Spatial distribution of emotional attentional blink under top down attentional control

Abstract

Emotion-induced blindness (EIB) refers to the impaired perception of a neutral target that follows an emotional distractor within the time gap of 100-500 ms. Recent studies on EIB show that EIB is spatially localized. Blink occurs when both target and emotional distractor appear in the same stream but not the opposite. However, the influence of top-down attentional control over the dual-stream EIB remains poorly understood. Examining the role of top-down control in EIB will help understand the impact of attentional control over the spatial distribution of EIB and in understanding the Attentional Blink (AB) and EIB distinction. Hence, in the present study, we used dual-stream and manipulated the attentional control by changing the relevance of the emotional image and asking participants to report both emotional and neutral targets. Our results show a similar level of blink irrespective of the spatial location of the emotional T1, suggesting the role of attentional control on the spatial distribution of EIB and in the AB-EIB distinction. Results have implications for the theoretical understanding of EIB.