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Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology
What Cognitive Processes Drive Attentional Bias, And How Does Stress Affect Them?, Colton L. Hunter
What Cognitive Processes Drive Attentional Bias, And How Does Stress Affect Them?, Colton L. Hunter
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Attentional biases toward or away from emotionally evocative stimuli have been well documented and related to clinical outcomes such as social anxiety. Some work has suggested that stress modulates attentional biases, but there are a number of inconsistencies in this literature regarding the direction of that modulation, highlighting a need to examine moderators of that effect. Sex differences in stress effects could potentially explain this inconsistency, as acute stress can affect males and females differently. It is also possible that stress differentially influences multiple component processes underpinning attentional bias, but these processes have not been well character, and to date …
The Effects Of Interruption Relevance And Complexity On Primary Task Resumption And Mental Demand, Brandon Allan Fluegel
The Effects Of Interruption Relevance And Complexity On Primary Task Resumption And Mental Demand, Brandon Allan Fluegel
Psychology Theses & Dissertations
In the present study, undergraduate students viewed patient charts and entered numerical values from these charts into a medical record database. They were unexpectedly interrupted by secondary tasks that differed in relevance and complexity. The secondary tasks varied by whether they facilitated or inhibited (i.e., relevant or irrelevant) rehearsal of the suspended task and whether they placed a demand on working memory (i.e., high complexity or low complexity). The primary measures of interest were the duration of time needed to resume the primary task and perceived mental demand. The Memory for Goals model (Altmann & Trafton, 2002) predicts that task …
Long-Term Focus Of Attentional Biases, Garrett Pollert
Long-Term Focus Of Attentional Biases, Garrett Pollert
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Prior research regarding attentional biases, or patterns of visual attention, have focused on attention over the initial second when exposed to pictoral food stimuli. This manuscript reviews the literature regarding attentional biases in overweight/obese individuals over this timeframe for the two previously defined components of attentional bias (attentional orientation and attentional maintenance). A new component is proposed, called “attentional re-engagement,” defined as the pattern of attentional shifts towards target stimulus types over longer periods of time. Overweight/Obese and Normal-weighted participants were recruited and engaged in an Extended Dot Probe task, wherein attentional orientation, maintenance, and re-engagement were assessed using the …
The Effects Of Pointing Gestures On Visual Attention, Samaria J. Hamilton
The Effects Of Pointing Gestures On Visual Attention, Samaria J. Hamilton
Honors College Theses
Visual attention is a process that involves concentrating on select features, such as sensory cues, within the complex environment. Sensory cues within the visual field capture and redirect our attention. Previous research on eye gaze revealed that direct gaze captures attention. In the present study, pointing gestures and motion cues were tested together in a visual search task to examine their effects on attention. Participants were instructed to identify a target letter presented on one of four hands. Initially, two hands displayed a pointing gesture while the other two displayed an open gesture. Next, a target letter appeared, one open …
Mood And Creativity: The Mediating Role Of Attention, Viktoria Tidikis
Mood And Creativity: The Mediating Role Of Attention, Viktoria Tidikis
Psychology Theses & Dissertations
Within literature there are two opposing views regarding the role of emotions in the creative process. The most commonly held view contends that positive emotions enhance creativity, while negative emotions stifle it; yet, some studies show an opposite trend. To help resolve this conundrum, this research examined the mediating effect of attention on the relationship between mood and creativity. The results showed that positive deactivating and negative activating emotions led to broader attention, while positive activating and negative deactivating emotions caused narrowing of attention. Furthermore, the creative process is not uniform in its requirements of attentional breadth; some creative tasks …