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Emotion based attentional priority for storage in visual short-term memory
Luca Simione1, Lucia Calabrese2, Francesco S Marucci2
1Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy; ISTC, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, CNR, Rome, Italy.
Plos One
|May 3, 2014
Summary
Emotional faces are prioritized in visual short-term memory (VSTM) under high competition. Threatening faces show superiority when cognitive resources are limited, demonstrating attentional prioritization.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Research indicates emotional stimuli are prioritized over neutral ones when cognitive resources are limited, a phenomenon termed 'emotional superiority'.
- Debate exists whether this superiority applies to all emotional stimuli or specifically to threat-related stimuli.
- Understanding attentional prioritization for emotional faces in visual short-term memory (VSTM) is crucial for cognitive models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prioritization of emotional faces for storage in VSTM under varying levels of processing competition.
- To differentiate between general emotional superiority and specific threat superiority effects.
- To examine how task demands and resource availability influence the prioritization of emotional stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a visual short-term memory (VSTM) report procedure with schematic faces (angry, happy, neutral).
- Manipulated processing competition by varying array exposure duration (150 ms vs. 400 ms) in Experiment 1.
- Manipulated competition by varying set size (3 vs. 5 stimuli) with a fixed exposure duration (150 ms) in Experiment 2.
Main Results:
- Experiment 1 (high competition, 150 ms exposure) revealed an emotional superiority effect.
- Experiment 2 (maximal competition, 5-stimulus set size) demonstrated threat superiority, but not general emotional superiority.
- Findings indicate attentional prioritization for emotional faces in VSTM is modulated by task demands and resource availability.
Conclusions:
- Emotional faces are prioritized for storage in VSTM, with threat superiority emerging under conditions of maximal cognitive load.
- Task demands critically influence the availability of processing resources, thereby modulating the extent of emotional or threat prioritization.
- The study integrates research on visual selection and emotion, highlighting resource availability as a key factor in processing emotional stimuli.
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