In the scope of project 287/20 - Emotional Distraction: contextual modulation of attentional capture, supported by the BIAL Foundation, Maurizio Codispoti et al. published in the journal Biological Psychology the paper Stimulus novelty and emotionality interact in the processing of visual distractors with the following highlights:
- Task-irrelevant emotional stimuli (distractors) capture attention and prompt behavioral interference.
- Behavioral interference for emotional distractors rapidly wanes with mere stimulus repetition (habituation).
- The enhanced amplitude of the Late Positive Potential for emotional compared to neutral distractors habituates with repetitions, more clearly for unpleasant pictures.
- After an extensive repetition context, the introduction of novel stimuli prompts a response recovery for emotional, but not for neutral stimuli.
The lateralized alpha ERD is enhanced for emotional stimuli and this cortical modulation does not change with repetition.
