Open AccessDistracting tracking: Interactions between negative emotion and attentional load in multiple-object tracking.
Author(s) -
Gina M D'Andrea-Penna,
Sebastian Frank,
Todd F. Heatherton,
Peter U. Tse
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
emotion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.261
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1931-1516
pISSN - 1528-3542
DOI - 10.1037/emo0000329
Subject(s) - distraction , psychology , psycinfo , fixation (population genetics) , cognitive psychology , tracking (education) , task (project management) , attentional bias , cognition , medline , neuroscience , population , pedagogy , demography , management , sociology , political science , law , economics
Stimuli that attract exogenous attention have been shown to interfere with behavioral performance on various tasks. In the present study, participants performed multiple-object tracking (MOT) in conditions where either neutral or negatively valenced images were flashed at fixation. Results reveal a significant impairment of tracking accuracy in the emotional MOT conditions compared to the neutral conditions specifically at the highest level of task difficulty. These findings suggest that emotional distraction is most detrimental when maximal endogenous attentional engagement is required. This interaction between emotional distraction and attentional load is inconsistent with existing models of emotional distraction. (PsycINFO Database Record