Attentional bias modification in depression through gaze contingencies and regulatory control using a new eye-tracking intervention paradigm: study protocol for a placebo-controlled trial.

Carmelo Vazquez,Alvaro Sanchez,Ivan Blanco,Richard J Mcnally

doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1150-9

Abstract

BackgroundAttentional biases, namely difficulties both to disengage attention from negative information and to maintain it on positive information, play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder. Recently, researchers have developed specific attentional bias modification (ABM) techniques aimed to modify these maladaptive attentional patterns. However, the application of current ABM procedures has yielded, so far, scarce results in depression due, in part, to some methodological shortcomings.The aim of our protocol is the application of a new ABM technique, based on eye-tracker technology, designed to objectively train the specific attentional components involved in depression and, eventually, to reduce depressive symptoms.MethodsBased on sample size calculations, 32 dysphoric (BDI ≥13) participants will be allocated to either an active attentional bias training group or a yoked-control group. Attentional training will be individually administered on two sessions in two consecutive days at the lab. In the training task series of pairs of faces (i.e. neutral vs. sad; neutral vs. happy; happy vs. sad) will be displayed. Participants in the training group will be asked to localize as quickly as possible the most positive face of the pair (e.g., the neutral face in neutral vs. sad trials) and maintain their gaze on it for 750 ms or 1500 ms, in two different blocks, to advance to the next trial. Participants’ maintenance of gaze will be measured by an eye-tracking apparatus. Participants in the yoked-control group will be exposed to the same stimuli and the same average amount of time than the experimental participants but without any instruction to maintain their gaze or any feedback on their performance. Pre and post training measures will be obtained to assess cognitive and emotional changes after the training.DiscussionThe findings from this research will provide a proof-of-principle of the efficacy of eye-tracking paradigms to modify attentional biases and, consequently, to improve depressed mood. If the findings are positive, this new training approach may result in the improvement of cognitive bias modification procedures in depression.Trial registrationThis trial was retrospectively registered on July 28, 2016 with the ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02847793 registration number and the title ‘Attentional Bias Modification Through Eye-tracker Methodology (ABMET)’.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1150-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Attentional biases, namely difficulties both to disengage attention from negative information and to maintain it on positive information, play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder
Discussion initial positive results of attentional bias modification (ABM) led some authors to propose it as an alternative treatment for emotional disorders [35, 94], some discordant voices [95] and subsequent meta-analyses [45, 46] have reduced the enthusiasm of those previous claims
The attentional difficulties in depression are, in part, related to excessive engagement with negative information, and, procedures directly aimed at reducing excessive attentional maintenance and difficulties disengaging attention from negative sources of information are conceptually appropriate

Summary

Introduction

Attentional biases, namely difficulties both to disengage attention from negative information and to maintain it on positive information, play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder. The aim of our protocol is the application of a new ABM technique, based on eye-tracker technology, designed to objectively train the specific attentional components involved in depression and, eventually, to reduce depressive symptoms. Clinical researchers have endeavored to identify core mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of depression as potential targets for novel interventions. Identifying evidence-based targets for intervention In contrast to healthy individuals, who are characterized by a preferential processing of positive information, depressed individuals exhibit cognitive biases such as sustained attention to negative information [5], a bias for interpreting ambiguous information in a negative fashion [6], and a bias for preferentially retrieving negative material from both implicit [7] and explicit memory [8]

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