Recommendation of: The Efficacy of Attentional Bias Modification for Anxiety: A Registered Replication. Round#3

This experimental study investigated whether the trait factors of world assumptions and cognitive flexibility were predictive of levels of attentional bias to threat stimuli, memory integration, and data-driven processing. An opportunity sample of 74 participants took part in the investigation. Participants viewed a virtual reality film to induce mild distress to mimic processes that can occur in individuals when experiencing a traumatic event. A prospective experimental design was conducted involving measurements at pre-trauma exposure (Time 1), post-exposure (Time 2) and one-week follow-up (Time 3). Self-report measures of world assumptions, cognitive flexibility, and cognitive processing were administered. Eye-tracking equipment was used to assess attentional bias towards threat images, and a free recall task to assess memory integration. A mixed effects linear model found increased cognitive bias towards trauma-related threat images pre/post-exposure, specifically for a maintenance attentional bias. Significantly greater data-driven processing was observed post-exposure, with greater conceptually driven processing observed at one-week follow-up. No significant findings were observed for memory integration. World assumptions were predictive of increased data-driven processing; the relative use of data-driven to conceptually driven processing; and trait anxiety. Cognitive flexibility was predictive of state anxiety. These results provide additional support for the role of maintained attention, data-driven processing, and conceptually driven processing in post-trauma reactions as per established cognitive theories of post-traumatic stress disorder. More research is required to fully explore the roles of core beliefs, assumptions and cognitive flexibility in this area.

The biophilia hypothesis posits that humans have an innate affinity for nature, with natural landscapes effortlessly capturing their attention, and a tendency to seek nature. The animate monitoring hypothesis suggests that humans have evolved to quickly detect and respond to animals for survival. The plant awareness disparity hypothesis argues that people notice plants less than animals due to perceptual biases and preferences. Based on these hypotheses, it was predicted that people’s visual attention would be superior towards animals, plants, and manufactured objects, in that order. This study investigated the hierarchy of visual attention towards animals (birds, mammals and humans), plants (fruit), and manufactured objects (vehicles) using a dot-probe task framework. The findings revealed no significant differences in reaction time or attentional bias for animal or plant stimuli. In contrast, perceptual processing was inhibited when viewing a vehicle and attentional avoidance occurred, resulting in slower reactions than to animals or plants. These findings offer partial support for the proposed hierarchy of visual attention, suggesting that while natural stimuli such as animals and plants receive comparable attention, some manufactured objects may elicit perceptual avoidance.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is accompanied by cognitive impairments, including attentional bias towards cues linked to alcohol. Most studies on attentional biases have focused on participants in intoxicated states, with limited research on differences between chronic and occasional users. This study aimed to examine attentional biases in chronic alcohol users compared to occasional users using eye-tracking. In this cross-sectional study, 71 male participants (36 chronic users and 35 occasional users) were recruited from a tertiary care center in India. Eye-tracking assessments were conducted using free-viewing of emotional and landscape images, and viewing of alcohol related stimuli. For each task, variables such as the number of fixations, fixation duration, scan path, and anti-saccade rates were calculated. No statistically significant difference was found between chronic alcohol users and occasional users in fixation metrics, scan path length, or anti-saccade rates for emotional, landscape, or alcohol related stimuli. Chronic alcohol users had slightly longer fixation durations and greater scan path lengths on alcohol-related stimuli, but these differences were not significant (p > .05). Our findings suggest that chronic alcohol users may not always display prominent attentional biases in a sober state. The prolonged abstinence duration (>2 months) contributed to the absence of significant biases in our study. The slightly longer scan path length for alcohol-related images among chronic users may indicate that they were possibly avoiding these images. The findings also highlight the need for a state-dependent approach and the importance of assessing variables like craving in future research.

