The steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP), an electrophysiological marker of attentional resource allocation, has recently been demonstrated to serve as a neural signature of emotional content extraction from a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). SSVEP amplitude was reduced for streams of emotional relative to neutral scenes passively viewed at 6 Hz (~167 ms per image), but it was enhanced for emotional relative to neutral scenes when viewed as 4 Hz RSVP (250 ms per image). Here, we investigated whether these seemingly contradictory observations may be related to different dynamics in the allocation of attentional resources as a consequence of stimulation frequency.
University of Lincoln, College of Social Science Research
Valeria Bekhtereva, University of Leipzig, Institute of Psychology
Matt Craddock, University of Lincoln, School of Psychology
Christopher Gundach, University of Leipzig, Institute of Psychology
Matthias Muller, University of Leipzig, Institute of Psychology