The modulation of task relevance on emotion-induced blindness depends on whether targets and distractors belong to the same category

Previous research on emotion-induced blindness (EIB) argues emotional distractors capture attention in a bottom-up manner due to their physical and emotional salience. However, recent research has shown it is controversial whether EIB will be modulated by top-down factors. The present study further...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition and emotion 2024-12, Vol.38 (8), p.1318-1329
Main Authors: Xu, Jiaxin, Pei, Yingming, Yu, Qingyue, Zhang, Kexin, Ren, Yanju
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention
Attention - physiology
Attentional capture
Blindness
Distraction
Emotion-induced blindness (EIB)
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Female
Humans
Judgment
Male
Photic Stimulation
Relevance
Stimulus
task relevance
top-down factors
Young Adult
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Summary:Previous research on emotion-induced blindness (EIB) argues emotional distractors capture attention in a bottom-up manner due to their physical and emotional salience. However, recent research has shown it is controversial whether EIB will be modulated by top-down factors. The present study further investigated whether the magnitude of EIB would be modulated by top-down factors, specifically the emotional relevance between tasks and distractors. Participants were divided into two groups having the same targets except for different task instructions. The orientation judgment group was asked to judge the orientation of the target (an emotionally irrelevant task), and the emotion judgment group was required to judge the emotional valence of the target (an emotionally relevant task). It was found the emotional relevance between tasks and distractors has no modulation on the magnitudes of EIB in two groups when targets and distractors are from different categories (Experiment 1), but a modulation when they are from the same category (Experiment 2). Consequently, we contend top-down task relevance modulates the EIB effect and distractors' priority is regulated by the emotional relevance between tasks and distractors. The current study holds attentional capture by stimulus-driven is unconditional in EIB, while attentional capture by goal-driven requires certain conditions.
ISSN:0269-9931
1464-0600
1464-0600
DOI:10.1080/02699931.2024.2369894