What is emotional saliency?

Emotional saliency refers to how certain thoughts, feelings, or stimuli that are emotionally charged become prominent or significant to us, shaping our perceptions and behavior. Dr. Paul Conti and Andrew Huberman discuss the notion of "salience," especially in the emotional context, as what we selectively attend to internally, often driven by unconscious processes or past traumas, which can override other potential areas of focus. For instance, someone might continually focus on an internal negative dialogue, making it highly salient and influencing their daily life and actions to the point where nothing else seems relevant or important. Changing this state of saliency is described as crucial for psychological transformation and wellbeing, showing how critical emotional focus is in shaping mental health outcomes 1.

In more applied terms, salience involves both internal and external stimuli — what's happening around us and within us, the latter including thoughts and emotions. Focusing on changing this internal focus, or the salience of particular thoughts or emotions, is mentioned as a strategy to handle mental states like anxiety, shift emotional tones, and generally improve emotional regulation. This explanation places significant emphasis on the power of saliency in determining our psychological landscape and points to strategies to harness this concept for emotional and mental enhancement 2.