KEYNOTE ABSTRACTS

Executive Processes and the Emotions: New Prospects for the S-REF Modeln

The S-REF model of emotional dysfunction (Wells & Matthews, 1994) identifies maladaptive executive processing as a source of impairment in attention and performance. Such executive processing may be initiated as a part of efforts to cope with the demands of performance tasks. I will review recent studies that have investigated the role of coping in performance of attentional tasks. Data suggest that affective states and coping are reciprocally related, and that avoidance coping may be linked to attentional impairment. Findings also point towards the importance of cognitive fatigue and loss of task engagement in performance decrements. These findings can be loosely accommodated within resource models of performance. However, a stronger theoretical account may require a more detailed specification of executive processes, and I will discuss future research directions of this kind