Single session positive attention bias modification training enhances reward-related electrocortical responses in females

Abstract

Positive affect is linked to greater mental and physiological well-being. Conversely, negative affect is linked to depressive symptoms such as anhedonia. Relative biases in attention to positive or negative emotional information are thought to underlie individual difference in positive and negative affective traits, respectively. Attention bias modification (ABM) increases positive affect by training attention away from negative, or toward positive, stimuli. ABM training to reduce bias to negative information modulates electrocortical activity (i.e., P2, N2, & P3 ERP amplitudes), and this effect is moderated by participant sex. The extent to which ABM training to positive stimuli alters electrocortical activity and the extent to which such changes are moderated by participant sex is unknown. Here, participants completed attend positive ABM (or control) training followed by assessments of attentional bias, mood, and reward-related electrocortical activity. The results provide evidence of greater attentional bias to positive information following ABM. Transfer of these training effects to electrocortical measures was found for the P2 ERP component and moderated by participant sex. Females displayed a larger P2 amplitude for positive outcomes following ABM training. The reward positivity (RewP) and P3 ERPs were not directly affected by training, but the relationship between ERPs was linked to training such that following ABM training, the P2 and RewP components were strongly correlated, while following control training, the P3 and RewP were moderately correlated. Thus, ABM training to positive information enhanced electrocortical measures of reward processing in females and increased the relationship between reward-related ERPs.