Doing the unpleasant: How the emotional nature of a threat-relevant task affects task-switching

Much recent work has investigated participants’ ability to switch between simple cognitive tasks. However, little research examines how performing an emotionally relevant task affects one’s ability to switch tasks. Understanding how emotion affects the task-switching process may help elucidate the r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2008-10, Vol.45 (5), p.350-355
Main Authors: Paulitzki, Jeffrey R., Risko, Evan F., Oakman, Jonathan M., Stolz, Jennifer A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Araneae
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive-flexibility
Emotion
Executive control
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Individual-differences
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Task-switching
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Summary:Much recent work has investigated participants’ ability to switch between simple cognitive tasks. However, little research examines how performing an emotionally relevant task affects one’s ability to switch tasks. Understanding how emotion affects the task-switching process may help elucidate the role of emotion in executive control. Across two experiments, participants alternated predictably between two tasks requiring a perceptual decision about either an aversive spider image or a neutral digit. The results demonstrate that fearful participants evinced accelerated engagement toward, and decelerated disengagement away from, the threat-relevant task.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2008.05.003