Affective distraction by emotional arousal during visual attention: a comparative study with young and older adults

Irrelevant affective/emotional stimuli for a given cognitive task can interfere with visual attention. Some studies indicate that emotionally arousing stimuli can unintentionally divert attention and act as sources of distraction This study aimed to test, regardless of the valence factor, the impact of emotional arousal on attentional interference in young adults and older adults. The interference of arousal (high-arousing vs. low-arousing vs. /neutral) was examined through behavioural measures, specifically response times and response error rates. The results revealed that arousal modulates attention differently across age groups. Older adults showed a facilitation effect in the presence of low-arousal stimuli, improving their cognitive performance compared to high and neutral arousing stimuli. By comparison, no significant effects of arousal on cognitive performance were observed in young adults. These findings highlight the differential role of emotional arousal in attentional performance across the lifespan, most notably its facilitation effect in older age, and underscore the relevance of considering arousal when developing strategies to support cognitive functioning in healthy aging.