The influence of stimuli valence, extraversion, and emotion regulation on visual search within real-world scenes

Bendall, RCA; Eachus, P; Thompson, C

Abstract

Affective traits, including extraversion and emotion regulation, are important considerations in clinical psychology due to their associations with the occurrence of affective disorders. Previously, emotional real-world scenes have been shown to influence visual search. However, it is currently unknown whether extraversion and emotion regulation can influence visual search towards neutral targets embedded within real-world scenes, or whether these traits can impact the effect of emotional stimuli on visual search. An opportunity sample of healthy individuals had trait levels of extraversion and emotion regulation recorded before completing a visual search task. Participants more accurately identified search targets in neutral images compared to positive images, whilst response times were slower in negative images. Importantly, individuals with higher trait levels of expressive suppression displayed faster identification of search targets regardless of the emotional valence of the stimuli. Extraversion and cognitive reappraisal did not influence visual search. These findings add to our understanding regarding the influence of extraversion, cognitive reappraisal, and expressive suppression on our ability to allocate attention during visual search when viewing real-world scenes.

Citation

Bendall, R., Eachus, P., & Thompson, C. (2022). The influence of stimuli valence, extraversion, and emotion regulation on visual search within real-world scenes. Scientific reports, 12, 948. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04964-y

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 14, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 18, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 18, 2022
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Volume: 12
• Pages: 948
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04964-y
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-04964-y
• Related Public URLs: http://www.nature.com/srep/index.html