Effects of positive mood on attention broadening for self-related information.
Grol M., Koster EH., Bruyneel L., De Raedt R.
Studies on cognitive effects of positive emotions have associated positive emotions to broadened attention. Given the widely investigated relationship between self-focused attention and mood, it is important to investigate the effect of positive mood on visuospatial attention for self-related information. We used a performance-based measure to assess fluctuations in attentional broadening from self-related contrasted to not-self-related information. In Experiment 1, we checked that the self-related versus not-self-related stimuli did not evoke differential attention effects in general. In Experiment 2, we manipulated mood and found that an increase in positive mood was associated with a relative broadening of attention for self-related information. These results suggest that the meaning of the target of attention provides an interesting dimension for further investigation into the relation between positive emotions and attentional broadening.