Anita Deák

Count on arousal: introducing a new method for investigating the effects of emotional valence and arousal on visual search performance

There is a large body of research, indicating that threatening stimuli with evolutionary history are prioritised in visual processing. It has been proposed that all threatening stimuli are prioritised, irrespective of evolutionary age, but it was argued that the method used to produce the results was not suitable for investigating the phenomenon. We present a new visual search task and provide evidence that it is an appropriate tool for future research. In Experiment 1, we investigated how the influence of emotional stimuli on visual search performance varies with valence (negative, positive, and neutral) and arousal (medium and high). Negative valence found to have a greater impact. Furthermore, our results underscore the importance of controlling for arousal. Experiment 2 confirmed these findings and also revealed that negative valence decreases performance by diverting attention away from the task, but arousal can compensate for this by increasing attentional capacity. This mechanism does not seem to be affected by the evolutionary history of the stimulus. In Experiment 3, we reproduced these results using a touchscreen monitor and controlling for variance in low-level visual features. We claim that these results support the notion of preferential processing of threatening cues, regardless of evolutionary origin. However, the level of threat, i.e., how arousing the cue is, has to be taken into account to explain the findings.

Fenyegető ingerek hatása a figyelmi teljesítményre: Áttekintés

Attekintő cikkunkben az erzelmileg negativ, fenyegető, felelmet kivalto ingerek kognitiv teljesitmenyre gyakorolt hatasat vizsgaljuk. Elsőkent a kezdeti vizsgalatokat, az evolucios szemlelet kialakulasat tekintjuk at, bemutatjuk parhuzamosan a modszertan fejlődeset, kezdeti problemait. Ezt kovetően sorra vesszuk az ujabb vizsgalatokat, melyek a szemleletvaltast szorgalmazzak; amellett ervelnek, hogy nem az evolucios mult jelent előnyt a feldolgozasban, hanem az ingerek felelmi relevanciaja. Vegul az ellentmondasra vezető eredmenyek lehetseges okait tekintjuk at tobb szempontbol. Megvizsgaljuk, hogy a kontextus szerepe es az erzelmi arousal mi modon jarulhat hozza a jelenseg jobb megertesehez, es azt, hogy milyen modszertani akadalyok merultek fel, hogyan lehet azokon tullepni. Az attekintett kutatasok eredmenyei alapjan az korvonalazodik, hogy a fenyegető ingereknek idői elsőbbsege van a kognitiv feldolgozas soran. Ugyanakkor integrativ szemleletre van szukseg: onmagaban az erzelmi inger valencia es az ar...

Is a snake scarier than a gun? The ontogenetic–phylogenetic dispute from a new perspective: The role of arousal.

Organisms have to be able to detect threats in order to activate their defensive mechanisms. Previous research has suggested that evolutionary old stimuli have an advantage during visual processing. Recent evidence indicates that negative emotional stimuli have a greater effect on the cognitive system regardless of evolutionary relevance. We suggest that the arousal level of the stimuli could account for these mixed results. We investigated how visual processing is influenced by evolutionary relevant and modern threatening emotional stimuli. Furthermore, we manipulated the level of arousal (medium, high) of the threatening cues. Participants performed an odd-one-out visual search task, in which the target was always a threatening picture. Our results showed that participants detected modern threatening targets faster than they did evolutionary relevant ones. However, the interaction with arousal revealed that this was only true at high-arousal level; there was no difference between evolutionary relevant and modern threatening targets when presented at medium-arousal level. To our knowledge, to date this is one of the first studies to show the importance of the arousal level of stimuli. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that increasing arousal level only heightens visual search performance with modern threatening cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating evolutionary constraints on the detection of threatening stimuli in preschool children

Numerous objects and animals could be threatening, and thus, children learn to avoid them early. Spiders and syringes are among the most common targets of fears and phobias of the modern word. However, they are of different origins: while the former is evolutionary relevant, the latter is not. We sought to investigate the underlying mechanisms that make the quick detection of such stimuli possible and enable the impulse to avoid them in the future. The respective categories of threatening and non-threatening targets were similar in shape, while low-level visual features were controlled. Our results showed that children found threatening cues faster, irrespective of the evolutionary age of the cues. However, they detected non-threatening evolutionary targets faster than non-evolutionary ones. We suggest that the underlying mechanism may be different: general feature detection can account for finding evolutionary threatening cues quickly, while specific features detection is more appropriate for modern threatening stimuli.

