Understanding Cognition-Emotion Interactions in Attention and Memory: An Integrative Approach

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During the past decade there has been a great deal of interest in the interactions between cognition and emotion, which has been driven by the recognition of the important implications of this research for both basic and clinical sciences. Neuroimaging studies have identified several brain systems involved in mediating cognition-emotion interactions (e.g., Anderson Pessoa, 2013; Vuilleumier, 2005), which has contributed to the weight of evidence for these phenomena. Researchers have shown that emotional stimuli are attended to more and remembered better than affectively neutral stimuli, under a wide variety of conditions (e.g., Murphy Sears, Thomas, LeHuquet, Yiend, 2010). Researchers have also shown that the shifts in mood we experience can affect the way we perceive the world, the way we attend to it, and how we remember it (e.g., Dolcos, 2010; Eich, Geraerts, Schooler, e attention to stimuli (both images and words). The ability to precisely track and record an individual's gaze will allow our experiments to discern individual differences in the moment-by-moment processing of information, from the initial orientation of attention to subsequent shifts of attention within displays composed of multiple words or images. We will also use eye gaze tracking to measure the disengagement of attention from emotional stimuli (the speed at which attention is shifted away from a word or image), which is superior to using manual response latencies to infer attentional disengagement. My research program will include experiments contrasting experimentally-induced moods (via positive and negative mood induction procedures; e.g., Newman e.g., Arndt, Newman, s lab visit. These studies will significantly advance researchers' understanding of how attention, memory, and emotion are integrated in human cognition, and will have significant implications for existing theories and new theory development.