Can't Look Away: An Eye-Tracking Based Attentional Disengagement Training for Depression.

Gina R A Ferrari,Mike Rinck,Martin Möbius,Eni S Becker,Amras Van Opdorp

doi:10.1007/s10608-016-9766-0

Gina R A Ferrari, Mike Rinck + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9766-0

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Abstract

To address shortcomings of purely reaction-time based attentional bias modification (ABM) paradigms, we developed an ABM task that is controlled by eye-tracking. This task allows to assess and train both disengagement from negative pictures and maintained attention to positive pictures. As a proof-of-principle study with an unselected student sample, this positive training (PT; N = 44) was compared to a negative training (NT; N = 42), which reinforced the opposite attentional pattern. Importantly, training trials were completed only if participants performed the correct gaze patterns. Results showed that higher depression levels were associated with slower disengagement from negative stimuli at baseline. As expected, the PT induced longer fixations on positive pictures and faster disengagement from negative pictures. The NT showed no changes in attentional processes. The groups did not differ in mood reactivity and recovery from a stressor. Advantages of using eye-tracking in ABM and potential applications of the training are discussed.

Highlights

Everybody recognizes the situation in which one cannot look away from a horrible movie scene or a car accident on the highway
This study investigated a novel attentional bias modification (ABM) paradigm based on eye-tracking, designed to assess and target the attentional components that are disturbed in depression: disengagement from negative stimuli and maintained attention to positive stimuli
We replicated earlier research (e.g., Sanchez et al 2013), showing that higher levels of depression were associated with slower disengagement from

Summary

Introduction

Everybody recognizes the situation in which one cannot look away from a horrible movie scene or a car accident on the highway. From an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense to not completely ignore such potentially harmful situations or stimuli, in order to be able to keep the distance or to avoid them in the future (Rubenking and Lang 2014). It would become maladaptive if we persistently attended to negative information at the expense of positive information; a tendency often found in individuals suffering from depression (Peckham et al 2010). According to Becks depression model (1976, 1987) as well as other prominent cognitive theories of depression (Teasdale 1988), such attentional processing biases play a causal role in the development and maintenance of the disorder

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