Lower intensity negative emotions (e.g., sadness) prompt a global, broadened attention focus while higher intensity negative emotions (e.g., disgust) prompt attentional narrowing -- focusing on localized information (Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2010). Links between attention scope and emotional memory are under-examined but sadness enhances memory. We examined whether the scope of attention influences the amount of detail in how people describe a negative situation, and whether these links differ across emotion contexts.  

强度较低的负面情绪（如悲伤）会促使全局性的、广泛的注意焦点，而强度较高的负面情绪（如厌恶）会促使注意范围缩小--集中于局部信息（Gable & Harmon-Jones, 2010）。注意范围和情绪记忆之间的联系没有得到充分的研究，但悲伤会增强记忆。我们研究了注意力的范围是否影响了人们描述负面情况的细节数量，以及这些联系在不同的情绪背景下是否有所不同。

Method

141 undergraduates (39% male) completed a computerized global-local attention processing task before and after watching an anger or sadness related film. Later they recalled what they remembered from the film. To assess amount of detail we created a composite by summing the number of pronouns, actions, adjectives and adverbs used in their descriptions. 

141名本科生（39%为男性）在观看一部与愤怒或悲伤有关的电影前后完成了一项计算机化的全局-局部注意力处理任务。后来，他们回忆起他们从影片中记住的东西。为了评估细节的数量，我们通过总结他们描述中使用的代词、行动、形容词和副词的数量来创建一个综合。

Results

We ran separate models for sadness and anger emotion contexts. 

我们对悲伤和愤怒的情绪背景进行了不同的模型。

Sad film: A one-way ANCOVA revealed that people who demonstrated a global attention scope after the film (M = 46.786, SE = .875) described more detailed information from the film, F(1,56) = 8.799, p = .004, eta = .136 than people who demonstrated a more local attention scope after the film (M = 43.093, SE = .860). 

Angry film: No significant effect emerged, F(1,64) = 2.607, p = .111, eta = .039.

Discussion

People who demonstrate a global attention style after experiencing a sad situation, demonstrate breadth and elaboration in how they described the experience. So, the enhanced effect of sadness on memory might be specific for people who demonstrate a global attention scope. 

在经历了悲伤的情况后表现出全局注意风格的人，在描述经历的方式上表现出广泛性和阐述性。因此，悲伤对记忆的增强作用可能是表现出全局注意范围的人所特有的。

Reference

Gable, P., & Harmon-Jones, E. (2010). The blues broaden, but the nasty narrows: attentional consequences of negative affects low and high in motivational intensity. Psychological Science, 21(2), 211–215.