How spatial attention and attentional resources influence the processing of emotional visual scenes

Pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant pictures appeared for 150 ms in either peripheral or foveal vision, with or without a concurrent foveal load task. Participants indicated whether the visual scene in the picture was or was not pleasant, or was or was not unpleasant. The manipulation of picture location (foveal vs. peripheral) aimed to tap spatial attention, while the perceptual load task was used to manipulate the availability of attentional resources. Results showed that emotional valence was discriminated above the chance level even in the attentionally-constrained conditions (peripheral presentation combined with perceptual load). Nevertheless, valence encoding depended on both attentional mechanisms, as indicated by reductions in accuracy and by slowed reaction times in valence identification when attention was allocated elsewhere, relative to when the scene appeared at fixation and when there was no concurrent task. This indicates that emotional processing requires attention.