Be(a)ware of my environment: The effect of threat on attentional control and inattentional blindness
Résumé
Previous work has shown that self-evaluative threat modulates individuals’ attention by enhancing attentional priorities according to task's goals. Although this seems adaptive at first sight, it is a double-edged phenomenon: while it facilitates the rejection of apparently irrelevant information, it nevertheless increases attentional capture by distracting luring information. Other research has shown that such prioritization of attention could even affect our awareness of the environment. Across four studies, we thus investigated whether a threatening social context, because it leads to a stronger prioritization of attention, can also make individuals more or less aware (i.e., inattentional blindness) of stimuli they are exposed to. Firstly, a dynamic visual task was calibrated to allow the investigation of the phenomenon of inattentional blindness to unexpected (ir)relevant stimuli (Study 1: N = 698; Study 2: N = 298). Secondly, a threat induction technique through exposure to screams was tested to verify its effectiveness in modulating attentional prioritization (Study 3: N = 258). Finally, we found that the attentional prioritization phenomenon is exacerbated by the sense of threat experienced by participants exposed to screams, which results in decreased awareness (inattentional blindness) of unexpected irrelevant stimuli (Study 4: N = 128). Potential applications on the understanding of human behavior in crisis situations (e.g., evacuation) will be discussed.
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