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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
Trees over forest: unpleasant stimuli compete for attention with global features
Kaisa M Hartikainen1, Keith H Ogawa, Robert T Knight
1Department of Psychology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, USA. kaisa.hartikainen@pshp.fi
None:
Whether emotional distracters call for attentional resources has been discussed in several studies. We have earlier shown that brief unpleasant distracters captured right hemisphere (RH) attentional resources as evidenced with reduced event-related potential responses and increased reaction times to nonemotional left visual field/RH targets. The aim of this study was to investigate whether emotional distracters selectively interfere with processes predominantly relying on the RH such as processing global visual features. Evoked potentials were recorded from 18 participants carrying out a visual discrimination task engaging global RH and local left hemisphere-dependent processes. Unpleasant distracters reduced global target detection-related right parietal activity. We conclude that brief unpleasant distracters compete for RH attentional resources with global level processing.
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