作者檢視視覺注意力研究發現：對於哪些向度刺激能夠攫取注意力這項爭議，至今尚未圓滿解決。針對這項議題，認知心理家提出三種不同假設：一致性假設主張必須符合個體注意力控制狀態的刺激才能產生攫取效果；差異顯著性假設認為，不論干擾刺激屬於何種注意力控制狀態，只要該刺激之特徵差異達到顯著，即能吸引注意力；而物件檔案假設則認為，涉及新開物件檔案動作的刺激，比涉及修改原有物件檔案內容的刺激，更傾向於展現注意力攫取效果。 本研究結合雙眼像差技術與非突現刺激技術，設計出具有深度與大小變化的逼近刺激。並且利用逼近刺激進行四項實驗，試圖解決上述三種假設間的爭議：實驗一證實，逼近刺激確實具有攫取注意力的效果。實驗二發現突現刺激與逼近刺激兩者會互相干擾。實驗三結果顯示，比背景亮的刺激較傾向於吸引注意力。實驗四則發現：在搜尋亮度獨特刺激的作業中，逼近干擾刺激不會造成影響；但在搜尋逼近刺激的作業中，亮度獨特刺激則會產生干擾。另外，實驗五包括兩個子實驗，主要在探討逼近刺激注意力攫取效果的媒介，結果顯示：深度變化對逼近刺激的注意力攫取效果具有重要貢獻，但也必須在不違反大小變化條件的前提下，逼近刺激才能展現注意力攫取效果。 整合本研究前四項實驗可知：實驗一、三的結果並不支持物件檔案假設。在探討逼近與突現刺激干擾情形的實驗二中，一致性假設獲得合於預測的結果；但在操弄亮度與逼近刺激的實驗四中，卻得不到支持證據。至於顯著性假設，除了實驗二所得結果外，普遍都可獲得支持。然而，顯著性假設仍有修正的必要。作者在文中也提出了顯著性假設的初步修正，以及未來相關研究可能的發展方向。

根據恐懼管理理論（Terror Management Theory, 1986）人們會適時地管理死亡想法的威脅，故Pyszczynski、Greenberg及Solomon（1999）依據此理論提出了一套雙元歷程模式來解釋人們的防衛方式：近端防衛與遠端防衛。在遠端防衛中文化世界觀尤為重要，在過去的西方研究之中，發現人們常以對自身文化世界觀持正向或偏好的態度，來防衛死亡想法的威脅；然而這樣的現象卻在亞洲研究中難以得到驗證，因此本研究的目的即在於重新檢驗文化世界觀的防衛方式。本研究操弄參與者的死亡想法，並藉由分心作業的方式，使其死亡想法掉入意識邊陲之中，以探究遠端防衛的本質。本研究除了以偏好的評估作為依變項外，且從認知的注意力面向出發，探討文化世界觀與防衛死亡想法之間的關係。本研究設計兩個實驗：實驗一以視覺搜尋作業的派典進行研究，以對自身文化的偏好、正確率與反應時間當作依變項。結果發現當參與者進行遠端防衛時，會對於與自身文化有關的線索，表現出較高的正確率，但在對自身文化的偏好，與反應時間的變項上，未能發現有顯著差異。實驗二以眼動追蹤儀器當作研究工具，並以眼動指標中首次凝視位置的數量，以及凝視時間作為依變項。結果發現當參與者進行遠端防衛時，會對於與自身文化有關的線索，表現出較長的凝視時間，但在首次凝視位置的數量上，亦未能發現有顯著差異。因此，綜合以上兩個實驗，本研究並未能完全支持文化世界觀的遠端防衛效果。 / According to terror management theory (1986), people can manage the threat from death thought. Thus, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon (1999) proposed a dual-process model to explain how people defend the death. There are two defense routes: the proximal defense and the distal defense. The culture-worldview is an important function in the distal defense. In the western research, it was found that people were more positive or preferred to self-culture-worldview. However, there are mixed findings in the eastern research. In order to investigate the distal defense mechanism, this study manipulated participants’ death thought, and let the thought drop into the unconscious level via a distracting task. Furthermore, this study examined the relationship between the culture-worldview and the death defense from attentional paradigms. We conducted two experiments. In the first experiment, we adopted the visual search paradigm, and the dependent variables were self-cultural preference, reaction time and the rate of accuracy. We found it was more accurate when participants were asked to search the self-related cultural cue after reminding one’s death comparing to those are not reminding about death. But they were no significant difference in the self-cultural preference and reaction time. In the second experiment, we adopted the eye-tracker as the instrument, and the dependent variables were the index of number of first fixation and the duration of fixations. We found the fixation duration was longer for the self-related cultural cues than for the non-self-related cultural cues when participants being reminded about one’s death. But it was no significant difference in the number of first fixation. So, through these two experiments we found an inconsistent result in the distal defense.

