TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of rumination on internal attention switching
AU - Lo, Barbara Chuen Yee
AU - Lau, Shun
AU - Cheung, Sing Hang
AU - Allen, Nicholas B.
PY - 2012/2/1
Y1 - 2012/2/1
N2 - The present study explored the nature of attention control problems associated with ruminative traits. Experiment 1 aimed to establish the validity of a modified mental counting task that assesses individuals' ability to switch attention between internal mental representations. Reaction time and brain activity (event related potential; ERP) measures were examined, and results showed that the task was sensitive to internal attention switching effects. Experiment 2 assessed how the relationship between ruminative tendencies and switching performance differs when participants attend to neutral versus affective materials under different mood states. Although reaction-time analysis suggested that both mood condition and stimulus affectivity were not significant in altering this association, ERP analysis suggested otherwise. A significant task type×trait rumination × mood condition effect was found for switch-related ERP responses, whereby high ruminators were found to deploy more neuronal resources when switching affective materials in sad mood state.
AB - The present study explored the nature of attention control problems associated with ruminative traits. Experiment 1 aimed to establish the validity of a modified mental counting task that assesses individuals' ability to switch attention between internal mental representations. Reaction time and brain activity (event related potential; ERP) measures were examined, and results showed that the task was sensitive to internal attention switching effects. Experiment 2 assessed how the relationship between ruminative tendencies and switching performance differs when participants attend to neutral versus affective materials under different mood states. Although reaction-time analysis suggested that both mood condition and stimulus affectivity were not significant in altering this association, ERP analysis suggested otherwise. A significant task type×trait rumination × mood condition effect was found for switch-related ERP responses, whereby high ruminators were found to deploy more neuronal resources when switching affective materials in sad mood state.
KW - Attention switching
KW - Event-related potentials
KW - Mood effects
KW - Rumination
KW - Stimulus affectivity
KW - Switch costs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857345067&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://commons.ln.edu.hk/sw_master/7532
U2 - 10.1080/02699931.2011.574997
DO - 10.1080/02699931.2011.574997
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
C2 - 21614702
VL - 26
SP - 209
EP - 223
JO - Cognition and Emotion
JF - Cognition and Emotion
SN - 0269-9931
IS - 2
ER -