Abstract
Although it is well established that stress can disrupt complex cognitive functions, relatively little is known about how it influences visual processing, especially in terms of visual selective attention. In the current study, we used highly aversive images, taken from the International Affective Picture System, to induce acute, low-intensity stress while participants performed a visual discrimination task. Consistent with prior research, we found that anticipation of aversive stimuli increased overall amplitude of the N170, suggesting an increase in early sensory gain. More importantly, we found that stress disrupted visual selective attention. While in no-stress blocks, the amplitude of the face-sensitive N170 was higher when participants attended to faces rather than scenes in face–scene overlay images; this effect was absent under stress. This was because of an increase in N170 amplitude in the scene-attend condition under stress. We interpret these findings as suggesting that even low-intensity acute stress can impair participants’ ability to filter out task-irrelevant information. We discuss our findings in relation to how even brief exposure to low-intensity stress may adversely impact both healthy and clinical populations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1172-1179 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 5 2015 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Medicine(all)
Cite this
Brief exposure to aversive stimuli impairs visual selective attention. / Paczynski, Martin; Burton, Adam M.; Jha, Amishi.
In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Vol. 27, No. 6, 05.06.2015, p. 1172-1179.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Brief exposure to aversive stimuli impairs visual selective attention
AU - Paczynski, Martin
AU - Burton, Adam M.
AU - Jha, Amishi
PY - 2015/6/5
Y1 - 2015/6/5
N2 - Although it is well established that stress can disrupt complex cognitive functions, relatively little is known about how it influences visual processing, especially in terms of visual selective attention. In the current study, we used highly aversive images, taken from the International Affective Picture System, to induce acute, low-intensity stress while participants performed a visual discrimination task. Consistent with prior research, we found that anticipation of aversive stimuli increased overall amplitude of the N170, suggesting an increase in early sensory gain. More importantly, we found that stress disrupted visual selective attention. While in no-stress blocks, the amplitude of the face-sensitive N170 was higher when participants attended to faces rather than scenes in face–scene overlay images; this effect was absent under stress. This was because of an increase in N170 amplitude in the scene-attend condition under stress. We interpret these findings as suggesting that even low-intensity acute stress can impair participants’ ability to filter out task-irrelevant information. We discuss our findings in relation to how even brief exposure to low-intensity stress may adversely impact both healthy and clinical populations.
AB - Although it is well established that stress can disrupt complex cognitive functions, relatively little is known about how it influences visual processing, especially in terms of visual selective attention. In the current study, we used highly aversive images, taken from the International Affective Picture System, to induce acute, low-intensity stress while participants performed a visual discrimination task. Consistent with prior research, we found that anticipation of aversive stimuli increased overall amplitude of the N170, suggesting an increase in early sensory gain. More importantly, we found that stress disrupted visual selective attention. While in no-stress blocks, the amplitude of the face-sensitive N170 was higher when participants attended to faces rather than scenes in face–scene overlay images; this effect was absent under stress. This was because of an increase in N170 amplitude in the scene-attend condition under stress. We interpret these findings as suggesting that even low-intensity acute stress can impair participants’ ability to filter out task-irrelevant information. We discuss our findings in relation to how even brief exposure to low-intensity stress may adversely impact both healthy and clinical populations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84928748662&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1162/jocn_a_00768
DO - 10.1162/jocn_a_00768
M3 - Article
C2 - 25436669
AN - SCOPUS:84928748662
VL - 27
SP - 1172
EP - 1179
JO - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
SN - 0898-929X
IS - 6
ER -