本研究探討高齡者在視覺搜尋作業中，其由上而下（Top-down）與由下而上（Bottom-up）的注意力運作對於情緒刺激的反應，是否會因為注意力功能退化而與年輕成人的表現不同。過去研究指出，雖然高齡者注意力功能衰退，但是高齡者的由上而下注意力運作，仍可以幫助高齡者的表現。為了解由上而下注意力運作是否對於高齡者的反應有所幫助，本研究以兩個實驗分別探討內因與外因線索以及操弄訊息量所造成的影響。 實驗一包括80％有效的內因線索與25％有效的外因線索兩階段，外因線索階段為由下而上注意力運作，內因線索階段則為由上而下注意力運作，獨變項為年齡（高齡者、年輕成人）、情緒（生氣、快樂）以及線索有效情況（有效線索、中性線索、無效線索），記錄反應時間與正確率。實驗二的兩階段使用不同訊息量的外因線索（80％有效比例為高訊息量、25％有效比例為低訊息量），其餘操弄都與實驗一相同，低訊息量為單純的由下而上注意力運作，而高訊息量兼具由下而上與由上而下注意力運作。 研究結果發現，兩實驗高齡者與年輕成人都對於生氣情緒反應較快，符合威脅優勢。高齡者較年輕人更需要借助由上而下的注意力運作幫助反應，高訊息量的線索對於高齡者幫助也較年輕成人大。另外，實驗一增益效果的結果顯示，有效線索在高齡者搜尋生氣臉孔幫助較大，在年輕成人則搜尋快樂臉孔幫助較大，但是實驗二結果則顯示，有效線索在高齡者與年輕成人搜尋快樂臉孔的幫助都較生氣臉孔大，兩實驗的年齡與情緒的交互作用結果不同可能與高齡者異質性有關。由研究結果可知，由上而下注意力運作對於高齡者在情緒臉孔反應有幫助，在未來實務上，可以多運用由上而下注意力運作的線索幫助高齡者反應。 / This research is aim to understand attention in visual search of emotional faces in aging. Two types of attention process, that is top-down and bottom-up attention, were concerned in this study. In past researches, there are empirical evidences showing age-related declination in attention function, especially in bottom-up attention. But top-down attention is still playing an important role in doing task for the older adults. In order to understand the effect of top-down attention in aging, two experiments using endogenous or exogenous spatial cues were designed. Participants have to respond whether there is a different emotional face or not in a visual search task. The independent variables are age（aging and young）, emotional face（happy and angry）, and cue（valid, neutral, and invalid）. Dependent variables are reaction times and accuracy. In Experiment 1, there are two stages: 80％ valid endogenous cues and 25％ valid exogenous cues. The endogenous cues stage and exogenous cues stage were designed to probe top-down attention and bottom-up attention, respectively. In Experiment 2, there are two stages: 80％ valid exogenous cues（highly informative cues）and 25％ valid exogenous cues（non-informative cues）. Using highly informative exogenous cues involve both top-down and bottom-up attention. In contrast, non-informative exogenous cues only trigger bottom-up attention. The major results of this study support threat advantage hypothesis that both older and young adults respond to angry face target quicker than happy face. Benefit from top-down attention was larger in older adults than young adults. Highly informative cues help older adults more in searching emotional faces than young adults. The cuing effects in two emotional face conditions were different between Experiment 1 and 2. This inconsistent result maybe relates to aging heterogeneity. In conclusion, top-down attention can help older adults search for emotional faces.