Emotion's Modulation of Attention and Memory: Effects of Aging

情绪对注意力和记忆的调节：衰老的影响

• 批准号: 0542694
• 负责人: Elizabeth Kensinger
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Boston College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0542694&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Emotion; Modulation; Attention; Memory; Effects

The abilities of an individual to attend selectively to important information and to successfully learn and remember new facts are influenced by emotional factors and change over the lifespan. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Kensinger's research will combine behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging approaches to investigate the ways in which emotion influences attention and memory, how those influences change across the adult lifespan, and how individual differences in cognitive ability or trait anxiety influence interactions between emotional and cognitive processes. Previous research has demonstrated that emotionally charged items are more likely to attract attention than are emotionally neutral items. However this increased salience imposes a cost: people are less likely to process and remember neutral stimuli that occur at the same time as or just after an emotionally charged item. Dr. Kensinger's project will examine a number of unanswered questions regarding the cognitive and neural processes that lead to such effects of emotion on attention and memory. In particular, the research will address the following questions: What range of emotional stimuli elicits attentional effects? What are the neural mechanisms through which emotion influences attention? Are the effects of emotion on attention and memory consistent across the adult lifespan? To what extent can individuals "override" or overcome the focus on emotional information? What neural processes allow such an override to occur? And, what cognitive capacities or affective qualities allow an individual to respond flexibly within an emotional environment? By refining our understanding of the mechanisms through which emotion influences attention and memory, the results from this project may increase understanding of the attentional biases and memory changes observed in affective disorders such as panic disorder, anxiety disorder, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This project will also facilitate the establishment of a Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience laboratory at Boston College, providing research training and mentoring for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Ties to the Affective Science Center at Boston College will further facilitate the wide dissemination of this project's research findings to the broader scientific community and to the general public.

个人有选择地参加重要信息，并成功学习和记住新事实的能力受情绪因素和寿命变化的影响。 借助国家科学基金会的支持，肯辛格博士的研究将结合行为和功能性磁共振成像方法，以研究情绪影响注意力和记忆的方式，这些影响在成人寿命中的影响以及在认知能力或特质焦虑中如何影响情绪和认知过程之间的相互作用。 先前的研究表明，与情感中立的项目相比，情感充电的项目更有可能引起人们的注意。 然而，这种提高的显着性施加了一个成本：人们的处理可能性较小，并记住与情绪充沛的物品同时或之后发生的中性刺激。 Kensinger博士的项目将研究许多有关认知和神经过程的未解决问题，这些问题会导致情绪对注意力和记忆的影响。 特别是，该研究将解决以下问题：情感刺激的范围引起了注意效果？ 情绪影响关注的神经机制是什么？ 情绪对整个成人寿命的注意力和记忆的影响是否一致？ 个人可以在多大程度上“超越”或克服对情感信息的关注？ 哪些神经过程允许这种替代发生？而且，什么认知能力或情感素质使个人在情感环境中的反应灵活地反应？ 通过完善我们对情感影响注意力和记忆的机制的理解，该项目的结果可能会增加对注意力偏见和记忆变化在情感障碍中观察到的变化，例如恐慌症，焦虑症或创伤后应激障碍。该项目还将促进波士顿学院建立认知和情感神经科学实验室，为本科生，研究生和博士后研究员提供研究培训和指导。与波士顿学院情感科学中心的联系将进一步促进该项目的研究结果向更广泛的科学界和公众传播。