alonso‐Prieto et al, 2013; Bekhtereva et al, 2019, 2021; Gruss et al, 2012; Rossion et al, 2012; Schettino et al, 2019; Tebbe et al, 2021; Wieser et al, 2014; Wieser, Miskovic, & Keil, 2016). Besides stimulus complexity, differences in stimulus size may play a role as larger stimuli evoke larger ssVEP amplitudes (Duszyk et al, 2014).…”

Higher amplitudes in steady-state visual evoked potentials driven by square-wave versus sine-wave contrast modulation – a dual-laboratory study.

“…In the current study we used cut-outs from larger scenes with intermediate complexity. More complex stimuli (including faces and naturalistic scenes) are common in cognitive-affective perception and attention research (Alonso-Prieto et al, 2013;Bekhtereva et al, 2019Bekhtereva et al, , 2021Gruss et al, 2012;Rossion et al, 2012;Schettino et al, 2019;Tebbe et al, 2021;Wieser et al, 2014;Wieser, Miskovic, et al, 2016). Besides stimulus complexity, differences in stimulus size may play a role as larger stimuli evoke larger ssVEP amplitudes (Duszyk et al, 2014).…”

Moving toward reality: Electrocortical reactivity to naturalistic multimodal emotional videos

“…This practical difficulty could be circumvented through the use of steady‐state visual‐evoked potentials (ssVEPs) in combination with video presentation. Just as instructed, spatial attention toward flickering stimuli enhances ssVEP amplitude at the attended flicker frequency (Hillyard et al., 1997) and motivated attention enhances ssVEP amplitude during emotional relative to neutral flickering scene perception (Bekhtereva & Müller, 2015, Bekhtereva et al., 2021; Keil et al., 2003, 2005). Conversely, if nonflickering scenes are presented in combination with a competing flickering visual stimulus, ssVEP amplitude is reduced during emotional relative to neutral scene perception (Deweese et al., 2014; Müller et al., 2008; Wieser et al., 2016).…”