Curiosity can be defined as a drive to engage in exploratory behaviors and has been associated with an increased state of arousal (Berlyne, 1954). Exploratory behaviors, such as feedback requests, are associated with an information gain and the reduction of uncertainty. Although previous research has demonstrated the effects of emotions on the value of information gain (Marvin & Shohamy, 2016), and that the manipulation of arousal affected confidence (Allen et al., 2016) suggesting uncertainty can be affected independent of task difficulty, no previous study independently manipulated arousal to test its effect on curiosity. Given the effects of curiosity on motivation and learning, understanding how arousal influence curiosity would be beneficial for applications in fields such as education. In the present study, we hypothesized that emotionally-induced arousal has an impact on curiosity by influencing uncertainty and the value of information gain. A sample of 17 students were presented with arousing supraliminal emotional cues prior to rating confidence about their answers to trivia questions and deciding on feedback choices. Feedback requests were associated with a time delay, in a way that participants were required to trade off time for information. Results showed that uncertainty levels did not reliably predict feedback choices. Further analyses failed to demonstrate an effect of arousal on feedback choices. Finally, the pupillary response to events suggested that arousal levels did not differ significantly across conditions. Results can be due to the small sample or the test sensitivity. Possible improvements to the experimental paradigm are discussed, and directions for future research are considered.

本研究主要的研究目的有二：其一，探討高社會焦慮者對不同情緒臉孔的注意力時間歷程；其二，探討自動化階段與控制式階段所進行的注意力訓練，對於降低注意力偏誤以及改善社會焦慮的效果。基於上述兩項研究目的，分為研究一與研究二進行。研究一中，共有60名參與者完成眼動作業，其中高、低社會焦慮組 (HSA組/ LSA組) 各30名。在眼動作業中，生氣、難過、快樂與中性四類情緒臉孔同時呈現於螢幕上，參與者被指示自由觀賞螢幕上的圖片，直到圖片消失。研究一的結果發現，HSA組對生氣臉的初始注視時間 (initial gaze duration; IGD) 明顯高於LSA組，且高於其它三類情緒臉孔，LSA組對四類情緒臉孔的IGD則沒有差異；其次，LSA組對快樂臉的整體凝視時間比例 (proportion of total viewing time; PTVT) 明顯高於HSA組。時間歷程分析的結果發現，HSA組在751-1000 ms 對生氣臉的凝視可能性高於LSA組，以及在7-8 s對難過臉的凝視可能性高於LSA組；LSA組在9-10 s對快樂臉的凝視可能性高於HSA組。研究一結果指向，高社會焦慮者對威脅刺激可能有注意力脫離困難，同時可能缺少對正向刺激的注意。研究二共有72名高社會焦慮者參與，本研究將注意力訓練的刺激呈現時間操弄為100 ms或500 ms兩種，每一種刺激呈現時間的注意力訓練可分為注意力改變組 (AMP組) 與注意力控制組 (ACC組) 兩種情境，因此共有AMP-100、ACC-100、AMP-500與ACC-500四種訓練情境。所有參與者被隨機分派至四種訓練情境中，並完成八次 (每週兩次，為期四週) 的注意力訓練作業。參與者在注意力訓練的前、後分別完成量表填寫、修改版Posner作業與眼動作業的評估，並且在注意力訓練結束至少一個月後，接受追蹤階段的評估。研究二的結果發現，100 ms的注意力訓練可以增進AMP-100組在修改版Posner作業上對所有無效嘗試次的反應時間；降低其在眼動作業上對生氣臉的IGD；同時改善AMP-100組參與者的負向評價恐懼、互動焦慮以及演講前的預期焦慮。500 ms的注意力訓練可以降低AMP-500組的參與者在修改版Posner作業上對社會威脅詞無效嘗試次的反應時間；減少其在眼動作業上對負向情緒臉孔的注意力維持時間，並增加對正向情緒臉孔的注意力維持時間；同時降低AMP-500組的負向評價恐懼與社會互動焦慮。研究二結果顯示，自動化階段與控制式階段所進行的注意力訓練，均可促進高社會焦慮者對威脅刺激的注意力脫離速度，並且改善社會焦慮。本研究於討論中，針對本研究結果在理論與臨床應用上的意涵進行探討，並提出本研究的限制與對未來研究的建議。 / The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, it aimed to investigate the attentional processing of emotional faces in social anxiety using the eye-tracking technique. Second, it tried to examine the effects of attentional training in reducing attentional bias and in decreasing social anxiety symptoms in high socially anxious individuals. In study 1, a total of 30 high socially anxious (HSA) and 30 low socially anxious (LSA) participants completed the eye-movement task. In the eye-movement task, participants were instructed to view the slides on the monitor naturally. Each slide contained 4 emotional faces (one angry, one sad, one happy and one neutral face). The results showed that the HSA participants had longer initial gaze duration (IGD) on angry faces than the LSA participants did. Further, the LSA participants had higher proportion of total viewing time (PTVT) on happy faces than the HSA participants did. Time-course of attention to emotional faces was also examined. The results showed that the HSA group had higher fixation probabilities to angry faces than the LSA group did in the 751-1000 ms time window. The HSA group exhibited higher fixation probability to sad faces than the LSA group did in the 7-8 s time window. Further, compared with the HSA group, the LSA group had higher fixation probability on happy faces in the 9-10 s time window. The results of study 1 indicate that individuals with high socially anxiety may have difficulty in disengagement form social threatening information and may demonstrate decreased attention to positive information. In study 2, seventy-two high socially anxious participants completed the experiments. In the attention training task, stimuli were presented at two durations: 100 ms and 500 ms. Participants were randomly assigned to four different attentional training conditions, including the AMP-100 (attention modification program; presentation duration = 100 ms), the ACC-100 (attention control condition; presentation duration = 100 ms), the AMP-500 and the ACC-500 group. All participants completed eight attentional training sessions delivered over four weeks (i.e., twice weekly sessions). Participants were also required to complete preassessments, postassessments and follow-up assessments. The results demonstrated that the 100 ms attention modification program facilitated attention disengagement in the Modified Version of Posner task and decreased attentional maintenance to angry faces in the eye-movement task for participants in the AMP-100 group. Furthermore, it reduced the fear of negative evaluation, interaction anxiety and anticipated anxiety for public-speaking situation in the AMP-100 group. The 500 ms attention modification program facilitated the disengagement from social threat words in the Modified Version of Posner task in participants of the AMP-500 group. It also decreased the attentional maintenance to negative faces and increased the attentional maintenance to happy faces in participants of the AMP-500 group. Further, it reduced the fear of negative evaluation and social interaction anxiety in the AMP-500 group. The results of study 2 suggest that attention modofication programs may decrease difficulty in disengagement from threat and reduce some aspects of social anxiety symptoms in individuals with high socially anxiety. Theoretical and clinical implications of these results were discussed.

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.