Abstract
The dot-probe paradigm is one of the most often used paradigms to investigate attentional biases towards emotional information. However, a large number of the dot-probe studies so far used a long stimulus onset asynchrony allowing for eye movements to occur, which might increase the error variance. This study aimed at addressing this methodological issue by varying the instructions with regard to the gaze behavior and calculating the reaction time (RT) bias score (i.e., RTs for targets presented at the location of the emotional compared to the neutral stimulus) separately for trials with eye movements and trials without eye movements. Results of Experiment 1 (using typical instructions, i.e., instructions that are lenient with regard to eye movements) showed an RT bias, but only in the trials without eye movements The overall RT bias (calculated “blind” for eye movements) was non-significant. In Experiment 2, stricter instructions and small changes in the procedure led to a sharp decrease in the number of eye movements, such that both the RT bias in the trials without eye movements as well as the RT bias across all trials was significant.
Highlights
A frequently used paradigm to investigate selective attention towards emotional information, in experimental psychopathology, is the dot-probe paradigm
Note that in concordance to the covert reaction time (RT) bias score the eye movements themselves were biased towards the angry face – participants initially moved their gaze with higher probability to the angry face compared to the neutral one – and that the RT bias score was numerically positive as well if calculated across the trials in which the eye movement was directed towards the angry face (20 ms)
The sub-sample of overt trials in which the eye movement was directed towards the neutral face seemed to decrease the overall RT bias score to a nonsignificant level
Summary
A frequently used paradigm to investigate selective attention towards emotional information, in experimental psychopathology, is the dot-probe paradigm (see [1], for a review). In this paradigm, participants are typically presented with two stimuli, one neutral and one emotional, simultaneously side by side for a brief period of time. The rationale in this paradigm is similar to the one in the exogenous spatial cueing paradigm, namely that participants should be faster in trials in which the probe appears in the validly cued Faster reaction times (RTs) in validly cued than in invalidly cued dot-probe trials (i.e., an RT bias) are interpreted as emotionrelated attentional bias. Basic research with the cueing paradigm indicates that such long SOAs are associated with longer RTs for validly cued trials compared with invalidly cued or neutral trials
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