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Emotional attention modulates microsaccadic rate and direction

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Abstract

Involuntary microsaccades and voluntary saccades reflect human brain activities during attention and cognitive tasks. Our eye movements can also betray our emotional state. However, the effects of attention to emotion on microsaccadic activity remain unknown. The present study was conducted in healthy volunteers to investigate the effects of devoting attention to exogenous emotional stimuli on microsaccadic response, with change in pupil size as an index of sympathetic nervous system activity. Event-related responses to unpleasant images significantly inhibited the rate of microsaccade appearance and altered pupil size (Experiment 1). Additionally, microsaccadic responses to covert orienting of attention to emotional stimuli appeared significantly in the anti-direction to a target, with a fast reaction time (Experiment 2). Therefore, we concluded that attentional shifts induced by exogenous emotional stimuli can modulate microsaccadic activities. Future studies of the interaction between miniature eye movements and emotion may be beneficial in the assessment of pathophysiological responses in mental disorders.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partially funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (KAKENHI, 22700466).

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  1. Koji Kashihara

    Present address: Institute of Technology and Science, The University of Tokushima, 2-1 Minamijyousanjima, Tokushima, 770-8506, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST-ERATO), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan

    Kazuo Okanoya & Nobuyuki Kawai

  2. Brain Science Institute, RIKEN, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan

    Kazuo Okanoya

  3. Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Nobuyuki Kawai

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  1. Koji Kashihara
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Correspondence to Koji Kashihara.

Appendix

Appendix

IAPS numbers for emotional stimuli. Neutral pictures: 2190, 2480, 2514, 5020, 5030, 5120, 5200, 5520, 5534, 5711, 5720, 5725, 5726, 6150, 7000, 7002, 7003, 7004, 7006, 7009, 7010, 7012, 7017, 7020, 7025, 7026, 7030, 7031, 7034, 7035, 7040, 7050, 7056, 7060, 7080, 7090, 7096, 7100, 7110, 7130, 7140, 7150, 7160, 7170, 7175, 7185, 7187, 7190, 7205, 7207, 7217, 7224, 7233, 7234, 7235, 7490, 7491, 7500, 7550, 7950. Pleasant pictures: 1410, 1440, 1460, 1540, 1590, 1595, 1600, 1601, 1603, 1710, 1750, 1920, 1999, 2000, 2040, 2045, 2050, 2057, 2058, 2070, 2071, 2080, 2150, 2165, 2250, 2311, 2340, 2341, 2347, 5010, 5600, 5830, 7200, 7230, 7280, 7282, 7283, 7325, 7330, 7340, 7350, 7352, 7430, 7405, 7461, 7475, 7476, 7482, 7487, 7488, 8030, 8041, 8080, 8162, 8200, 8350, 8370, 8380, 8467, 8470. Unpleasant pictures: 1090, 1110, 1120, 1220, 1301, 2120, 2691, 2900, 3000, 3010, 3030, 3051, 3060, 3064, 3071, 3080, 3120, 3130, 3170, 3280, 3400, 3500, 3530, 6210, 6212, 6231, 6242, 6243, 6312, 6313, 6314, 6370, 6510, 6540, 6550, 6560, 6571, 6821, 8480, 9040, 9041, 9042, 9250, 9400, 9405, 9410, 9433, 9440, 9490, 9570, 9571, 9600, 9611, 9620, 9621, 9622, 9910, 9911, 9920, 9921.

Factorial one-way ANOVA (three levels: neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant images) followed by multiple comparisons (the Holm method) was performed in the previous rating scores of valence, arousal, and dominance corresponding to the above IAPS numbers (Lang et al., 2008). In the cases of two rating scores on the same IAPS number, those values were averaged. Statistical results are summarized in Table 2.

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Kashihara, K., Okanoya, K. & Kawai, N. Emotional attention modulates microsaccadic rate and direction. Psychological Research 78, 166–179 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-013-0490-z

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