The effect of fear on attentional processing in a sample of healthy females.
The present experiment examines the effect of fear on efficiency of three attention networks: executive attention, orienting and alerting, in a healthy female sample. International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images were used to elicit both a fear response and a non-emotional response in 100 participants. During the emotion manipulation, participants performed a modified version of the Attention Network Test (ANT). Results showed enhanced executive attention in the fear condition compared to the control condition. Specifically, during a fear experience participants were better able to inhibit irrelevant information resulting in faster response times to a target. There was no effect of fear on orienting while the effect of fear on alerting was inconclusive. It is suggested that enhanced executive attention in fear-eliciting situations may function to focus attention on a potentially threat-related target, thus facilitating subsequent rapid responding.
Finucane
Anne M
AM
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, Scotland, UK. a.finucane@sms.ed.ac.uk
Power
Mick J
MJ
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult