title: Happiness increases distraction by auditory deviant stimuli.
abstract: Rare and unexpected changes (deviants) in an otherwise repeated stream of task-irrelevant auditory distractors (standards) capture attention and impair behavioural performance in an ongoing visual task. Recent evidence indicates that this effect is increased by sadness in a task involving neutral stimuli. We tested the hypothesis that such effect may not be limited to negative emotions but reflect a general depletion of attentional resources by examining whether a positive emotion (happiness) would increase deviance distraction too. Prior to performing an auditory-visual oddball task, happiness or a neutral mood was induced in participants by means of the exposure to music and the recollection of an autobiographical event. Results from the oddball task showed significantly larger deviance distraction following the induction of happiness. Interestingly, the small amount of distraction typically observed on the standard trial following a deviant trial (post-deviance distraction) was not increased by happiness. We speculate that happiness might interfere with the disengagement of attention from the deviant sound back towards the target stimulus (through the depletion of cognitive resources and/or mind wandering) but help subsequent cognitive control to recover from distraction.
authors: Neuropsychology & Cognition Group, Department of Psychology and Research Institute for Health Sciences (iUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain.|Health Research Institute of Palma (IdISPa), Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain.
authors: Antonia Pilar
authors: AP
authors: Pacheco-Unguetti
authors: Neuropsychology & Cognition Group, Department of Psychology and Research Institute for Health Sciences (iUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain.|Health Research Institute of Palma (IdISPa), Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain.|School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors: Fabrice B R
authors: FB
authors: Parmentier
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009146:Music; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: deviance distraction; induced happiness; neutral stimuli; oddball task; post-deviance distraction