According to LeDoux’s model (1996) we have specialized pathways for processing emotional cues. Pourtois, Schettino and Vuilleumier (2013) offer a neural model of how emotional signals capture attention. In their model, amygdala is not only able to respond to relevant cues, it also have a role in orienting attention towards emotional stimuli (with the assistance of other brain areas).
In other words, human beings don’t attend emotional stimuli in the same way they attend other objects.
Are there any experimental data explaining how this preference for emotional stimuli develops from infancy to childhood?
