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Title:	Fear Selectively Modulates Visual Mental Imagery and Visual Perception
Author:	Kosslyn, Stephen Michael; Borst, Grégoire Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors.
Citation:	Borst, Grégoire and Stephen M. Kosslyn. 2010. Fear selectively modulates visual mental imagery and visual perception. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 63(5): 833-839.
Full Text & Related Files:	Borst_Fear.pdf (326.0Kb; PDF)
Abstract:	Emotions have been shown to modulate low-level visual processing of simple stimuli. In this study, we investigate whether emotions only modulate processing of visual representations created from direct visual inputs or whether they also modulate representations that underlie visual mental images. Our results demonstrate that when participants visualize or look at the global shape of written words (low-spatial-frequency visual information), the prior brief presentation of fearful faces enhances processing, whereas when participants visualize or look at details of written words (high-spatial-frequency visual information), the prior brief presentation of fearful faces impairs processing. This study demonstrates that emotions have similar effects on low-level processing of visual percepts and of internal representations created on the basis of information stored in long-term memory.
Published Version:	doi:10.1080/17470211003602420
Terms of Use:	This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAP
Citable link to this page:	http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5139180

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  Peer reviewed scholarly articles from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University

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