essentially, when exposed to an unpleasant image, the subject feels initial discomfort. however, after being exposed to it once with their full attention, the subject feels much less discomfort the second time they are exposed. when the subject distracts themselves from the initial unpleasant image, the subject feels more discomfort the second time when they are required to attend to the image. the experimenters’ conclusion is thus: “the obtained results suggest that distraction inhibits elaborate processing of the stimulus' meaning and adapting to it.”