Bridging Attention Across Space and Time: Do Positive Emotion Generated Shifts in Spatial Attention Lead to Changes in Attention Across Time?

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that positive emotion influences various aspects of attention including spatial attention and attention across time. Research has commonly focused on how emotion influences one aspect of attention at a time. Recently a study was done that showed how one’s natural global or local spatial attention bias predicts subsequent performance of attention across time. This study proposed to use a similar mechanism to investigate how positive emotion might influence the link between spatial attention and attention across time. It was hypothesized that individuals who are experiencing positive emotion during a spatial attention task will have a more global attention bias and perform better on a subsequent attention across time task in comparison to those in a neutral or negative emotion. The data were inconsistent with this hypothesis. There were no significant differences between emotion conditions. Limitations and future directions are discussed.