lecture 11: emotion 2

Question 1

how are emotion and attention connected

Answer 1

• Emotion aids attention and perception
  for emotional events
• Emotion captures attention so it is harder to
  observe non-emotional events

Question 2

flashbulb memory

Answer 2

A flashbulb memory is an accurate and exceptionally vivid long-lasting memory for the circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event.

40% of memory details (in flashbulb memories) change after a year, but confidence in memory accuracy remains high
Hirst, Phelps et al., 2009, 2015, 2016

Question 3

the cocktail party effect

Answer 3

The cocktail-party effect refers to the ability to focus one’s attention a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli (i.e., noise)

Question 4

what happens when attentional resources are limited

Answer 4

When attentional resources are limited it is more likely emotional events will reach awareness than non-emotional events

Patients with amygdala damage fail to demonstrate the normal attenuation of the attentional blink effect for emotional stimuli

the enhanced awareness of emotional events in
situations with limited attentional resources could result from the amygdala’s modulation of perceptual encoding

Question 5

Emotion Aids Attention and Perception

Answer 5

Patients with amygdala damage fail to show
attentional benefits for emotional events

Emotion aids attention and perception
for emotional events

• The amygdala influences sensory brain regions to ease processing of emotional events

Emotion captures attention impairing processing of
non-emotional events

Question 6

explain what is happening here

Answer 6

explain the results

Question 7

explain what is happening here

Answer 7

Question 8

how does emotion influence attention

Answer 8

Emotion’s influence on attention and perception
allows for heightened awareness of stimuli in the
environment that may pose a potential threat

Emotion captures attention impairing attention to
non-emotional events
* Parietal lobe regions that help us move attention
among aspects of an event are less active when an
emotional event is encountered

Question 9

Weapon Focus (Loftus and others)

Answer 9

Psychologists and lawyers refer to a phenomenon called “weapon focus.” Weapon focus refers to the concentration of some witness’s attention on a weapon-the barrel of a gun or the blade of a knife-during a crime, leaving less attention available for viewing other items.

Question 10

Kleinsmith & Kaplan (1963)
Replication*

explain what happened

Answer 10

• 60 Yale Undergraduates
• 8 word-digit pairs
• SCR recorded
• Cued recall for digits, immediate & 24hr

Question 11

Taboo Word Study

Answer 11

22 amygdala lesion patients & 22 healthy
controls
* 20 taboo, 20 neutral
* Skin conductance*, verbal arousal ratings
recorded
* Recall, immediate & 1hr

Question 12

The impact of stress hormones on memory consolidation

Answer 12

Stress hormones are known to enhance postlearning consolidation of aversive memories but are also thought to have immediate effects on attentional, sensory, and mnemonic processes at memory formation