Attentional control capacity for emotion: An individual-difference measure of internal controlled attention

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop an individual-difference measure of the ability to apply internal controlled attention to emotional mental representations and investigate this measure's relationship to emotion regulation. Attentional control capacity for emotion (ACCE) was measured by adapting a task-switching paradigm where participants had to shift between emotional and neutral task sets. Undergraduate students (N = 91) were randomly assigned to perform either a task measuring ACCE or an emotionally neutral switching task to determine the discriminant validity of ACCE. ACCE predicted behaviour during a stressful anagram task. Individuals who were more efficient at an emotional to neutral task switch persisted longer on the stressful task. In contrast, individuals who more efficient at a neutral to emotional task switch persisted for a shorter time on the stressful task. These results provide insight into the role of attentional deployment in emotion regulation and clinical theories of rumination and anxiety.

Keywords:

• Attentional control
• Emotion regulation
• Task switching

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kirby Gilliland and Scott D. Gronlund for their helpful comments on a previous version of this paper. Also, thanks to Brook Weber, Kristen Hudec, Lauren Kennedy, Alyson Bell, Jessica Wilkin, Vania Mardirossian, and Adam Parks for their assistance in collecting the data.