An important effect reflecting attention-emotion interactions, known as the distractor devaluation (DD) effect, was replicated and extended. We found that this effect reflects general cognitive inhibitory control as exercised in spatial attention, temporal attention, response inhibition and control over memory processes.
We developed theoretical understanding of the effect in several important ways, elaborated a formal computational model for it, and reported neural correlates that link evaluative responses directly to attentional control mechanisms.
We also explored links between attention and emotion by measuring attentional control processes in the presence of emotional (and neutral) stimuli.
Important advances in the understanding of how emotional (and neutral) information is coded with and without attention and accompanied or not by awareness were made on all fronts: behavioural, electrophysiological, neuroimaging (fMRI and MEG), and in modelling.
We conclude from this project that emotional information both depends on and can be generated in response to mechanisms controlling visual attention.