Dispersing attentional resources reduces negative emotions

Research shows that human attentional focus expands under positive emotions and narrows under negative emotions. Moreover, expanding (or contracting) the attentional focus is associated with dispersing (or concentrating) attentional resources. This study investigated whether dispersing or concentrating attentional resources on a target stimulus can change negative emotions to positive ones. We used the flanker task to manipulate the attentional resource allocation range by displaying a peripheral, task-unrelated induction stimulus far from the target stimulus or a central, task-unrelated induction stimulus near the target stimulus. The attentional resources allocated to the target stimulus were measured by recording the P300 component, an event-related potential indicating attention allocation. We also presented negative images before and after the task and used the Self-Assessment Manikin and the Affect Grid to assess the negative emotions induced by the images. The P300 amplitudes for the target stimuli were smaller in the peripheral than in the central condition. Moreover, self-reported negative emotions in the peripheral condition decreased after the task but did not change in the central condition. The dispersion of attentional resources changes negative emotions into a positive orientation.