Abstract
It has been suggested that attention and emotional states are tightly linked, in that negative moods are associated with narrowed attentional focus, whereas positive moods are associated with broadened focus. However, recent studies on the effect of affective states, using the attentional blink deficit as a reflection of the temporary unavailability of attentional resources, have reported ambiguous results regarding the deployment of attention in the temporal domain. In the present study, the authors examined whether the effect of affective state on the attentional blink should be interpreted in terms of valence and arousal axes or in terms of the specificity of the connection between affect and attention. (Author/publisher)