Emotional real-world scenes impact visual search

Abstract

Research shows that emotional stimuli can capture attention, and this can benefit or impair performance, depending on the characteristics of a task. Additionally, whilst some findings show that attention expands under positive conditions, others show that emotion has no influence on the broadening of attention. The current study investigated whether emotional real-world scenes influence attention in a visual search task. Participants were asked to identify a target letter embedded in the centre or periphery of emotional images. Identification accuracy was lower in positive images compared to neutral images, and response times were slower in negative images. This suggests that real-world emotional stimuli have a distracting effect on visual attention and search. There was no evidence that emotional images influenced the spatial spread of attention. Instead, it is suggested that findings may provide support for the argument that positive emotion encourages a global processing style and negative emotion promotes local processing. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10339-018-0898-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The influence of stimuli valence, extraversion, and emotion regulation on visual search within real-world scenes

“…Participants correctly identified the search target equally well when embedded within neutral and negative scenes. Previously, using the same visual search task, participants were more accurate at identifying targets within neutral real-world scenes compared to positive (but not negative) real-world scenes 16 . For response time, participants were slower to correctly identify a target when it was presented on a negative image compared to a neutral image, supporting our hypothesis and previous findings 16 .…”

“…Participants were required to identify neutral targets embedded within images varying in emotional valence (positive, neutral, or negative). Following the results of Bendall et al 16 it was predicted that accuracy would be reduced for positive trials and that reaction time would be longer for negative trials. Additionally, it was predicted that individuals reporting greater levels of extraversion, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression would show improved behavioural task performance compared to individuals reporting low levels of these traits (i.e., faster response times and fewer errors).…”

“…Bendall et al 16 investigated visual search within emotional and neutral real-world scenes asking participants to search for neutral target letters embedded within positive, negative, and neutral scenes. Image valence had an impact on target search, with lower accuracy when the target was embedded in positive images and slower response times when the target was embedded in negative images.…”

“…The aim of the current study was to investigate whether the influence of stimuli valence on the allocation of attention varies due to extraversion and habitual ER strategy use. The visual search task used by Bendall et al 16 was adopted with the additional inclusion of measures of extraversion and habitual ER strategy use. Participants were required to identify neutral targets embedded within images varying in emotional valence (positive, neutral, or negative).…”

Should Advertisers Avoid Controversial TV Content? Female Viewer Loyalty and Purchase Intent in the Context of Targeted Sponsorship Vignettes

“…When it comes to the female audience, women have more affective brain responses while processing negative emotions (Lungu et al, 2015). Various studies suggest that emotional content influences visual attention, leading to different information processing (Bemdall, Mohamed, and Thompson, 2019). The cognitive interference hypothesis suggests that controversial content, evoking negative feelings, may impair memory and worsen the brand attributes and purchase intentions of female viewers (Furnham, Gunter, and Walsh, 1998).…”