Previous studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The...Show morePrevious studies have demonstrated that the speed and accuracy of visual spatial attention can be enhanced when one’s performance is incentivized with punishments or rewards toward oneself. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether this motivational effect on exogenous attentional performance is extended to situations where others’ physical integrity is at risk. Second, we aimed to determine whether one’s sensitivity to punishments, as measured by the Behavioral Inhibition Scale (BIS), has an enhancing effect on attentional performance in threatening conditions. To probe these questions, we set up a dyad experiment, in which one participant completed an exogenous spatial cueing task. During the task, we manipulated participant motivation by the threat of electric shocks directed either toward the task performer, their co-participant, or neither. The shock delivery was based on the performer’s task performance. Our results showed no differences in performance between the three conditions. This contradicted our hypotheses and suggests that other-directed or self-directed threat does not lead to increased automatic attentional performance. Regarding BIS, we found that high-BIS individuals, relative to low-BIS individuals, have increased attentional reaction times during other-directed threat, but not during self-directed threat. This finding also contradicted our hypothesis. Therefore, we suggest that high sensitivity to punishments may lead to poorer attentional performance when others are at risk.Show less
Attentional biases seem to perpetuate social anxiety by locking focus onto threat-related information. The classical dot-probe task has been the golden standard of measuring selective attention...Show moreAttentional biases seem to perpetuate social anxiety by locking focus onto threat-related information. The classical dot-probe task has been the golden standard of measuring selective attention based on variations in reaction times (RT) due to bottom-up saliency. In recent decades, concerns have grown over this task's reliability, partly due to statistical concerns over its indexing method and because it fails to account for top-down behavioral strategies that circumvent bottom-up attentional capture. This pilot study tested the novel Parallel Target Attention Task (PATAT) assessing attentional biases towards novel stimuli, as it aims to overcome these shortcomings. The task measured participant’s responses to two target stimuli presented in proximity to a familiar and a novel stimulus. An attentional bias was then calculated as a straightforward sum of participant responses to novel stimuli. By contrasting images of faces and natural scenes, we examined whether a bias for novelty is category specific. Last but not least, we investigated whether people who display higher levels of Behavioral Inhibition (BI), pay more attention to novel stimuli. The task was able to measure an attention bias toward novelty in the majority of participants but fell short on replicating a category-dependent bias. Also, contrary to our hypothesis that novel stimuli elicit more bottom-up attentional capture in such participants, data showed the opposite trend, consistent with the observation that such individuals generally avoid novel experiences. Theoretical and methodological implications of the results are discussed.Show less
