title: Happy but still focused: failures to find evidence for a mood-induced widening of visual attention.
abstract: In models of affect and cognition, it is held that positive affect broadens the scope of attention. Consistent with this claim, previous research has indeed suggested that positive affect is associated with impaired selective attention as evidenced by increased interference of spatially distant distractors. However, several recent findings cast doubt on the reliability of this observation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention in a visual flanker task is influenced by positive mood induction. Across three experiments, positive affect consistently failed to exert any impact on selective attention. The implications of this null-finding for theoretical models of affect and cognition are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium. Lynn.Bruyneel@UGent.be
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruyneel
authors.forename: Henk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Steenbergen
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hommel
authors.forename: Guido P H
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Band
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Raedt
authors.forename: Ernst H W
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Koster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult