ABSTRACT
Three experiments were carried out in order to evaluate the attention paid to words of different emotional value. A dual-task experimental paradigm was employed, registering response times to acoustic tones which were presented during the reading of words. The recall was also evaluated by means of an intentional immediate recall test. The results reveal that neither the emotional valence nor the arousal of words on their own affected the attention paid by participants. Only in the third experiment, in which words belonging to two specific semantic categories (sexual and threatening) were used, did females show significantly higher RTS for threatening words. Nonetheless, significant differences were observed in the immediate subsequent recall for the different types of words in all three experiments. Future studies should take into account: a) the differential status of words and pictures to capture attention, b) the differential influence of valence, as well as arousal, on recall of emotional words, and c) the differential effects of the semantic category on the attention paid to these words by males and females.
Se llevaron a cabo tres experimentos para evaluar la atención a palabras de diferente valor emocional. Se trabajó con un paradigma experimental de doble tarea, registrando los tiempos de respuesta ante tonos, los cuales fueron presentados durante la lectura de palabras. El recuerdo también fue evaluado a través de una prueba de memoria intencional inmediata. Los resultados revelan que ni el valor, ni la excitación de las palabras, afectan la atención de los participantes. Solamente, en el tercer experimento, en el que las palabras pertenecieron a dos categorías semánticas específicas (sexual y riesgo de muerte) las mujeres mostraron significativamente mayor RTS ante palabras amenazadoras. No obstante, se observaron diferencias significativas en el recuerdo inmediato posterior, para los diferentes tipos de palabras en los tres experimentos. Los estudios futuros deben tener en cuenta: ( a) la situación diferencial de las palabras e imágenes para captar la atención, (b) la influencia diferencial de valencia, así como la excitación, en el recuerdo de palabras emocionales y (c) los efectos diferenciales de la categoría semántica de la atención prestada a estas palabras de hombres y mujeres.
ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the ability of intentional forgetting to emotional words of post traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) children and normal children by item method after Wenchuan earthquake 18 months.Methods Twenty PTSD children who met with CCMD-3 and DSM-Ⅳ criteria and twenty control group children were investigated. Sixteen positive and sixteen negative words were adopted as materials. PTSD children accomplished the words learning, arithmetical operation and memory tests ( include free recall, words completion and words recognition) in orderly. Results ( 1 )The free recall accuracy of PTSD children to positive words was significant high than negative words( (0.32 ±0.11 ), (0.28 ±0.10), P＜0.05). The free recall accuracy of control group to positive words was significant high than negative words ( (0.37 ± 0.09 ), (0.34 ± 0.13 ), P＜ 0.05 ). ( 2 )The words completion accuracy of PTSD children to positive words was significant low than negative words( (0.38± 0.12 ), (0.49 ± 0.12 ), P ＜ 0.05 ). The words completion accuracy of control group to positive words was significant low than negative words ( (0.39 ± 0.15 ), (0.56 ± 0.14 ), P ＜ 0.01 ). ( 3 ) There was no difference of words recognition accuracy of PTSD children to positive and negative words ( ( 0.64 ± 0. 19 ), (0.63 ± 0. 16), P ＞0. 05). There was no difference of words recognition accuracy of control group to positive and negative words ((0.64 ± 0. 16), (0.65 ±0. 19), P ＞ 0. 05). Conclusion There is a significant intentional forgetting effect on emotional words in PTSD children and normal children, and this effect were influenced not only by selective rehearsal but also retrieval inhibition.