Neural Indices of Emotional Distraction

<p>Emotional stimuli capture our attention. The preferential processing of emotional information is an adaptive mechanism that when relevant to our goal highlights potentially important aspects in the environment. However, when emotional information is task-irrelevant, their presence in the environment can trigger involuntary shifts in attention that cause detriments to performance. One challenge to investigating emotional distraction in the lab is how to objectively investigate the allocation of attention between different elements on the same stimulus display (e.g. between the task and the distractors). One neural measure that overcomes this issue is the Steady-State-Visual-Evoked-Potential (SSVEP). An SSVEP is the neural response of the visual cortex to a flickering stimulus and can be used as a measure of attentional resource allocation (Norcia, Appelbaum, Ales, Cottereau, & Rossion, 2015). In the past, emotional distraction has been studied using spatially separated tasks and distractors. The current thesis presents two experiments using SSVEPs to investigate emotional distraction in a superimposed design. Experiment 1 aimed to conceptually replicate Hindi Attar and colleagues (2010) who developed an SSVEP emotional distraction paradigm to examine attentional resource allocation between background task-irrelevant emotional distractors and a foreground dot-motion task. Participants viewed a stimulus display of moving, flickering dots, while positive or neutrally valanced distractors (or unidentifiable scrambles) were presented in the background of the task. SSVEPs were reduced in the presence of positive intact compared to neutral intact distractors suggesting that the presentation of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli in the same spatial location as a foreground task initiates an involuntary shift of attention away from the task. Unexpectedly, in both Experiments 1 and 2 valence differences were found in SSVEPs between positive and neutral scrambled images; this suggests that there are some perceptual differences between the stimulus sets (e.g. colour) contributing to the drop in SSVEP found for positive intact images. Importantly, in the SSVEP analysis significant valence x image type interactions were found, demonstrating that the drop for positive images was stronger for intact than scrambled image conditions, suggesting that a significant amount of the drop in SSVEP was driven by a difference in valence between the intact distractors. Behavioural results also suggest evidence for emotional distraction through reduced hit rate in the presence of positive intact images compared to neutral intact images in Experiment 1, and reduced detection sensitivity and response criterion for positive intact images in Experiment 2. Overall, the current thesis demonstrates support for the hypothesis that emotional information is more distracting than neutral information and provides a valuable starting point for the examination of emotion attention interactions when the task and distractors share the same location. Future studies could use SSVEPs to examine neural processing differences between emotional and neutral scrambled images.</p>

Neural Indices of Emotional Distraction

<p>Emotional stimuli capture our attention. The preferential processing of emotional information is an adaptive mechanism that when relevant to our goal highlights potentially important aspects in the environment. However, when emotional information is task-irrelevant, their presence in the environment can trigger involuntary shifts in attention that cause detriments to performance. One challenge to investigating emotional distraction in the lab is how to objectively investigate the allocation of attention between different elements on the same stimulus display (e.g. between the task and the distractors). One neural measure that overcomes this issue is the Steady-State-Visual-Evoked-Potential (SSVEP). An SSVEP is the neural response of the visual cortex to a flickering stimulus and can be used as a measure of attentional resource allocation (Norcia, Appelbaum, Ales, Cottereau, & Rossion, 2015). In the past, emotional distraction has been studied using spatially separated tasks and distractors. The current thesis presents two experiments using SSVEPs to investigate emotional distraction in a superimposed design. Experiment 1 aimed to conceptually replicate Hindi Attar and colleagues (2010) who developed an SSVEP emotional distraction paradigm to examine attentional resource allocation between background task-irrelevant emotional distractors and a foreground dot-motion task. Participants viewed a stimulus display of moving, flickering dots, while positive or neutrally valanced distractors (or unidentifiable scrambles) were presented in the background of the task. SSVEPs were reduced in the presence of positive intact compared to neutral intact distractors suggesting that the presentation of task-irrelevant emotional stimuli in the same spatial location as a foreground task initiates an involuntary shift of attention away from the task. Unexpectedly, in both Experiments 1 and 2 valence differences were found in SSVEPs between positive and neutral scrambled images; this suggests that there are some perceptual differences between the stimulus sets (e.g. colour) contributing to the drop in SSVEP found for positive intact images. Importantly, in the SSVEP analysis significant valence x image type interactions were found, demonstrating that the drop for positive images was stronger for intact than scrambled image conditions, suggesting that a significant amount of the drop in SSVEP was driven by a difference in valence between the intact distractors. Behavioural results also suggest evidence for emotional distraction through reduced hit rate in the presence of positive intact images compared to neutral intact images in Experiment 1, and reduced detection sensitivity and response criterion for positive intact images in Experiment 2. Overall, the current thesis demonstrates support for the hypothesis that emotional information is more distracting than neutral information and provides a valuable starting point for the examination of emotion attention interactions when the task and distractors share the same location. Future studies could use SSVEPs to examine neural processing differences between emotional and neutral scrambled images.</p>

