Cited by 88Face Recognition and PerceptionNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Does emotion processing require attention? The effects of fear conditioning and perceptual load

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Yates, Alan, Ashwin, Chris, Fox, Elaine·2010·Emotion

Abstract

This study examined the impact of perceptual load on the processing of unattended threat-relevant faces. Participants performed a central letter-classification task while ignoring irrelevant face distractors, which appeared above or below the central task. The face distractors were graded for affective salience by means of aversive fear conditioning, with a conditioned angry face (CS+), an unconditioned angry face (CS-), and a neutral control face. The letter-classification task was presented under conditions of both low and high perceptual load. Results showed that fear conditioned (i.e., CS+) angry face distractors interfered with task performance more than CS- angry or neutral face distractors but that this interference was completely eliminated by high perceptual load. These findings demonstrate that aversively conditioned face distractors capture attention only under conditions of low perceptual load.

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  • Basic research suggests that the ability of threatening stimuli to capture gaze is affected by perceptual load and eccentricity.

    “Basic research suggests that the ability of threatening stimuli to capture gaze is affected by how many competing stimuli are present (perceptual load; Yates et al., 2010) and how far into the periphery stimuli are presented (eccentricity; Calvo, Nummenmaa, & Hyönä, 2006).”

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Authors
Yates, A., Ashwin, C., & Fox, E.
Affiliations
University of Essex (GB)
Venue
Emotion
Published
2010
Volume
10
Issue
6
Pages
822-830
ISSN
  • 1528-3542 (ISSN-L)
  • 1931-1516
OpenAlex
W2092023364
Cited by
88
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
FWCI
2.51
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Emotion (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Open Access at Essex (University of Essex) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust (076701)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
emotional processing, attention, perceptual load, fear conditioning, attentional capture, distractor interference, affective salience, angry faces
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Attention, Conditioning, Psychological, Emotions, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Processes, Visual Perception, Young Adult

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