In this study lateral differences in tympanic membrane temperature (TMT) were explored as an index of cerebral lateralization. TMT posttask differences were examined for sustained attention to response tasks (SARTs) following the presentation of negative and neutral emotional picture stimuli. Right TMT changed significantly more from baseline TMT than did left TMT after participants performed SARTs, a finding consistent with previous research indicating right cerebral dominance for sustained attention and response inhibition. Moreover, there was a trend (p = .09) for a picture stimuli by hemisphere interaction, with right-left differences in TMT being greater after the presentation of negative pictures than after neutral pictures. This result is consistent with previous findings indicating right cerebral dominance of negative emotional processing. Overall, these results support TMT as a useful and very cost effective index of cerebral lateralization.
In this study we investigated the properties of the sustained attention to response task (SART). In the SART, participants respond to frequent (high probability of occurrence) neutral signals and are required to withhold response to rare (low probability of occurrence) critical signals. We examined whether SART performance shows characteristics of speed-accuracy tradeoffs and in addition, we examined whether SART performance is influenced by prior exposure to emotional picture stimuli. Thirty-three participants in this study performed SARTs after being exposed to neutral and negative picture stimuli. Performance in the SART changed rapidly over time and there was a high correlation between participants errors of commission rate and their reaction time to the neutral targets (γ = -.72). SART performance was not significantly affected by emotional stimuli, but subjective reports of arousal were significantly affected by emotional stimuli.
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