fMRI Reveals Differences in Attention Associated with Developmental Conversations

This paper addresses key theoretical and methodological challenges that have been raised regarding the use of neuroscience in organizational research. In doing so, we present the results of an fMRI study that integrated theories of attention and intentional change in proposing that coaching interactions focused on the Positive Emotional Attractor state (PEA) would be associated with big picture thinking and, thus, global attention. On the other hand, coaching interactions focused on the Negative Emotional Attractor state (NEA) would be associated with attention to local details. Using neuroimaging to examine conjunctive cortical activation between PEA/NEA coaching and global/local visual attention, we found robust support for hypotheses related to this proposition. A pattern of overlapping neural activation was found linking PEAand NEA-based coaching to global and local attention, respectively. PEA coaching and global processing produced activations that were lateralized to the right hemisphere and located in the visual associative cortex (e.g. right precuneus and middle temporal gyrus). Neural activity associated with NEA coaching and local processing was left lateralized and located in the early visual areas (e.g. left inferior occipital gyrus). This overlap suggests attentional processing is a highly relevant factor in determining how individuals respond to different kinds of coaching. COACHING AND ATTENTION 4