A Research On The Mechanism Of Effect Of Positive Emotions Attentional Scope And Flexibility

Emotion is an extremely important mental phenomenon,which can affect every aspect of everyone.The effect of emotions on cognitive process is not only in everyday life,but also a focus issue in contemporary psychology research.Many cognitive components are involved in this research area,including perception,attention,memory,decision,creativity,problem solving,and so force.Attention plays a fundamental role in cognitive process,and therefore the effect of emotions on attention becomes a vital issue in this domain.In terms of visual spatial attention,attentional scope and attentional flexibility can be modulated by emotions.The former reflects the range of attention,and the latter reflects the ability to shift attention from one object to another.The effect of positive emotions on attentional scope and flexibility will be explored in the current study.There are three competing theories in this field: the broaden-and-build theory,the motivational dimensional model of affect,and the affect-ascognitive-feedback account.The broaden-and-build theory states that positive emotions,relative to neutral states,broaden the scope of attention and increase the flexibility of attention,whereas negative emotions have the opposite effect.According to the motivational dimensional model of affect,motivational intensity rather than affective valence influences attentional broadening?narrowing.That is,affective states of low motivational intensity broaden attention,whereas affective states of high motivational intensity narrow attention.Similar to the broaden-and-build theory,the affect-as-cognitive-feedback account also emphasizes the role of affective valence.However,this theory suggests that the connection between emotions and attention may be quite flexible,rather than fixed,which depends on whatever perceptual inclinations happen to be most accessible at the moment.Positive emotions act as a green light that facilitate the use of accessible perceptual inclinations,whereas negative emotions act as a red light that inhibits their use.Three studies,including seven experiments in total,is designed to verify and,to some extent,integrate these three theories.Study 1,including two experiments,is designed to find the connection between positive emotions of various motivational intensity and attentional scope on the behavioral and ERPs level.Study 2,also including two experiments,is designed to find the connection between positive emotions of various motivational intensity and attentional flexibility on the behavioral and ERPs level.These two studies can provide empirical evidence for the dispute between the broaden-and-build theory and the motivational dimensional model of affect.Study 3,including three experiments,is designed to verify the affect-as-cognitive-feedback account.In addition,the positive emotional film clips used in the study 3 is divided into two categories depending on the motivational intensity to try to integrate the motivational dimensional model of affect,and the affect-as-cognitivefeedback account.The similar results were gained in the two experiments in study 1.After viewing high-motivating positive stimuli,participants showed less bias toward global targets in the behavioral experiment,and less frontal P3 amplitude difference between global and local targets in the ERPs experiment.These results indicated that,relative to neutral states,highmotivating positive emotions can narrow attentional scope.The similar results were gained in the two experiments in study 2.After viewing high-motivating positive stimuli,participants showed greater validity effect in the behavioral experiment,and greater parietal P3 amplitude difference between global and local targets in the ERPs experiment.These results indicated that,relative to neutral states,highmotivating positive emotions can decrease attentional flexibility.The results of the three experiments in study 3 indicated that the influence of positive emotions on attentional scope and flexibility is malleable.The result of experiment 3a showed that in the global-prime condition,participants in positive emotions were relatively faster to respond to global targets and slower to respond to local targets,compared to individuals in neutral states;in the local-prime condition,participants in positive emotions were relatively faster to respond to local targets and slower to respond to global targets,compared to participants in neutral states.The result of experiment 3b showed that in the valid-prime condition,participants in positive emotions showed greater validity effect than participants in neutral states;in the invalid-prime condition,there was no significant difference between participants in positive emotions and participants in neutral states.The result of experiment 3c showed that in the global-prime condition,participants in positive emotions showed less validity effect than participants in neutral states;in the local-prime condition,participants in positive emotions showed greater validity effect than participants in neutral states.There was no significant difference between participants in high-motivating positive emotions and participants in low-motivating positive emotions in all three experiments in study 3.Based on these result,we can conclude that:(1)High-motivating positive emotions narrow attentional scope compared to neutral states,whereas there is no significant difference between low-motivating positive emotions and neutral states,supporting the motivational dimensional model of affect.(2)High-motivating positive emotions decrease attentional flexibility compared to neutral states,whereas there is no significant difference between low-motivating positive emotions and neutral states,supporting the motivational dimensional model of affect.(3)In the global-prime condition positive emotions broaden attentional scope compared to neutral states;In the local-prime condition positive emotions narrow attentional scope compared to neutral states.In the valid-prime condition positive emotions decrease attentional flexibility compared to neutral states;In the invalid-prime condition there is no significant difference between positive emotions and neutral states.In the global-prime condition positive emotions increase attentional flexibility compared to neutral states;In the local-prime condition positive emotions decrease attentional flexibility compared to neutral states.All of these support the affect-as-cognitive-feedback account.(4)When the most accessible perceptual inclination is evident,the connection between emotions and attention is flexible;When the most accessible perceptual inclination is vague,motivational intensity becomes the decisive variable.