Swear and Sexual Words Capture Attention Due to Norepinephrine Activity: A Study

Attention is a limited resource, and certain words, like swear or sexual terms, grab our attention more easily. These words have preferential access to our attentional resources. This is due to the activity of norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that increases arousal levels. A study investigated how well swear and sexual words capture people's attention. Participants performed a visual task. They responded to shapes while ignoring neutral or swear/sexual words on the screen. The study found participants were more inaccurate identifying shapes when swear/sexual words were present. This suggests these words capture attention even when ignored. The results also showed the left hemisphere is more efficient at processing linguistic stimuli.