101 Measurement of Tapping During the Interstimulus Interval as a Validation Metric for the 3-Minute Psychomotor Vigilance Test

Introduction The Psychomotor Vigilance Test is a well-validated measure of sustained attention used to assess daytime alertness in sleep research studies.1 It is commonly used in a variety of research settings due to its high sensitivity to sleep loss and absence of learning effects,2 making it an ideal tool to assess objective alertness. As some types of sleep research transition out of controlled laboratory environments, tools like the PVT require modification to maximize their reliability. The validation of the 3-minute version (PVT-B) against the 10-minute PVT is an example of this modification.3 However, considerable work is needed to improve trust in the utility of the PVT-B in and outside of traditional laboratory settings. Methods We carefully analyzed data from a mobile-based version of the PVT-B, noting responses that occurred during the interstimulus interval which were termed “wrong taps.” Wrong taps indicated that participants were not performing the task as instructed. In some cases, wrong taps occurred across multiple trials of the same PVT block, indicative of participants repeatedly tapping the screen throughout the task to minimize response times. A comprehensive examination of wrong taps was carried out in order to identify instances where this pattern emerged. Results A total of 1,338,538 PVT-B trials from 7,028 participants were examined to determine the number of wrong taps present across all trials. While 91.7% of PVT-B trials were free of wrong taps, 8.3% of PVT-B trials contained 1 or more wrong taps and 5.2% contained 2 or more wrong taps. It appears that a maximum of one wrong tap per trial is acceptable and trials containing 2 or more should be excluded to maximize PVT data quality. Conclusion Utilizing a metric like wrong taps can help identify individuals taking the PVT-B who are tapping the screen multiple times prior to stimulus display. Closely examining this metric can help to ensure the validity of PVT-B administrations. Two possible uses of the metric could be to provide feedback during training trials and to remove trials where this strategy was employed. Support (if any) This analysis was supported by the VA San Diego Healthcare System Research Service.

Choose change: Situation modification, distraction, and reappraisal in mild versus intense negative situations

Despite the theoretical importance and applied potential of situation modification as an emotion regulation strategy, empirical research on how people change situations to regulate their emotions is scarce. Meanwhile, existing paradigms typically allowed participants to avoid the entire situation, thus confounding situation modification with situation selection. In our current experiments, participants could choose between partially modifying their negative emotional environment without avoiding it entirely and two well-established emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal and distraction). Participants did choose situation modification (Experiments 1–2) and they did so more often for intense than for mild stimuli in Experiment 2. In addition, modifying the stimulus display effectively helped downregulating negative affect (Experiments 1–2). Finally, in both experiments, participants opted more for distraction for intense compared to mild stimuli, while they opted more for reappraisal for mild compared to intense stimuli. Presenting a first step in developing a paradigm that allows people to exert control over but to not avoid emotion-provoking situations, we thus show that changing one’s environment helps regulating one’s emotions. More generally, our findings indicate that people prefer to regulate their emotions using disengagement strategies (situation modification and distraction) with high-intensity relative to low-intensity negative situations, while they prefer engagement strategies (reappraisal) with low-intensity relative to high-intensity negative situations.

