Mentor
Shaun Vecera, Psychology
Participation year
2015
Project title

The Relationship Between the BIS/BAS Personality Scale and Reward-Driven Attentional Capture

Abstract

Stimulus-reward associations have often been discussed in conjunction with cognitive control processes, yet little has been done to investigate how individual personality factors may play a role in reward modulated attention. This study sought to examine associations between individual differences in behavioral inhibition sensitivity and behavioral approach sensitivity with reward based attentional capture (RBAC). Previously collected experimental data on the RBAC task were utilized and correlations between RBAC performance and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)/Behavioral Activation System (BAS) Scales were computed. In adolescents, response times in a rewarded attention task were positively correlated and approached significance with the BAS Fun Seeking facet. In contrast, adults demonstrated a negative correlation between response times in a rewarded attention task and the BAS Fun Seeking facet. These results reveal that individual personality factors, in regards to behavioral approach sensitivity may be linked to reward-based attentional capture. This ultimately has the potential to impact cognitive control, with greater implications of this effect being seen in areas such as impulsive and risky behavior and substance use.

Imani Belton
Education
North Carolina A&T State