Emotions and personality traits as high-level factors in visual attention: a review

Abstract

The visual sense has outstanding significance for human perception and behavior, and visual attention plays a central role in the processing of the sensory input. Thereby, multiple low- and high-level factors contribute to the guidance of attention. The present review focuses on two neglected high-level factors: emotion and personality. The review starts with an overview of different models of attention, providing a conceptual framework and illustrating the nature of low- and high-level factors in visual attention. Then, the ambiguous concept of emotion is described, and recommendations are made for the experimental practice. In the following, we present several studies showing the influence of emotion on overt attention, whereby the distinction between internally and externally located emotional impacts are emphasized. We also provide evidence showing that emotional stimuli influence perceptual processing outside of the focus of attention, whereby results in this field are mixed. Then, we present some detached studies showing the reversed causal effect: attention can also affect emotional responses. The final section on emotion–attention interactions addresses the interplay on the neuronal level, which has been neglected for a long time in neuroscience. In this context, several conceptual recommendations for future research are made. Finally, based on findings showing inter-individual differences in human sensitivity to emotional items, we introduce the wide range of time-independent personality traits that also influence attention, and in this context we try to raise awareness of the consideration of inter-individual differences in the field of neuroscience.

Emotions' Impact on Viewing Behavior under Natural Conditions

“…In summary, Study 2 provides evidence for an externally located impact of emotion on viewing behavior under natural conditions [65]. This is the effect of the emotional content of complex scenes (IAPS images) on the way in which they are observed.…”

Feeling good, searching the bad: Positive priming increases attention and memory for negative stimuli on webpages

“…Mood states are one central factor influencing attention allocation and gaze behavior under artificial as well as more ecological conditions (for a current review, see Kaspar & König, 2012). However, so far, only little research has addressed the potential interplay between internally located impacts (mood state of the observer) and externally located impacts (stimulus valence) on gaze behavior and memory performance under natural conditions.…”

“…Thus, it has been recently proposed (c.f. Kaspar, 2013;Kaspar & König, 2012) to explicitly distinguish between the emotional state of the observer (i.e., the internally located impact of emotion) and the effect of the stimulus valence (i.e., the externally located impact of emotion). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.020 0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.…”

Eye Tracking of Attention to Emotion in Bipolar I Disorder: Links to Emotion Regulation and Anxiety Comorbidity

“…People with bipolar disorder often continue to experience mood disturbances even after remission (Judd et al, 2008). Mood state influences attention toward emotionally salient cues (Kaspar & König, 2012; Yiend, 2010), and even a subtly positive mood can influence cognitive processes in bipolar disorder (Trevisani, Johnson, & Carver, 2008; Roiser et al, 2009). Beyond current mood state, some evidence suggests that people with bipolar disorder experience trait-like, inflexible elevations in positive emotion (Gruber, 2011a; 2011b), and there is strong evidence for elevated sensitivity to reward and increased levels of goal pursuit in bipolar disorder (Johnson, Edge, Holmes, & Carver, 2012).…”