The study investigates the hypothesis that positive affect broadens the scope of attentional selection, reducing its selectivity. The effects of positive mood states were measured in two cognitive domains: semantic search (remote associates task) and visual selective attention (Eriksen flanker task). Positive affect enhanced access to remote associates, suggesting an increase in semantic access, while impairing visual selective attention by increasing processing of spatially adjacent distractors, indicating an expanded scope of visuospatial attention. During positive states, individual differences in enhanced semantic access were correlated with impaired visual selective attention. These findings suggest that positive states, by loosening inhibitory control, result in a fundamental change in the breadth of attentional allocation to both external visual and internal conceptual space. The study supports the "broaden-and-build" theory of positive emotions, which posits that positive emotions broaden people's thought-action repertoires and enhance their global scope.The study investigates the hypothesis that positive affect broadens the scope of attentional selection, reducing its selectivity. The effects of positive mood states were measured in two cognitive domains: semantic search (remote associates task) and visual selective attention (Eriksen flanker task). Positive affect enhanced access to remote associates, suggesting an increase in semantic access, while impairing visual selective attention by increasing processing of spatially adjacent distractors, indicating an expanded scope of visuospatial attention. During positive states, individual differences in enhanced semantic access were correlated with impaired visual selective attention. These findings suggest that positive states, by loosening inhibitory control, result in a fundamental change in the breadth of attentional allocation to both external visual and internal conceptual space. The study supports the "broaden-and-build" theory of positive emotions, which posits that positive emotions broaden people's thought-action repertoires and enhance their global scope.