Interaction of Emotional Perception and Visual Attention

描述(由申请人提供)：负面信息的处理及其对行为的有害影响已被广泛调查。重要的是，大脑处理负面信息的方式被认为与抑郁症和焦虑症的精神病理密切相关。积极信息的处理，比如通过奖励操纵，也得到了广泛的研究。在这种情况下，大脑处理积极信息的方式被认为与药物滥用和成瘾有中心联系。虽然我们对处理消极和积极信息的系统已经知道很多，但我们在理解它们如何同时在大脑中发挥作用从而影响“正常”和临床相关行为方面才刚刚开始取得进展。填补这一空白是 这一点很重要，因为在许多现实世界中，消极和积极的系统都会同时影响行为。例如，从临床角度来看，在抑郁症中，这两个系统都可能扮演重要角色。本应用的目的是促进我们对大脑中消极和积极信息处理之间的相互作用以及它们对行为的影响的理解。将被研究的关键问题包括：按照对手加工的经典理论，消极和积极的系统是否总是像通常假设的那样，相互作用是敌对的？在什么条件下，如果有的话，它们会产生协同作用？语境在塑造消极和积极系统之间的相互作用中扮演什么角色，比如由哪些信息与任务相关？跨越两个目标，我们将测试消极和积极加工之间的交互作用是对抗还是合作。目标1将研究当厌恶信息是“准时”的(例如，厌恶的图像或在特定时间点呈现的CS+刺激)时，消极和积极加工之间的交互作用。研究包括负面信息对奖赏加工的影响以及奖赏对厌恶刺激加工的影响。AIM 2将调查 当厌恶信息是“状态”时，消极和积极加工之间的相互作用(例如，厌恶事件与可能发生厌恶事件的长时间情境相联系；比方说，几十秒到几分钟)。总体而言，我们希望阐明大脑中负向和正向加工之间相互作用的潜在机制，并为认知/情感神经科学做出重要的新贡献，这些科学有可能具有临床意义。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The processing of negative information and its often deleterious impact on behavior has been extensively investigated. Importantly, how the brain processes negative information is thought to be centrally linked to the psychopathologies of depression and the anxiety disorders. The processing of positive information, say as manipulated via reward, also has been extensively studied. In this case, how the brain processes positive information is thought to be centrally linked to drug abuse and addiction. Although a lot is known about the systems involved in processing negative and positive information, we are only starting to make progress in understanding how they simultaneously act in the brain and thus influence "normal" and clinically relevant behaviors. Filling this gap is important because in many real-world situations both negative and positive systems simultaneously contribute to behaviors. From a clinical standpoint, for example, in depression both systems likely play important roles. The objective of the present application is to advance our understanding of the interactions between negative and positive information processing in the brain and their impact on behavior. Critical questions that will be investigated include: do negative and positive systems interact always antagonistically as often assumed following classical theories of opponent processing? Under what conditions, if any, do they interact synergistically? What is the role of context, say as determined by which information is task relevant, in shaping the interactions between negative and positive systems? Across two aims, we will test whether the interactions between negative and positive processing are antagonistic vs. cooperative. Aim 1 will investigate interactions between negative and positive processing when aversive information is "punctual" (e.g., an aversive image or a CS+ stimulus presented at a specific point in time). Both the impact of negative information on reward processing and the impact of reward on the processing of aversive stimuli will be investigated. Aim 2 will investigate the interactions between negative and positive processing when aversive information is "state" like (e.g., aversive events linked to prolonged situations in which aversive events may occur; say, tens of seconds to minutes). Collectively, we expect to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the interactions between negative and positive processing in the brain, and make important new contributions to cognitive/affective neuroscience that have the potential to be of clinical relevance.