PDF (PhD Thesis Susan Chipchase) - Nottingham eTheses ...

Section 4. Experiment 7: Biases in spatial distribution of attention at the
Section 4.1. Introduction
time of encoding
Negative emotion can have different effects on memory for the details
of central and peripheral elements of visual scenes and these are modulated by
time and task instructions. These effects could be interpreted as indicating that
factors at the time of encoding are involved in the emotional enhancement of
memory. Kensinger et al. (2006) suggested that attentional effects may
contribute to this emotional enhancement in two different ways. One
possibility is that the automatic and preferential focus of attention onto
emotional stimuli (e.g. Ohman, Flykt, & Esteves, 2001) may lead to more
automatic encoding of visual details for emotional than neutral items. An
alternative is a more controlled process in which participants focus more of
their attention on the task with negative items.
Kensinger et al. (2007b) explored the influence of attention on the
emotional enhancement of memory by manipulating task instructions and
interpreted the results as indicating that attentional processes had been affected
(Kensinger et al., 2007b). This interpretation, however, is not directly
supported by providing any actual measure of attentional processes. We
propose to explore participants’ attentional strategies during the task; if
attentional strategy is related to central-peripheral trade-offs it would provide
direct evidence for Kensinger et al.’s speculation; however, if attentional
strategy is not related to central-peripheral trade-offs it would severely weaken
Kensinger et al.’s interpretations. One method of exploring the distribution of
attention across stimuli is to measure the eye movements people make when
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