TY  - JOUR
A1  - Cajar, Anke
A1  - Schneeweiß, Paul
A1  - Engbert, Ralf
A1  - Laubrock, Jochen
T1  - Coupling of attention and saccades when viewing scenes with central and peripheral degradation
JF  - Journal of Vision
N2  - Degrading real-world scenes in the central or the peripheral visual field yields a characteristic pattern: Mean saccade amplitudes increase with central and decrease with peripheral degradation. Does this pattern reflect corresponding modulations of selective attention? If so, the observed saccade amplitude pattern should reflect more focused attention in the central region with peripheral degradation and an attentional bias toward the periphery with central degradation. To investigate this hypothesis, we measured the detectability of peripheral (Experiment 1) or central targets (Experiment 2) during scene viewing when low or high spatial frequencies were gaze-contingently filtered in the central or the peripheral visual field. Relative to an unfiltered control condition, peripheral filtering induced a decrease of the detection probability for peripheral but not for central targets (tunnel vision). Central filtering decreased the detectability of central but not of peripheral targets. Additional post hoc analyses are compatible with the interpretation that saccade amplitudes and direction are computed in partial independence. Our experimental results indicate that task-induced modulations of saccade amplitudes reflect attentional modulations.
KW  - scene viewing
KW  - saccades
KW  - attention
KW  - gaze-contingent displays
KW  - spatial frequencies
KW  - tunnel vision
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1167/16.2.8
SN  - 1534-7362
VL  - 16
IS  - 2
SP  - 1
EP  - 19
PB  - ARVO
CY  - Rockville, Md.
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wirkner, Janine
A1  - Weymar, Mathias
A1  - Loew, Andreas
A1  - Hamm, Carmen
A1  - Struck, Anne-Marie
A1  - Kirschbaum, Clemens
A1  - Hamm, Alfons O.
T1  - Cognitive functioning and emotion processing in breast cancer survivors and controls: An ERP pilot study
JF  - Psychophysiology : journal of the Society for Psychophysiological Research
N2  - Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a very emotionally aversive and stressful life event, which can lead to impaired cognitive functioning and mental health. Breast cancer survivors responding with repressive emotion regulation strategies often show less adaptive coping and adverse outcomes. We investigated cognitive functioning and neural correlates of emotion processing using ERPs. Self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and fatigue, as well as hair cortisol as an index of chronic stress, were assessed. Twenty breast cancer survivors (BCS) and 31 carefully matched healthy controls participated in the study. After neuropsychological testing and subjective assessments, participants viewed 30 neutral, 30 unpleasant, and 30 pleasant pictures, and ERPs were recorded. Recognition memory was tested 1 week later. BCS reported stronger complaints about cognitive impairments and more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and fatigue. Moreover, they showed elevated hair cortisol levels. Except for verbal memory, cognitive functioning was predominantly in the normative range. Recognition memory performance was decreased in cancer survivors, especially for emotional contents. In ERPs, survivors showed smaller late positive potential amplitudes for unpleasant pictures relative to controls in a later time window, which may indicate less elaborative processing of this material. Taken together, we found cognitive impairments in BCS in verbal memory, impaired emotional picture memory accuracy, and reduced neural activity when breast cancer survivors were confronted with unpleasant materials. Further studies and larger sample sizes, however, are needed to evaluate the relationship between altered emotion processing and reduced memory in BCS in order to develop new treatment strategies.
KW  - attention
KW  - breast cancer survivors
KW  - emotion
KW  - ERPs
KW  - memory
KW  - neuropsychology
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12874
SN  - 0048-5772
SN  - 1469-8986
VL  - 54
SP  - 1209
EP  - 1222
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - INPR
A1  - Fischer, Martin H.
A1  - Knops, Andre
T1  - Attentional cueing in numerical cognition
T2  - Frontiers in psychology
KW  - attention
KW  - number line
KW  - SNARC effect
KW  - visual perception
KW  - response selection
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01381
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 5
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  -