emotion and attention selection

Question 1

what is the attentional blink?

Answer 1

A brief lapse in attention where a person fails to notice a second target (T2) presented 200–600 ms after the first (T1) in a rapid visual stream, due to limited processing capacity.

Question 2

what is the attention window where you are likely to miss the second stimulus?

Answer 2

200ms-600ms

Question 3

when are you very likely to notice T2?

Answer 3

800ms onwards

Question 4

is there a difference in attentional blink when stimulus is emotive?

Answer 4

yes - we are more likely to notice the T2 stimulus if it is emotional even before the 600ms

Question 5

when participants had bilateral amygdala damage did they still pose an advantage for emotional stimuli?

Answer 5

No- they showed no difference between emotional and and neutral stimuli

Question 6

do moral words have a reduced or normal attentional blink?

Answer 6

reduced - they stand out

Question 7

do twiters with neutral or moral words get reposted more?

Answer 7

moral

Question 8

why do moral tweets get more reposts?

Answer 8

they stand out and hole our attention for longer

Question 9

what does emotional Stroop task show?

Answer 9

The Stroop task supports the idea that emotion can capture attention. Emotional words disrupt naming the ink.

Question 10

Do pop out emotional stimuli grab peoples attention?

Answer 10

when having to search through faces - the angry face stands out the most

Question 11

why are Ps quicker at identifying a spider amongst flowers rather than a flower amongst spiders?

Answer 11

• We picture all objects that can move as threatening. living animals have this potential.
• The moving animal behind the tree is probably a young deer, but maybe it’s a tiger: better to be safe and orient to it quickly.

Question 12

posners cueing task -did emotional cues facilitate cueing for valid traials ?

Answer 12

for valid trials they had no effect cueing was not faster - it just mattered where the cue was

Question 13

Does emotional cueing affect Posner’s invalid trials?

Answer 13

Yes, emotional cues (like fearful faces) on invalid trials can enhance performance since the stimulus means you focus at the spot more quickly so have more time reorientate yourself. cues don’t seem to have a significant effect on valid trials (where the cue points to the correct location).

Question 14

when ambiguous words were spoken how did anxiety Ps respond compared to controls?

Answer 14

Those with anxiety perceived the negative meaning, such as “pain” rather than “pane” more than controls

Question 15

as well as drugs what has been found to effect peoples mood?

Answer 15

fragrence

Question 16

when ps had to detected when two lines had grown further apart when did their ability improve?

Answer 16

• when they were using peppermint or lily fragrences

Question 17

what is active when feeling disgutsed?

Answer 17

insula

Question 18

when people are disguted by people what happens?

Answer 18

insula becomes active this can even be in front of like homeless or people who have had abortions

Question 19

moral amplification

Answer 19

strong moral views

Question 20

are these insular effects big

Answer 20

no - rare - more active when you are disgusted by like smells rather than people

Question 21

What types of images were shown to participants in the study on moral conviction?

Answer 21

Abortion: Aborted fetus (issue-specific disgust)

Animal rights: Morally relevant, not abortion

Pure disgust: Overflowing toilets

Control: Grass (neutral)

Question 22

What did the study measure after showing the images?

Answer 22

Participants rated how much abortion reflects their core moral beliefs and convictions (moral conviction).

Question 23

What was the key finding for the abortion image condition?

Answer 23

Participants who saw the abortion image showed higher moral conviction about abortion than those in other groups. meaning they thought of it more as a moral belief rather than a simple opinion

Question 24

What does this suggest about emotional images and moral conviction?

Answer 24

Issue-specific emotional images (e.g., disgust tied to abortion) amplify moral conviction more than unrelated disgust or neutral images.

Question 25

why do dogs not wolves look at people when they want food?

Answer 25

Dogs have been selectively bred to cooperate with humans during social interactions

Question 26

What happens when 4-year-olds are asked what sweets someone likes, when their gaze is focused?

Answer 26

They often say Polos if Charlie is looking at them in the image—indicating attention influences assumptions about preference.

Question 27

What did Baron-Cohen et al. (1995) find about attention and liking?

Answer 27

When someone repeatedly orients toward an object, we start to like it more—social attention shapes preference.

Question 28

How does joint attention affect feelings toward objects?

Answer 28

Being repeatedly directed to an object by another person can increase our liking for it

Question 29

How are emotion and visual perception related?

Answer 29

They are deeply intertwined—emotions shape what and how we see, rather than being separate from perception.

Question 30

What effect do fearful faces have on visual processing?

Answer 30

They increase contrast sensitivity, even without drawing conscious attention.

Question 31

How does a happy mood affect visual attention?

Answer 31

It promotes global processing—focusing on the bigger picture (e.g., the "forest").

Question 32

What does a sad mood do to visual focus?

Answer 32

It promotes local processing—focusing on details (e.g., the "trees").

Question 33

Which tests measure global vs. local perception influenced by mood?

Answer 33

The Kimchi test and Navon letters. Navon test tests global and local perception

Question 34

What effect does a sad mood have on the Ebbinghaus illusion ( circles of the same size but one surrounded by small one surrounded by big circles) ?

Answer 34

It reduces susceptibility—people are less influenced by surrounding context. This tells us that Sadness leads to reduced contextual processing and a more analytic style.

Question 35

How does anxiety influence attention?

Answer 35

It causes hyper-focus on threats, even subconsciously.

Question 36

What does a positive mood do to attentional focus?

Answer 36

It directs attention toward pleasant or rewarding stimuli.

Question 37

What happens during binocular rivalry when one face is linked to negative info?

Answer 37

When a face is linked to negative information, it becomes more "dominant" in binocular rivalry because the negative emotion attached to it enhances how noticeable or perceptually salient that face is. This makes it more likely to "take over" the visual field compared to other images.

Question 38

How does thirst or desire affect perception?

Answer 38

Desired objects appear larger or closer than they actually are.

Question 39

How does physical effort influence perception of hills and distances?

Answer 39

Effort makes hills look steeper and distances seem longer.

Question 40

How do emotions act like energy signals in shaping perception?

Answer 40

Negative emotions (e.g., sadness, fear, fatigue) act as internal cues that the body may be low on energy or should conserve effort. This influences perception by making physical tasks (like climbing a hill or walking a distance) seem more demanding. Emotions simulate energy availability in the brain. This causes people to perceive hills as steeper or distances as longer. It’s an adaptive mechanism: discourages energy use when feeling depleted. Backed by experiments where people with backpacks or in sad moods overestimated effort-related features.

Question 41

how do people with acrophobia view heights

Answer 41

People with acrophobia perceive greater vertical distances from heights than others. Their fear alters perception to exaggerate danger and encourage avoidance, even if there’s no actual risk of falling.