Positive Affect Promotes Unbiased and Flexible Attention: Towards a Dopaminergic Model of Positivity
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A review of extant literature on positive affect suggested that it has two major dimensions: a hedonic dimension related to subjective feelings and reward processing, and a cognitive dimension related to affect-specific changes in perception and cognition. A novel dopaminergic mod el was proposed to provide a unitary account for the effects of positive affect across the two dimensions. The model hypothesized that positive affect is associated with distinct modes of mesocortical and mesolimbic dopa mine transmission, which in turn mediate unbiased, unfiltered and flexible attention. Three separate behavioral tasks on perception, attention, and reward learning were conducted. In line with the hypothesis, positive affect was found to associate with less biased bi-stable perception, faster regain of attention to previously ignored information, and fewer perseverative errors in face of changing reward contingencies.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Yuqi You
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2519176043