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Author(s): Heim, Sabine; Ihssen, Niklas; Hasselhorn, Marcus; Keil, Andreas
Title: Early adolescents show sustained susceptibility to cognitive interference by emotional distractors
In: Cognition and Emotion, 27 (2013) 4, S. 696-706
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2012.736366
Publication Type: 3a. Beiträge in begutachteten Zeitschriften; Aufsatz (keine besondere Kategorie)
Language: Englisch
Keywords: Aufmerksamkeit; Beeinflussung; Bild; Deutschland; Emotion; Entscheidung; Experimentelle Untersuchung; Jugendlicher; Mädchen; Test; Wort
Abstract (english): A child's ability to continuously pay attention to a cognitive task is often challenged by distracting
events. Distraction is especially detrimental in a learning or classroom environment in which
attended information is typically associated with establishing skills and knowledge. Here we report a
study examining the effect of emotional distractors on performance in a subsequent visual lexical
decision task in 11- to 13-year-old students (n30). Lexical decisions about neutral verbs and verblike
pseudowords (i.e., targets) were analysed as a function of the preceding distractor type (pleasant,
neutral, or unpleasant photos) and the picturetarget stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA; 200 or 600
ms). Across distractor categories, emotionally arousing pictures prolonged decisions about word
targets when compared to neutral pictures, irrespective of the SOA. The present results demonstrate
that similar to adults, early adolescent students exhibit sustained susceptibility to cognitive
interference by irrelevant emotional events.
DIPF-Departments: Bildung und Entwicklung