scholarly journals Autistic-traits, not anxiety, modulate implicit emotional guidance of attention in neurotypical adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael C. W. English ◽  
Murray T. Maybery ◽  
Troy A. W. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Target Identification ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Limited Role ◽  
Attentional Blink Task

AbstractAlthough autistic and anxious traits are positively correlated, high levels of autistic traits are associated with poorer emotional guidance of attention (EGA) whilst high levels of anxious traits are associated with greater EGA. In order to better understand how these two trait dimensions influence EGA, we simultaneously examined the effects of anxiety and autistic traits in neurotypical adults on target identification in an attentional blink task. Analyses indicated that implicit EGA is attenuated in individuals with higher levels of autistic traits, but largely unaffected by variation in anxious traits. Our results suggest that anxiety plays a comparatively limited role in modulating implicit EGA and reinforces the importance of disentangling correlated individual differences when exploring the effects of personality, including emotional predisposition, on attention.

scholarly journals An Individual Differences Approach to Temporal Integration and Order Reversals in the Attentional Blink Task

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e0156538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Willems ◽  
Jefta D. Saija ◽  
Elkan G. Akyürek ◽  
Sander Martens
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Temporal Integration ◽  
Attentional Blink Task

Visual disgust-elicitors produce an attentional blink independent of contextual and trait-level pathogen avoidance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Perone ◽  
David Vaughn Becker ◽  
Joshua M. Tybur
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Attentional Bias ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Attentional Biases ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Trait Level ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Pathogen Avoidance

Multiple studies report that disgust-eliciting stimuli are perceived as salient and subsequently capture selective attention. In the current study, we aimed to better understand the nature of temporal attentional biases toward disgust-eliciting stimuli and to investigate the extent to which these biases are sensitive to contextual and trait-level pathogen avoidance motives. Participants (N=116) performed in an Emotional Attentional Blink (EAB) task in which task-irrelevant disgust-eliciting, fear-eliciting, or neutral images preceded a target by 200, 500, or 800 milliseconds (i.e., lag two, five and eight respectively). They did so twice - once while not exposed to an odor, and once while exposed to either an odor that elicited disgust or an odor that did not - and completed a measure of disgust sensitivity. Results indicate that disgust-eliciting visual stimuli produced a greater attentional blink than neutral visual stimuli at lag two and a greater attentional blink than fear-eliciting visual stimuli at both lag two and at lag five. Neither the odor manipulations nor individual differences measures moderated this effect. We propose that visual attention is engaged for a longer period of time following disgust-eliciting stimuli because covert processes automatically initiate the evaluation of pathogen threats. The fact that state and trait pathogen avoidance do not influence this temporal attentional bias suggests that early attentional processing of pathogen cues is initiated independent from the context in which such cues are perceived.

scholarly journals Less Illusion of a Just World in People with Formally Diagnosed Autism and Higher Autistic Traits

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Bertrams
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Autism Diagnosis ◽  
Just World ◽  
External Locus ◽  
General Belief ◽  
Autistic People

AbstractPeople differ in how strongly they believe that, in general, one gets what (s)he deserves (i.e., individual differences in the general belief in a just world). In this study (N = 588; n = 60 with a formal autism diagnosis), whether or not autistic people and those with high autistic traits have a relatively low general belief in a just world is examined. The results revealed the expected relationship between autism/higher autistic traits and a lower general belief in a just world. In a subsample (n = 388), personal belief in a just world, external locus of control, and self-deception mediated this relationship. These findings are discussed in terms of autistic strengths (less biased information processing) and problems (lowered well-being).

scholarly journals A Reciprocal Model of Face Recognition and Autistic Traits: Evidence from an Individual Differences Perspective

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. e94013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew W. R. Halliday ◽  
Stuart W. S. MacDonald ◽  
Suzanne K. Sherf ◽  
James W. Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Autistic Traits

Field Dependence and Target Identification

1968 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 493-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl L. Thornton ◽  
Gerald V. Barrett ◽  
James A. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Target Identification ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Embedded Figures Test ◽  
Visual Item ◽  
Embedded Figures ◽  
Perceptual Style ◽  
Design Selection ◽  
And Training

Target identification has usually been studied with respect to environmental parameters which affect the performance of the “human operator.” Rather than use this method, which treats individual differences as sources of error, the investigators studied individual differences and related them to Witkin's concept of perceptual style. Witkin and his associates were able to differentiate subjects on their ability to pull a visual item from an embedding context. Two experiments were conducted using the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) as a measure of perceptual style. Significant correlations between perceptual style and the ability to correctly identify targets in aerial photographs were found. Since a great deal of research has been conducted in the area of perceptual style, it is possible to utilize this research in connection with problems associated with target identification. Implications in the areas of experimental design, selection, and training were discussed.

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