Machiavellian emotion regulation in a cognitive reappraisal task: An fMRI study

Affective coldness is one of the main features of Machiavellianism. Recent studies have revealed that Machiavellians are emotionally detached and that this “affective blunting” is associated with intense feelings, emotional instability, negative emotions, and difficulty in enduring distress. We used brain-imaging techniques to investigate emotion regulation in Machiavellianism at a neuropsychological level. We used situations in which participants were required to demonstrate emotional flexibility to explore the controversy surrounding the fact that Machiavellianism is associated with both cold-mindedness and emotional instability. Participants performed a reappraisal task in which emotionally evocative pictures (from the International Affective Picture System) were presented in different contexts (negative, positive, and neutral). They were asked to interpret a scenario according to its title and to reinterpret it according to another context created by a new title (e.g., negatively labeled pictures shifted to positively labeled ones). During task performance, Machiavellians showed increased activation of brain regions associated with emotion generation—for example, the amygdala and insula. This indicates that Machiavellian individuals are able to be involved emotionally in social situations. Increased activation in the temporal and parahippocampal regions during reappraisal suggests that Machiavellians use semantic–perceptual processes to construct alternative interpretations of the same situation and have enhanced memory for emotional stimuli. Furthermore, they seem to possess an intense awareness that leads them to shift attention from external to internal information to detect environmental changes. These cognitive processes may enable them to adjust their behavior quickly. This study supports the flexibility hypothesis of Machiavellianism and suggests that Machiavellians’ approach to emotion regulation is linked to their rational mode of thinking.

A viselkedéses gátló és aktiváló rendszer skálák (BIS-BAS) hazai adaptációja

Hatter A Carver es White (1994) altal kidolgozott Viselkedeses Gatlo es Aktivalo Rendszer Skalak (BIS-BAS Skalak) a legszelesebb korben hasznalt es leginkabb idezett merőeszkoz, amely Gray (1982, 1991) Megerősitesre valo erzekenyseg elmeleten alapul (Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory , RST). Cel A kerdőiv magyar nyelven nem erhető el, ezert jelen tanulmany celja e hiany potlasa, a kerdőiv nagy elemszamu mintan tortenő hazai adaptacioja soran szerzett pszichometriai jellemzők kozreadasaval. Modszer A kerdőivet keresztmetszeti kutatas soran vizsgaltuk, egeszseges felnőttek 1430 fős mintajan (M=29,36 ev). Az alkalmazott kerdőivek: Eysenck Szemelyiseg Kerdőiv (EPQ), Buntetes es Jutalomerzekenyseg Kerdőiv (SPSRQ), Zuckerman–Kuhlman Szemelyiseg Kerdőiv (ZKPQ). Eredmenyek A reliabilitasvizsgalat jo belső megbizhatosagot jelez (Cronbach-α=0,70–0,82), az intraklassz korrelacio alapjan a kerdőiv skalai időben megbizhatoak (ICC=0,76–0,88). A feltaro faktoranalizis ot onallo főkomponenst azonositott, amelyek a teljes ...

Érzelemszabályozás és Machiavellizmus kapcsolata az agyi aktiváció tükrében: fMRI-kísérlet

A klasszikus nezet szerint a machiavellista szemelyek erzelmileg nem vagy kevesbe vonodnak be egy helyzetbe. Interperszonalis kapcsolataikat a melegseg hianya jellemzi, kerulik masok szoros kozelseget. A rajuk varo feladat kognitiv aspektusara koncentralnak, tehat egy helyzet ertekelese es pontos megertese vezerli őket. Affektiv tavolsagtartasuk kovetkezteben erzelmileg megterhelő helyzetekben is kepesek hideg fejjel es logikusan gondolkodni. A kerdes az, hogy a machiavellistak erzelmi tavolsagtartasa mogott az erzelmek megelesenek hianya all-e, vagy a kialakulo erzelmeiket erősen kontroll alatt tartjak? Kiserletunkben a resztvevők agym7kodeset mertuk erzelmeket előhivo feladat vegrehajtasa kozben, ami egyuttal megkovetelte a helyzet elterő nezőpontokbol valo ertelmezeset, a rugalmas valtas kepesseget is. Az elterő (es atvaltast igenylő) helyzetek egyben elterő erzelmi allapotokat is jelentettek. Az erzelmi atkeretezesi feladat soran agyi aktivaciot talaltunk a machiavellistak hippokampuszaban, az inzulaban, a hatulso cingularis tekerveny es a cuneus teruleten. A machiavellistakra jellemző agyi aktivacio tobbsege (hippokampusz, cuneus) kognitiv funkciokat ellato teruleteken jelentkezik. Ezek reszt vesznek a figyelmi, emlekezeti folyamatok vegrehajtasaban, a nem relevans informaciok gatlasaban. Ugyanakkor az erzelemszabalyozas agyi folyamatai is megjelennek, melyet az inzula es a hatulso cingularis kereg teruleteinek aktivacioja bizonyit. Ezek az eredmenyek azt mutatjak, hogy valoban jellemző rajuk egy erzelmi tavolsagtartas, ugyanakkor intenziv erzelmeket elnek at, amely befolyasolhatja a donteshozatali folyamataikat.