Browsing by Author "Santacroce, Lindsay Ashton"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Exploring the Limits of the Emotional Attentional Blink(2023-05-22) Santacroce, Lindsay Ashton; Tamber-Rosenau, Benjamin J.; Hernandez, Arturo E.; Bick, Johanna R.; Leonard, Carly J.In the emotional attentional blink (EAB; also termed emotion-induced blindness), a single target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream of fillers is difficult to report when it is preceded by a task-irrelevant emotional distractor, indicating temporal attentional capture by emotion. However, recent research has shown that the EAB is weaker than previously assumed and has suggested that emotion is not a strong driver of stimulus-driven attentional capture, at least in RSVP tasks. This dissertation explored the limits of the EAB with two aims: Aim 1 asked if the EAB is actually driven by emotion, or rather visual distinctiveness that is then modulated by emotion. Using RSVP streams with critical distractors that were emotional, visually distinct, both, or neither, the results support the latter account, and further suggest that the EAB can be characterized as two phases. In Experiment 1.1 with image stimuli, visual salience (regardless of emotion) led to an immediate—but rapidly attenuating—blink, while emotion with low visual salience led to a delayed blink with sparing of early lags. Experiment 1.2 with word stimuli did not show this same effect. Aim 2 asked if emotion appears to be a weak driver of stimulus-driven attentional capture in the EAB because the rapid dynamics of RSVP tasks require general suppression of all stimulus-driven attention to enhance goal-driven attentional control. The two experiments for Aim 2 (Experiment 2.1 with images and 2.2 with words) utilized a novel “skeletal” EAB paradigm with most filler items removed (as previously used in some two-target attentional blink studies) and compared performance to the typical EAB paradigm. Contrary to predictions, similar EABs were observed in skeletal and RSVP paradigms, suggesting that general suppression of all items in RSVP streams does not lead to a weaker EAB. Together, these aims provide a better understanding of the EAB and stimulus-driven attentional capture by emotional stimuli.Item Non-Target Emotional Stimuli Must Be Highly Conspicuous in Order to Break through the Attentional Blink(2019-12) Santacroce, Lindsay Ashton; Tamber-Rosenau, Benjamin J.; Hernandez, Arturo E.; Bick, Johanna R.In the attentional blink (AB), the second of two targets (T2) separated by a short lag in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream is difficult to report. The AB is typically thought of as a top-down effect because it is triggered when the first target (T1) matches a search template. However, the AB is modulated when either target has emotional valence, and an AB-like effect can be triggered when a task-irrelevant but valenced critical distractor item (CDI) replaces T1. Neither target nor CDI valence manipulations fully captures the interplay between bottom-up and top-down attention in the AB. The valenced-target approach intrinsically conflates top-down and bottom-up attention. The CDI approach does not manipulate final-target valence, which is critical because such a manipulation can cause a target to “break through” the AB (in the target-manipulation approach). The novel approach of the present research resolves this methodological challenge by indirectly measuring whether a purely bottom-up CDI can break through the AB. This is accomplished by adding a valenced CDI to the “classic,” two-target AB. Participants viewed RSVP streams containing a T1-CDI pair followed by a variable lag and then T2. If the CDI’s emotional valence is sufficient to break through the AB, T2 performance should be modulated by CDI valence, yielding an indirect signal of bottom-up capture by emotional stimuli. Results demonstrated that CDI valence only affects the AB when CDIs are also extremely visually conspicuous. Thus, emotional valence alone is insufficient to break through the AB.