First-graders’ allocation of attentional resources in an emotional Stroop task: The role of heart period variability and classroom climate

Abstract:EVALUATION OF ATTENTIONAL BIASES OF SUBJECTS WITH HIGH VULNERABILITY TO ARACHNOPHOBIA USING A EMOTIONAL STROOP TASKThe present study aims to analyze attentional biases that are triggered in vulnerable subjects to phobias of spiders. A sample of subjects with high and low vulnerability to arachnophobia were administered two tests: 1 - classic Stroop task and 2 - emotional Stroop task formed by three sheets: neutral words, repulsive emotional words and words related to spider phobia. The results showed that subjects with high vulnerability do not present attentional biases with these words related to their phobia. Attentional biases were neither found regarding the state-trait anxiety about words. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that the attentional bias was not influenced by the variable of sex, although there were differences in the colour in which the stimuli were presented in the three sheets of the emotional Stroop. It was the black colour the one which produced more interference due to the fact that the colour of the stimulus would attract more attentional resources because it resembles the colour of some of these insects.Key words: emotional Stroop, aracnofobia, attentional bias, words-spiderResumen:El presente estudio tiene como objetivo analizar los sesgos atencionales que se desencadenan en sujetos vulnerables a mostrar fobia a las arañas. A una muestra de sujetos con alta y baja vulnerabilidad a la aracnofobia se le administraron dos pruebas: 1- Tarea Stroop clásico y 2- Tarea Stroop emocional formada por tres láminas: palabras neutras, palabras emocionales de carácter aversivo y palabras relacionadas con fobia a las arañas. Los resultados demostraron que los sujetos con alta vulnerabilidad no presentan sesgos atencionales para palabras relacionadas con su fobia. Tampoco se encontraron sesgos en atención en ansiedad rasgo-estado respecto a palabras. Por otro lado, cabe destacar que el sesgo atencional no se vio influenciado por la variable sexo de la muestra, aunque se produjeron diferencias respecto al color en que se presentaron los estímulos en las tres láminas del Stroop emocional, siendo el color negro el que produciría más interferencia debido que el color del estímulo atraería más recursos atencionales ya que se asemeja a la característica perceptiva del color negro de alguno de estos insectos.Palabras clave: stroop emocional, aracnofobia, atención selectiva, palabras-araña

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The role of time pressure on the emotional Stroop task

British Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1348/000712601162293 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 92 (3) ◽

pp. 471-481 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Dinkar Sharma ◽

Frank P. McKenna

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Emotional Stroop Task

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The role of valence and frequency in the emotional Stroop task

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review ◽

10.3758/pbr.15.5.956 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 956-960 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Todd A. Kahan ◽

Charles D. Hely

Keyword(s):

Stroop Task ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Emotional Stroop Task

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Role of the autonomic nervous system in generating non-linear dynamics in short-term heart period variability

Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik ◽

10.1515/bmt.2006.030 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 174-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alberto Porta ◽

Stefano Guzzetti ◽

Ester Borroni ◽

Raffaello Furlan ◽

Nicola Montano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Autonomic Nervous System ◽

Heart Period ◽

Short Term ◽

Linear Dynamics ◽

Autonomic Nervous ◽

Heart Period Variability ◽

Period Variability ◽

Non Linear

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Electrophysiological correlates of interference control in the modified emotional Stroop task with emotional stimuli differing in valence, arousal, and subjective significance

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258177 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. e0258177

Author(s):

Kamil K. Imbir ◽

Maciej Pastwa ◽

Joanna Duda-Goławska ◽

Adam Sobieszek ◽

Marta Jankowska ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Emotional Stroop ◽

Interference Control ◽

Emotional Stroop Task ◽

Emotional Factors ◽

Emotional Interference ◽

Subjective Significance

The role of emotional factors in maintaining cognitive control is one of the most intriguing issues in understanding emotion-cognition interactions. In the current experiment, we assessed the role of emotional factors (valence, arousal, and subjective significance) in perceptual and conceptual inhibition processes. We operationalised both processes with the classical cognitive paradigms, i.e., the flanker task and the emotional Stroop task merged into a single experimental procedure. The procedure was based on the presentation of emotional words displayed in four different font colours flanked by the same emotional word printed with the same or different font colour. We expected to find distinct effects of both types of interference: earlier for perceptual and later for emotional interference. We also predicted an increased arousal level to disturb inhibitory control effectiveness, while increasing the subjective significance level should improve this process. As we used orthogonal manipulations of emotional factors, our study allowed us for the first time to assess interactions within emotional factors and between types of interference. We found on the behavioural level the main effects of flanker congruency as well as effects of emotionality. On the electrophysiological level, we found effects for EPN, P2, and N450 components of ERPs. The exploratory analysis revealed that effects due to perceptual interference appeared earlier than the effects of emotional interference, but they lasted for an extended period of processing, causing perceptual and emotional interference to partially overlap. Finally, in terms of emotional interference, we showed the effect of subjective significance: the reduction of interference cost in N450 for highly subjective significant stimuli. This study is the first one allowing for the investigation of two different types of interference in a single experiment, and provides insight into the role of emotion in cognitive control.

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Effects of Fear Induction on Heart Period Variability

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027//0269-8803.13.1.18 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 18-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rudolf Stark ◽

Alfons Hamm ◽

Anne Schienle ◽

Bertram Walter ◽

Dieter Vaitl

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

State Anxiety ◽

Self Report ◽

Emotional States ◽

Heart Period ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Heart Period Variability ◽

Physiological Variables ◽

Period Variability

Abstract The present study investigated the influence of contextual fear in comparison to relaxation on heart period variability (HPV), and analyzed differences in HPV between low and high anxious, nonclinical subjects. Fifty-three women participated in the study. Each subject underwent four experimental conditions (control, fear, relaxation, and a combined fear-relaxation condition), lasting 10 min each. Fear was provoked by an unpredictable aversive human scream. Relaxation should be induced with the aid of verbal instructions. To control for respiratory effects on HPV, breathing was paced at 0.2 Hz using an indirect light source. Besides physiological measures (HPV measures, ECG, respiration, forearm EMG, blood pressure), emotional states (pleasure, arousal, dominance, state anxiety) were assessed by subjects' self-reports. Since relaxation instructions did not have any effect neither on the subjective nor on the physiological variables, the present paper focuses on the comparison of the control and the fear condition. The scream reliably induced changes in both physiological and self-report measures. During the fear condition, subjects reported more arousal and state anxiety as well as less pleasure and dominance. Heart period decreased, while EMG and diastolic blood pressure showed a tendency to increase. HPV remained largely unaltered with the exception of the LF component, which slightly decreased under fear induction. Replicating previous findings, trait anxiety was negatively associated with HPV, but there were no treatment-specific differences between subjects with low and high trait anxiety.

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