Natural selective attention: orienting and emotion

Abstract

The foundations of orienting and attention are hypothesized to stem from activation of defensive and appetitive motivational systems that evolved to protect and sustain the life of the individual. Motivational activation initiates a cascade of perceptual and motor processes that facilitate the selection of appropriate behavior. Among these are detection of significance, indexed by a late centro-parietal positivity in the event-related potential, enhanced perceptual processing, indexed by a initial cardiac deceleration, and preparation for action, indexed by electrodermal changes. Data exploring the role of stimulus novelty and significance in orienting are presented that indicate different components of the orienting response habituate at different rates. Taken together, it is suggested that orienting is mediated by activation of fundamental motivational systems that have evolved to support survival.

Figure 1

The distribution of pictures in a two-dimensional space defined by ratings of pleasure and arousal are consistent with the hypothesis that evaluative judgments reflect the level of activation in underlying appetitive or defensive motivational systems.

Figure 2

Skin conductance changes when viewing novel pictures (left panel), repeated pictures (middle panel), and novel pictures presented for a brief duration (right panel) are larger for emotional (pleasant or unpleasant) compared to neutral pictures.

Figure 3

Heart rate changes when subjects view novel pictures (left panel), repeated pictures (middle panel), and novel pictures presented briefly (right panel) show an initial deceleration that is enhanced when subjects view novel unpleasant pictures and that is absent when pictures are either repeated or presented for a brief duration.

Figure 4

Event-related potentials measured over centro-parietal sensors show enhanced positivity when viewing emotional (pleasant or unpleasant), compared to neutral, pictures regardless of whether pictures are novel (left panel), repeated (middle panel), or briefly presented (right panel).

Figure 5

The magnitude of a centro-parietal late positive potential is enhanced when subjects view emotional (either pleasant or unpleasant) compared to neutral pictures, despite multiple within-session repetition. Based on data from Codispoti, Ferrari, and Bradley (2007).

Figure 6

Event-related potentials measured when subjects view simple figure-ground compositions, compared to more complex scenes, show a relative negative deflection beginning around 150–250 ms following picture onset that is modulated by perceptual complexity, but not emotion. Data from Bradley et al. (2007).

Figure 7

A scheme for characterizing different degrees of stimulus novelty is based on the the extent to which a current cue matches short-term memory (STM) representations and long-term memory (LTM) representations.

Figure 8

Primates exposed to novel stimuli react with a variety of defensive postures, consistent with the idea that novel stimulation elicits defensive activation. Reprinted from Dolin et al. (1965).