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Maslany, Anna

University of British Columbia

Emotional events can change attention to “focus on the forest” (I.e., broadened attention scope) or “focus on a tree” (i.e., narrowed attention scope). My dissertation aimed to understand the influence of valence states on attention scope. Experiments 1-3 examined the dominant theories that describe the influence of valence states on attention scope with positive, neutral, and negative states (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001;2004; Gasper & Clore, 2002). Experiment 4 examined the influence of valence states on attention scope further with attractive and repulsive states and explored an alternative theory (e.g., Harmon-Jones & Gable, 2010b). The results of these experiments showed no influence of valence states on attention scope, therefore, Experiments 5 and 6 marked a shift in my dissertation research. In these experiments, I wanted to determine if the tools I was using to pick up changes in attention scope were valid. I examined if the predicted pattern of results would occur on the Eriksen flanker task (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974) after a broad and narrow attention scope was induced in participants. I also examined several specific variations of the Eriksen flanker task (which varied in terms of font, spacing, and visual angle), to determine if some specific variations were more effective than others at picking up changes in attention scope. In my final experiment, Experiment 7, I used one of the most promising variations of the Eriksen flanker task and I returned to the original aim of my dissertation to understand the influence of valence states on attention scope.

Text

2023-04-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84316

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/