Response Preparation With Reliable Cues Decreases Response Competition in the Flanker Task

We tested the hypothesis that selective response preparation, based on reliable response cues, reduces response conflict in an Eriksen flanker task. Previous studies of this issue produced inconclusive results because presenting an always valid response cue before the stimulus display turns a choice-response task into a simple-response task, in which full processing of the actual stimulus display is no longer necessary. We conducted two experiments in which we matched stimulus processing in conditions without cues and with reliable cues as far as possible. In both experiments, we presented a nogo target stimulus in 25% of the trials. The different cueing conditions were presented in separate blocks in Experiment 1 but mixed within blocks in Experiment 2. The most important result was the reduction of response conflict as induced by incompatible flanker stimuli in both experiments with reliable response cues. This finding supports the notion of a negative preparation-interference relationship.

When the Good Looks Bad: An Experimental Exploration of the Repulsion Effect

When people are choosing among different options, context seems to play a vital role. For instance, adding a third option can increase the probability of choosing a similar dominating option. This attraction effect is one of the most widely studied phenomena in decision-making research. Its prevalence, however, has been challenged recently by the tainting hypothesis, according to which the inferior option contaminates the attribute space in which it is located, leading to a repulsion effect. In an attempt to test the tainting hypothesis and explore the conditions under which dominated options make dominating options look bad, we conducted four preregistered perceptual decision-making studies with a total of 301 participants. We identified two factors influencing individuals’ behavior: stimulus display and stimulus design. Our results contribute to a growing body of literature showing how presentation format influences behavior in preferential and perceptual decision-making tasks.

Transient Signals and Inattentional Blindness in a Multi-object Tracking Task

Inattentional blindness is a failure to notice an unexpected event when attention is directed elsewhere. The current study examined participants’ awareness of an unexpected object that maintained luminance contrast, switched the luminance once, or repetitively flashed. One hundred twenty participants performed a dynamic tracking task on a computer monitor for which they were instructed to count the number of movement deflections of an attended set of objects while ignoring other objects. On the critical trial, an unexpected cross that did not change its luminance (control condition), switched its luminance once (switch condition), or repetitively flashed (flash condition) traveled across the stimulus display. Participants noticed the unexpected cross more frequently when the luminance feature matched their attention set than when it did not match. Unexpectedly, however, a proportion of the participants who noticed the cross in the switch and flash conditions were statistically comparable. The results suggest that an unexpected object with even a single luminance change can break inattentional blindness in a multi-object tracking task.

Trial-Level Regressor Modulation for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Designs Requiring Strict Periodicity of Stimulus Presentations: Illustrated Using a Go/No-Go Task

Computer-based assessment of many cognitive processes (eg, anticipatory and response readiness processes) requires the use of invariant stimulus display times (SDT) and intertrial intervals (ITI). Although designs with invariant SDTs and ITIs have been used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research, such designs are problematic for fMRI studies because of collinearity issues. This study examined regressor modulation with trial-level reaction times (RT) as a method for improving signal detection in a go/ no-go task with invariant SDTs and ITIs. The effects of modulating the go regressor were evaluated with respect to the detection of BOLD signal-change for the no-go condition. BOLD signal-change to no-go stimuli was examined when the go regressor was based on a (a) canonical hemodynamic response function (HRF), (b) RT-based amplitude-modulated (AM) HRF, and (c) RT-based amplitude and duration modulated (A&DM) HRF. Reaction time–based modulation reduced the collinearity between the go and no-go regressors, with A&DM producing the greatest reductions in correlations between the regressors, and greater reductions in the correlations between regressors were associated with longer mean RTs and greater RT variability. Reaction time–based modulation increased statistical power for detecting group-level no-go BOLD signal-change across a broad set of brain regions. The findings show the efficacy of using regressor modulation to increase power in detecting BOLD signal-change in fMRI studies in which circumstances dictate the use of temporally invariant stimulus presentations.