Influence of Smartphone Notifications on Behavior and Eye Movement Parameters of Emotional Attention
Date of Graduation
5-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
Psychological Science
Advisor/Mentor
Zabelina, Darya L.
Committee Member
Shields, Grant
Second Committee Member
Judah, Matt
Keywords
emotional attention; executive function; Eye tracking; internal and external attention; smartphone notifications; social technology
Abstract
This study examined how smartphone notifications interact with emotional facial expressions to influence behavioral and physiological eye movement parameters of attentional orientation. Using a dot-probe paradigm, participants viewed mixed emotional face pairs (angry, happy, or neutral) following an auditory stimulus (smartphone notifications, control tones, or silence). Angry faces elicited greater behavioral accuracy and delayed initial fixations, consistent with heightened threat-related attentional engagement. Notifications disrupted attentional stability, reflected in increased fixations and pupil size variability. The combined effect of smartphone notifications preceding angry faces intensified attentional modulation—evidenced by slower responses, increased blinking, greater pupil constriction, less pupil variability, and faster initial saccadic orienting. These effects were moderated by individual differences: greater smartphone use—both self-reported and objectively measured—was associated with enhanced sensitivity and avoidance to angry faces, reflected in increased accuracy, larger pupil responses, and reductions in fixations and blinks. Elevated stress and anxiety predicted context-dependent attentional shifts, particularly under threat, with pronounced effects on pupillary and saccadic responses. Lower regulatory control was linked to greater distractibility, impaired performance, and faster threat-oriented saccades, whereas higher attentional control predicted more flexible and adaptive responses. These findings elucidate how smartphone alerts and emotionally salient stimuli interact with trait-level factors to shape attentional processes, highlighting the value of eye-tracking for disentangling cognitive-affective mechanisms in technology-rich environments.
Citation
Upshaw, J. D. (2025). Influence of Smartphone Notifications on Behavior and Eye Movement Parameters of Emotional Attention. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/5749
