Our brain is not equipped to dealing with the vast amount of sensory information that we are exposed to in everyday life, as a consequence information must be selected (Munneke, Stigchel, & Theeuwes, 2008). Researchers are often interested in what factors determine what information is selected.
A question that has drawn considerable interest in cognitive research is whether perception of feelings, thoughts or behaviour is conditional on conscious awareness. A considerable amount of literature support the notion that spatial attention is essential in order to process information (Besner, Risko & Sklair, 2005; McCann, Folk, & Johnston, 1992) In contrast, another major theory argues that spatial attention enhances the processing of information, …show more content…
It is widely accepted that, there is a strong attentional bias towards threat or negative valence stimuli for high trait anxious individuals (Mogg et al., 2000; Fox et al., 2002; Tamir & Robinson, 2007). It was further found that individuals with low trait anxiety tend to be more avoidant of threat stimuli, and do not have an attentional bias as a result. It is suggested that possible theoretical mechanism behind this may be that anxious individuals have a lower threshold for appraising threat (Mogg, & Bradley, 1998). So, relatively neutral stimuli could be interpreted as having a higher subjective threat …show more content…
Some research argues that, attentional allocation to positive information is enhanced for individuals with high trait happiness and disrupted for individuals with low trait happiness (Tamir & Robinson, 2007; Nasby & Yando, 1982; Olivers, & Nieuwenhuis, 2006). However, contrary to these findings it is often found that positive affect has little to no influence on attentional orientation towards positive stimuli (Rowe et al., 2007; Clark, Teasdale, Broadbent, & Martin, 1983). There is little consensus in the literature on the influence trait happiness has on directing
A question that has drawn considerable interest in cognitive research is whether perception of feelings, thoughts or behaviour is conditional on conscious awareness. A considerable amount of literature support the notion that spatial attention is essential in order to process information (Besner, Risko & Sklair, 2005; McCann, Folk, & Johnston, 1992) In contrast, another major theory argues that spatial attention enhances the processing of information, …show more content…
It is widely accepted that, there is a strong attentional bias towards threat or negative valence stimuli for high trait anxious individuals (Mogg et al., 2000; Fox et al., 2002; Tamir & Robinson, 2007). It was further found that individuals with low trait anxiety tend to be more avoidant of threat stimuli, and do not have an attentional bias as a result. It is suggested that possible theoretical mechanism behind this may be that anxious individuals have a lower threshold for appraising threat (Mogg, & Bradley, 1998). So, relatively neutral stimuli could be interpreted as having a higher subjective threat …show more content…
Some research argues that, attentional allocation to positive information is enhanced for individuals with high trait happiness and disrupted for individuals with low trait happiness (Tamir & Robinson, 2007; Nasby & Yando, 1982; Olivers, & Nieuwenhuis, 2006). However, contrary to these findings it is often found that positive affect has little to no influence on attentional orientation towards positive stimuli (Rowe et al., 2007; Clark, Teasdale, Broadbent, & Martin, 1983). There is little consensus in the literature on the influence trait happiness has on directing