ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine contemporary psychophysiological accounts of interactions between attention and affect as manifested by research on orienting and defensive reactions. The origins of the differentiation of orienting (OR), startle (SR), and defense (DR) reflexes using psychophysiological measures are briefly reviewed (Sokolov & Cacioppo, chapter 1, this volume). We argue that the majority of this early research, particularly that conducted by Graham and Sokolov, focused on the physical or sensory attributes of eliciting stimuli, together with the attentional functions of these responses. However, earlier Russian research had also stressed the motivational and functional consequences of the operation of these reflexes (e.g., Konorski, 1948; Pavlov, 1927). Accordingly, the role of affect in the elicitation of the OR, SR, and DR is a primary focus of this chapter. Finally, the implications of this research for psychopathology are examined, because many of the affective stimulus materials studied have been related to phobic anxiety. Moreover, current approaches to anxious and depressive disorders emphasize the role of cognitive factors involving attentional biases toward threat-related stimuli in the acquisition and maintenance of these conditions (Mathews & MacLeod, 1994). It is suggested, therefore, that psychophysiological methods involving OR, SR, and DR differentiation might prove highly relevant to this area of research.
