title: Interactive effects of trait and state affect on top-down control of attention.
abstract: Few studies have investigated how attentional control is affected by transient affective states while taking individual differences in affective traits into consideration. In this study, participants completed a color-word Stroop task immediately after undergoing a positive, neutral or negative affective context manipulation (ACM). Behavioral performance was unaffected by any ACM considered in isolation. For individuals high in trait negative affect (NA), performance was impaired by the negative but not the positive or neutral ACM. Neuroimaging results indicate that activity in primarily top-down control regions of the brain (inferior frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) was suppressed in the presence of emotional arousal (both negative and positive ACMs). This effect appears to have been exacerbated or offset by co-occurring activity in other top-down control regions (parietal) and emotion processing regions (orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala and nucleus accumbens) as a function of the valence of state affect (positive or negative) and trait affect (trait NA or trait PA). Neuroimaging results are consistent with behavioral findings. In combination, they indicate both additive and interactive influences of trait and state affect on top-down control of attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Juyoen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Jenika R B
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: McDavitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, Neuroimaging Research for Veterans Center, Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spielberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Laura D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Crocker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Infantolino
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Springfield, IL 62703, USA and.
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Towers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, Department of Psychology, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: Stacie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61820, USA, w-heller@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D059906:Neuroimaging; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D057190:Stroop Test; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attention; cognitive control; interference; state affect; trait affect