Paula Beall

      The aim of my research program is to examine the influence affect has on attention and cognition within an information-processing framework. Such a framework proposes that our attentional resources are limited. Thus, our attentional system must be selectively and prioritize information for processing. I suggest that affectively laden social information such as faces and bodies have a higher priority for processing than non-social stimuli. I investigate such influences in both typical and non-typical populations (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder, Interpersonal trauma survivors). I am exploring such questions as, do individuals with social deficits such as autism process faces and body postures differently compared to non-social objects, are affective facial expressions processed more automatically than other affective objects, are faces in general processed more automatically than non-social objects, how does exposure to interpersonal violence influence attention to affective faces, to what extent do facial expressions of emotion influence the attentional spotlight of an observer.