Attentional Effects on Emotional Content in Working Memory

• Grant number: 18/26760-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: June 10, 2019
• End date: December 10, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Cesar Alexis Galera
• Grantee: Lívia Valenti
• Supervisor: Margaret Cecilia Jackson
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/09368-1 - Effect of Mood and Emotional Content on Working Memory: The role of the Central Executive and Hedonic Detector, BP.DR

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how visual working memory load and attentional resources affects emotional face recognition. Fifty volunteers (25 women) without significant depression or anxiety symptoms as assessed by Beck's inventories will participate in the experiment. The participants will perform a recognition task with set sizes of 2, 3 and 4 faces (happy, neutral, angry, sad) in a control (low attentional load) and interference condition (high attentional load). An ANOVA will be performed on psychophysical parameter d' and response time, with set size, attentional load and emotional expression of face as within-participant factors.