The Effect of Valence on Young and Older Adults’ Attention in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task

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Citation

Steinmetz, Katherine R. Mickley; Muscatell, Keely A.; & Kensinger, Elizabeth A. (2010). The Effect of Valence on Young and Older Adults' Attention in a Rapid Serial Visual Presentation Task. Psychology and Aging, 25(1), 239-245.

Abstract

Using a rapid serial visual presentation task, the authors examined how the emotional valence of a word affected young and older adults' abilities to detect another word that closely followed it in temporal proximity. Both age groups detected neutral words better when such words followed a positive or negative arousing word rather than a neutral arousing word. These results suggest that emotion influences attention in a similar fashion for young and older adults. Despite evidence that older adults can sometimes show a "positivity effect" in memory, we found no evidence of increased attention toward positive words for older adults.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018297

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2010

Journal Title

Psychology and Aging

Author(s)

Steinmetz, Katherine R. Mickley
Muscatell, Keely A.
Kensinger, Elizabeth A.

ORCiD

Muscatell - 0000-0002-7893-5565