Motivated attention--Complexity, novelty, or emotion

情绪图片吸引注意力，这是通过传统的资源分配指标来衡量的，如惊吓眨眼抑制的幅度和持续时间，P3成分对二次惊吓探测的幅度，以及在情绪图片加工过程中后期正向电位的幅度。这里检验了两个关于注意在情绪中的作用的假说：动机注意假说认为，当情感线索激活基本的双相动机系统时，注意力被自动调动，产生一个定向的、专心的集合。知觉编码假说认为，情绪中的注意效应是由于刺激的复杂性、熟悉性或新颖性的差异造成的，特别是当这些因素影响到初始编码(即识别)阶段时。对这两个假说进行了大量的关键测试，这将使我们能够确定注意力在情绪处理中的作用。提出了一系列心理生理学实验，使用探测-计时范式，在画面开始(或偏移)后以不同的间隔呈现惊吓探测。三种主要的依赖测量被用来评估操纵变量对注意力和情绪的影响：惊吓眨眼和惊吓探测事件相关电位将被用来跟踪注意力和情绪随时间的变化；图片起始事件相关电位将被用来指示图片编码过程中的变化。在四年中，这些范例将被带入功能磁共振成像领域，以识别与情绪处理中的注意力相关的结构。综上所述，这里提出的基础科学研究将阐明基本动机系统的激活在多大程度上自动引导注意力，以及情感处理在多大程度上受到刺激的复杂性、新颖性或熟悉性等次要因素的影响。这些数据将为探索和理解患有心理健康或神经问题的人群的情绪和注意力缺陷提供基础。

Emotional pictures engage attention, as measured by traditional indices of resource allocation such as the magnitude and duration of startle blink inhibition, the amplitude of the P3 component to a secondary startle probe, and the amplitude of the late positive potential during affective picture processing. Two hypotheses exploring the role of attention in emotion are tested here: the motivated attention hypothesis holds that when affective cues activate basic biphasic motivational systems, attention is automatically mobilized, producing an oriented, attentive set. The perceptual encoding hypothesis views attentional effects in emotion as resulting from differences in stimulus complexity, familiarity or novelty, particularly as these impact the initial encoding (i.e., identification) stage. A number of critical tests of these two hypotheses are presented, which will allow us to determine the role of attention in emotional processing. A series of psychophysiology experiments are proposed that use the probe-timing paradigm, in which startle probes are presented at various intervals after picture onset (or offset). Three primary dependent measures are used to assess effects of manipulated variables on attention and emotion: The elicited startle blink and the startle probe ERP will be used to track attention and emotion across time; picture onset ERPs will be used to index changes in picture encoding processes. In Years 4-these paradigms will be brought into the fMRI domain to identify structures associated with attention in emotional processing. Taken together, the basic science studies proposed here will elucidate the extent to which activation of basic motivational systems automatically directs attention and the extent to which affective processing is mediated by secondary factors of stimulus complexity, novelty, or familiarity. These data will provide a foundation for exploring and understanding emotional and attentional deficits in populations suffering mental-health or neurological problems.