Individual differences in inhibition and emotion

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Publication Type honors thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Psychology
Faculty Mentor Jason M. Watson
Creator Gardner, Kelly
Title Individual differences in inhibition and emotion
Year graduated 2016
Date 2014-12
Description The objective of this study was to examine if negative emotion can play an influential role on inhibition through attentional control. Higher levels of working memory capacity (WMC) have been correlated with faster inhibition times attributed to greater tolerance of automatic processes and better attentional control (Miller, 2014). This study attempted to replicate this relationship then use emotion to modulate the relationship. Participants were tested using the Operation Span (OSPAN) task to estimate their WMC, then given an emotional induction, either negative or neutral, via a film clip. After the induction they were asked to complete the Stop-Signal task (SST) to assess response inhibition. The neutral condition showed the expected correlation between increased OSPAN score and faster inhibition times provid ing support for the role of WMC in attentional control. The negative condition showed an altered pattern, which may indicate emotion as a significant factor in attentional control. Ultimately, this study found preliminary evidence for the necessity of attentional control in regulating emotional responses.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Emotion
Language eng
Rights Management (c) Kelly Gardner
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 24,987 bytes
Identifier honors/id/14
Permissions Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1255773
ARK ark:/87278/s6sb7g10
Setname ir_htoa
ID 205666
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6sb7g10