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| Research article summary (published 30 Dec 2002): |
Emotional facilitation of sensory processing in the visual cortex.
Full Abstract
A key function of emotion is the preparation for action. However, organization of successful behavioral strategies depends on efficient stimulus encoding. The present study tested the hypothesis that perceptual encoding in the visual cortex is modulated by the emotional significance of visual stimuli. Event-related brain potentials were measured while subjects viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures. Early selective encoding of pleasant and unpleasant images was associated with a posterior negativity, indicating primary sources of activation in the visual cortex. The study also replicated previous findings in that affective cues also elicited enlarged late positive potentials, indexing increased stimulus relevance at higher-order stages of stimulus processing. These results support the hypothesis that sensory encoding of affective stimuli is facilitated implicitly by natural selective attention. Thus, the affect system not only modulates motor output (i.e., favoring approach or avoidance dispositions), but already operates at an early level of sensory encoding.
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Author information
Author/s: Schupp, Harald T (HT); Junghöfer, Markus (M); Weike, Almut I (AI); Hamm, Alfons O (AO);
Affiliation: Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. schupp(-atsign-)uni-greifswald.de
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 14 (issue 1) : pp 7-13
Dates: Created 2003/02/04; Completed 2003/03/03; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12564747, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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