Distraction by emotion in early adolescence: Affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink

Sabine Heim; April A. Benasich; Andreas Keil

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580

Distraction by emotion in early adolescence: Affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink

Sabine Heim, April A. Benasich, Andreas Keil

Rutgers, The State University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which early adolescents (aged 10-13 years) differ from adults in their sensitivity to attention capture by affective stimuli during rapid processing. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP) was implemented as a dual task, requiring the report of two green target stimuli embedded in a stream of distractors. Known as the "attentional blink" (AB), task performance is typically impaired when the first and second targets (T1 and T2, respectively) are separated by at least one distractor and about 200 ms of time. Here we used written verbs of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant content as T1 items, while affectively neutral exemplars served as T2 and distractor events. The temporal distance between T1 and T2 was manipulated to contain either one distractor (intertarget interval 232 ms) or five distractors (intertarget interval 696 ms). Students reported pleasant T1 words more accurately, compared to neutral and unpleasant words, indicating facilitation of appetitive content on performance during RSVP. Emotional relevance of T1 was at the expense of T2 accuracy: at an intertarget interval of 232 ms (i.e., during the AB period), identification of (neutral) T2 words was impaired when preceded by pleasant and unpleasant T1s. No interference across targets was observed, however, beyond the blink period, in which T1 and T2 were separated by 696 ms. Thus, emotionally relevant events capture and hold attentional resources, at the cost of attentive processing in subsequent episodes. Contrary to our findings in adults, these capture effects were most obvious when the available capacity was limited, i.e., during the critical interval of the AB. The findings are discussed in light of the use of alternative cognitive strategies as development proceeds beyond early adolescence into adulthood.

Original language	American English
Article number	Article 580
Journal	Frontiers in Psychology
Volume	4
Issue number	SEP
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580
State	Published - 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Psychology

Keywords

Attention capture
Dual task
Emotion distraction
Rapid serial visual processing
Temporal competition

Access to Document

10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580

Cite this

@article{2c2c4f21141349b281ae0b95acc5d8fe,

title = "Distraction by emotion in early adolescence: Affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink",

abstract = "This study examined the extent to which early adolescents (aged 10-13 years) differ from adults in their sensitivity to attention capture by affective stimuli during rapid processing. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP) was implemented as a dual task, requiring the report of two green target stimuli embedded in a stream of distractors. Known as the {"}attentional blink{"} (AB), task performance is typically impaired when the first and second targets (T1 and T2, respectively) are separated by at least one distractor and about 200 ms of time. Here we used written verbs of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant content as T1 items, while affectively neutral exemplars served as T2 and distractor events. The temporal distance between T1 and T2 was manipulated to contain either one distractor (intertarget interval 232 ms) or five distractors (intertarget interval 696 ms). Students reported pleasant T1 words more accurately, compared to neutral and unpleasant words, indicating facilitation of appetitive content on performance during RSVP. Emotional relevance of T1 was at the expense of T2 accuracy: at an intertarget interval of 232 ms (i.e., during the AB period), identification of (neutral) T2 words was impaired when preceded by pleasant and unpleasant T1s. No interference across targets was observed, however, beyond the blink period, in which T1 and T2 were separated by 696 ms. Thus, emotionally relevant events capture and hold attentional resources, at the cost of attentive processing in subsequent episodes. Contrary to our findings in adults, these capture effects were most obvious when the available capacity was limited, i.e., during the critical interval of the AB. The findings are discussed in light of the use of alternative cognitive strategies as development proceeds beyond early adolescence into adulthood.",

keywords = "Attention capture, Dual task, Emotion distraction, Rapid serial visual processing, Temporal competition",

author = "Sabine Heim and Benasich, {April A.} and Andreas Keil",

year = "2013",

doi = "10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580",

language = "American English",

volume = "4",

journal = "Frontiers in Psychology",

issn = "1664-1078",

publisher = "Frontiers Media SA",

number = "SEP",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Distraction by emotion in early adolescence

T2 - Affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink

AU - Heim, Sabine

AU - Benasich, April A.

AU - Keil, Andreas

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - This study examined the extent to which early adolescents (aged 10-13 years) differ from adults in their sensitivity to attention capture by affective stimuli during rapid processing. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP) was implemented as a dual task, requiring the report of two green target stimuli embedded in a stream of distractors. Known as the "attentional blink" (AB), task performance is typically impaired when the first and second targets (T1 and T2, respectively) are separated by at least one distractor and about 200 ms of time. Here we used written verbs of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant content as T1 items, while affectively neutral exemplars served as T2 and distractor events. The temporal distance between T1 and T2 was manipulated to contain either one distractor (intertarget interval 232 ms) or five distractors (intertarget interval 696 ms). Students reported pleasant T1 words more accurately, compared to neutral and unpleasant words, indicating facilitation of appetitive content on performance during RSVP. Emotional relevance of T1 was at the expense of T2 accuracy: at an intertarget interval of 232 ms (i.e., during the AB period), identification of (neutral) T2 words was impaired when preceded by pleasant and unpleasant T1s. No interference across targets was observed, however, beyond the blink period, in which T1 and T2 were separated by 696 ms. Thus, emotionally relevant events capture and hold attentional resources, at the cost of attentive processing in subsequent episodes. Contrary to our findings in adults, these capture effects were most obvious when the available capacity was limited, i.e., during the critical interval of the AB. The findings are discussed in light of the use of alternative cognitive strategies as development proceeds beyond early adolescence into adulthood.

AB - This study examined the extent to which early adolescents (aged 10-13 years) differ from adults in their sensitivity to attention capture by affective stimuli during rapid processing. A rapid serial visual presentation paradigm (RSVP) was implemented as a dual task, requiring the report of two green target stimuli embedded in a stream of distractors. Known as the "attentional blink" (AB), task performance is typically impaired when the first and second targets (T1 and T2, respectively) are separated by at least one distractor and about 200 ms of time. Here we used written verbs of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant content as T1 items, while affectively neutral exemplars served as T2 and distractor events. The temporal distance between T1 and T2 was manipulated to contain either one distractor (intertarget interval 232 ms) or five distractors (intertarget interval 696 ms). Students reported pleasant T1 words more accurately, compared to neutral and unpleasant words, indicating facilitation of appetitive content on performance during RSVP. Emotional relevance of T1 was at the expense of T2 accuracy: at an intertarget interval of 232 ms (i.e., during the AB period), identification of (neutral) T2 words was impaired when preceded by pleasant and unpleasant T1s. No interference across targets was observed, however, beyond the blink period, in which T1 and T2 were separated by 696 ms. Thus, emotionally relevant events capture and hold attentional resources, at the cost of attentive processing in subsequent episodes. Contrary to our findings in adults, these capture effects were most obvious when the available capacity was limited, i.e., during the critical interval of the AB. The findings are discussed in light of the use of alternative cognitive strategies as development proceeds beyond early adolescence into adulthood.

KW - Attention capture

KW - Dual task

KW - Emotion distraction

KW - Rapid serial visual processing

KW - Temporal competition

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885359175&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84885359175&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00580

M3 - Article

C2 - 24027547

SN - 1664-1078

VL - 4

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

IS - SEP

M1 - Article 580

ER -

Distraction by emotion in early adolescence: Affective facilitation and interference during the attentional blink

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this