title: A Normalization Framework for Emotional Attention.
abstract: The normalization model of attention proposes that attention can affect performance by response- or contrast-gain changes, depending on the size of the stimulus and attention field. Here, we manipulated the attention field by emotional valence, negative faces versus positive faces, while holding stimulus size constant in a spatial cueing task. We observed changes in the cueing effect consonant with changes in response gain for negative faces and contrast gain for positive faces. Neuroimaging experiments confirmed that subjects' attention fields were narrowed for negative faces and broadened for positive faces. Importantly, across subjects, the self-reported emotional strength of negative faces and positive faces correlated, respectively, both with response- and contrast-gain changes and with primary visual cortex (V1) narrowed and broadened attention fields. Effective connectivity analysis showed that the emotional valence-dependent attention field was closely associated with feedback from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to V1. These findings indicate a crucial involvement of DLPFC in the normalization processes of emotional attention.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xilin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Shruti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Japee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Zaid
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Safiullah
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4438-1856
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mlynaryk
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Leslie G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Ungerleider
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D011601:Psychophysics