TY - JOUR
T1 - When the rhythm disappears and the mind keeps dancing
T2 - sustained effects of attentional entrainment
AU - Trapp, Sabrina
AU - Havlicek, Ondrej
AU - Schirmer, Annett
AU - Keller, Peter E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Research has demonstrated that the human cognitive system allocates attention most efficiently to a stimulus that occurs in synchrony with an established rhythmic background. However, our environment is dynamic and constantly changing. What happens when rhythms to which our cognitive system adapted disappear? We addressed this question using a visual categorization task comprising emotional and neutral faces. The task was split into three blocks of which the first and the last were completed in silence. The second block was accompanied by an acoustic background rhythm that, for one group of participants, was synchronous with face presentations, and for another group was asynchronous. Irrespective of group, performance improved with background stimulation. Importantly, improved performance extended into the third silent block for the synchronous, but not for the asynchronous group. These data suggest that attentional entrainment resulting from rhythmic environmental regularities disintegrates only gradually after the regularities disappear.
AB - Research has demonstrated that the human cognitive system allocates attention most efficiently to a stimulus that occurs in synchrony with an established rhythmic background. However, our environment is dynamic and constantly changing. What happens when rhythms to which our cognitive system adapted disappear? We addressed this question using a visual categorization task comprising emotional and neutral faces. The task was split into three blocks of which the first and the last were completed in silence. The second block was accompanied by an acoustic background rhythm that, for one group of participants, was synchronous with face presentations, and for another group was asynchronous. Irrespective of group, performance improved with background stimulation. Importantly, improved performance extended into the third silent block for the synchronous, but not for the asynchronous group. These data suggest that attentional entrainment resulting from rhythmic environmental regularities disintegrates only gradually after the regularities disappear.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040700154&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00426-018-0983-x
DO - 10.1007/s00426-018-0983-x
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29344724
AN - SCOPUS:85040700154
SN - 0340-0727
VL - 84
SP - 81
EP - 87
JO - Psychological Research
JF - Psychological Research
IS - 1
ER -