Individual differences in reward sensitivity and attentional focus

Two priming experiments were conducted to study the relation between attentional focusing and J.A. Grayʹs personality dimension of impulsivity. Pre-target primes were centrally presented before expected and unexpected targets that appeared after 100 or 500 ms in the same location. In Experiment 1 primes and expected targets matched physically, whereas in Experiment 2 did not match physically. Participants completed the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, a measure of Grayʹs anxiety and impulsivity dimensions. Both experiments showed that, at the 500-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), participants with higher scores on the Sensitivity to Reward Scale (i.e. impulsives) obtained greater differences between response times to expected and non-expected targets than low scorers. Discussion is centered on the nature of over-focusing of attention in individuals with an overactive Behavioral Activation System (BAS).