Genesis and Maintenance of Attentional Biases: The Role of the Locus Coeruleus-Noradrenaline System

Figure 4

(a) Noise Estimation task to determine emotionally enhanced vividness (EEV). A standard (scrambled image) was overlaid with varying levels of noise. The standard was followed by the target overlaid with 15% noise. Participants were asked to indicate whether the target had more or less noise relative to the standard. (b) Difference scores for ratings of inverse noise estimation (NsEst⁻¹), a measure of perceptual vividness for negative and positive > neutral stimuli in noncarriers and carriers of the ADRA2b deletion variant. Deletion carriers show greater EEV than noncarriers. (c) Statistical maps showing parametric modulation by EEV in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex for ADRA2b carriers > noncarriers and in the lateral occipital complex showing modulation by EEV across both groups. Adapted with permission from “Neurogenetic variations in norepinephrine availability enhance perceptual vividness” by Todd et al. [40]. Copyright 2015 by the Society for Neuroscience.

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