ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2014, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (11): 1603-1612.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2014.01603

• 论文 •    下一篇

视觉搜索中的情绪干扰项预习效应

牟兵兵;宛小昂   

  1. (清华大学心理学系, 北京 100084)
  • 收稿日期:2013-12-18 出版日期:2014-11-25 发布日期:2014-11-25
  • 通讯作者: 宛小昂, E-mail: wanxa@tsinghua.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:

    清华大学人文社科振兴基金; 清华大学文化传承创新基金项目; 清华大学亚洲研究中2012青年项目资助。

The Emotional Distractor Previewing Effect in Visual Search

MU Bingbing; WAN Xiaoang   

  1. (Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)
  • Received:2013-12-18 Published:2014-11-25 Online:2014-11-25
  • Contact: WAN Xiaoang, E-mail: wanxa@tsinghua.edu.cn

摘要:

干扰项预习效应是视觉搜索的试次间效应, 反映了过去不成功的搜索经验对注意的抑制。本研究中, 被试对情绪材料进行视觉搜索时, 同一个画面中的刺激的情绪效价可能一致, 也可能存在一个效价与众不同的靶子。实验任务是要求被试找到该靶子, 并对它的非情绪特征进行辨别反应。本研究包括3个实验, 分别采用情绪面孔的照片、情绪性动物图片、情绪性动物示意图, 均发现了情绪干扰项预习效应。也就是说, 当先呈现无靶子的试次再呈现有靶子的试次, 且有靶子的试次中干扰项的效价与之前无靶子试次中的刺激的效价一致时, 被试的反应要比靶子的效价与之前无靶子试次中刺激效价一致时更快。这些结果表明, 选择性注意系统可以利用以往的情绪信息引导注意的分配, 使当前注意偏离那些曾经搜索过但没有找到靶子的情绪特征, 而且这些情绪信息可能是由人脸表达的, 也可能是由于人以外的因素表达的。这些结果体现了情绪与认知的交互作用, 尤其是个体对情绪的已有经验对视觉选择注意的引导作用。

关键词: 视觉搜索, 情绪, 注意抑制, 试次间效应, 干扰项预习效应

Abstract:

The Distractor Previewing Effect (DPE) is one of the inter-trial effects in visual search based on features or categories. In the DPE tasks, oddball-present and oddball-absent trials are intermixed to present. The target is defined by one feature (e.g., a green diamond among red ones) or category (e.g., a face picture among house pictures), and the response is defined by another feature, such as the shape of the color oddball or which side of the face pictures has a red dot next to it. The DPE is indicated by faster responses on the current oddball-present trial when the distractors are congruent with the stimuli on the preceding oddball-absent trial than when the target does so. Both behavioral and neuroscience studies have revealed that the DPE reflects an attentional bias caused by past unsuccessful experience. In this study, participants were shown three emotional stimuli on each display, with or without one picture having a different valence from the other two. They searched for this emotional oddball and identified its non-affective feature if an oddball was present. If the RTs on the current oddball-present trial are faster when the valence of the target is congruent with that of the stimuli on the preceding oddball-absent trial than when the target does so, this inter-trial effect is the emotional DPE. Pictures of veridical faces of emotional expressions were shown in Experiment 1, whereas pictures of threat-relevant and threat-irrelevant animals were shown in Experiment 2. The emotional DPE was elicited in both experiments. In Experiment 1, the emotional DPE was significant in visual search for an angry face among neutral faces, but this effect was eliminated when these faces were inverted, suggesting that the DPE was due to the emotional category of the faces. In addition, the DPE was not significant in visual search for a neutral face (among angry or happy ones) or for a happy face among neutral distractors, suggesting the asymmetry of the emotional DPE. By contrast, the results of Experiment 2 revealed reliable DPEs in visual search for a fearful animal among peaceful animals. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the valence of emotional stimuli can be remembered by the attention system to guide attention. Specifically, experience with negative stimuli can be remembered to guide attention to elicit a reliable DPE. Future research is called to test the influence of the observer’s emotional state on the DPE.

Key words: visual search, emotion, attention inhibition, inter-trial effect, Distractor Previewing Effect