Author response of: The Efficacy of Attentional Bias Modification for Anxiety: A Registered Replication. Round#2

Shift work can lead to mental health issues such as sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment. Neural activation in response to external sleep-related stimuli may vary according to shift work patterns. In this study, we investigated the differences in brain activity in response to sleep-related stimuli between shift-worker (SW) nurses and healthy controls (HCs), and we also assessed the relationships between sleep-related problems and brain activity. The hypothesis was that shift workers would exhibit altered activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) when processing sleep-related stimuli, reflecting attentional biases associated with sleep disturbances.Participants completed a cognitive task during functional magnetic resonance imaging that involved viewing sleep-related and neutral pictures. Subjective sleep was assessed using self-reported questionnaires and a 1-week sleep diary. Objective sleep parameters, along with the 24-h rest-activity rhythm, were evaluated via actigraphy conducted over 1 week. We analyzed group differences in the neural processing of sleep-related stimuli and conducted correlation analyses to explore the associations between brain activity and sleep parameters.This study included 44 SWs and 37 HCs. Compared to HCs, SWs demonstrated significantly lower activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) and lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) in response to sleep-related pictures than neutral pictures. DMPFC activity was significantly negatively correlated with subjective sleep problems (e.g., self-reported insomnia and fatigue), whereas LPFC activity was strongly correlated with actigraphy-measured 24-h rest-activity rhythm parameters (e.g., a robust 24-h rhythm).The decreased activation of the prefrontal cortex in response to sleep-related stimuli in SWs may reflect diminished attentional control over sleep and increased rumination on intrusive sleep-related thoughts. These findings enhance our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sleep-related issues in SWs and may inform interventions to mitigate mental health problems in this population.

BackgroundSocial anxiety is characterized by excessive sensitivity and concern about social evaluation. While previous research has demonstrated attentional bias and fear generalization in socially anxious individuals, the neural mechanisms by which different evaluative valences modulate this process remain unclear.MethodThis study employed a fear generalization paradigm combined with steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP). Fifty-one college students were recruited and divided into high (n = 25) and low (n = 26) social anxiety groups. A face-evaluation paradigm was used to record both behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) responses during fear generalization.ResultsAt the behavioral level, the high social anxiety group showed a broader fear generalization gradient. Both groups demonstrated higher unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy ratings under negative versus positive evaluation conditions. This effect manifested differently between groups: in the high social anxiety group, it was specific to the conditioned stimulus (CS+) and generalization stimulus 4 (GS4), whereas in the low social anxiety group, it was observed for generalization stimulus 1 (GS1). At the neural level, SSVEP results revealed enhanced visual cortical activation (Oz, PO8) in the high social anxiety group across all stimuli. The PO7 electrode specifically reflected a differential modulation by evaluative valence between the groups; this adaptive modulation was evident in the low social anxiety group but absent in the high social anxiety group.ConclusionThis study reveals that social anxiety is characterized by a sustained state of early visual hypervigilance. Critically, we provide neurophysiological evidence that a core deficit underlying this condition is an impaired ability to utilize positive evaluation to down-regulate this hypervigilance. These results redefine our understanding of the cognitive-neural mechanisms of social anxiety, shifting the focus toward deficits in the neural processing of positive social information, and suggest that interventions should aim to restore the adaptive processing of positive social feedback.

Decision Revise: The Efficacy of Attentional Bias Modification for Anxiety: A Registered Replication. Round#2

Synthetic polymeric materials underpin fundamental technologiesin the energy, electronics, consumer goods, and medical sectors, yettheir development still suffers from prolonged design timelines. Althoughpolymer informatics tools have supported speedup, polymer simulationprotocols continue to face significant challenges in the on-demandgeneration of realistic 3D atomic structures that respect the conformationaldiversity of polymers. Generative algorithms for 3D structures ofinorganic crystals, biopolymers, and small molecules exist, but havenot addressed synthetic polymers because of challenges in representationand data set constraints. In this work, we introduce polyGen, a generativemodel designed specifically for 3D polymer structures that operatesfrom minimal inputs such as the repeat unit chemistry alone. polyGencombines graph-based encodings with a latent diffusion transformerusing positional biased attention for realistic conformation generation.Given the limited data set of 3,855 DFT-optimized polymer structures,we incorporate joint training with small molecule data to enhancegeneration quality. We also establish structure matching criteriato benchmark our approach on this novel problem. polyGen overcomesthe limitations of traditional crystal structure prediction methodsfor polymers, successfully generating realistic and diverse linearand branched conformations, with promising performance even on challenginglarge repeat units. As an atomic-level proof-of-concept capturingintrinsic polymer flexibility, it marks a transformative capabilityin material structure generation.

The human auditory system must distinguish relevant sounds from noise. Severe hearing loss can be treated with cochlear implants (CIs), but how the brain adapts to electrical hearing remains unclear. This study examined adaptation to unilateral CI use in the first and seventh months after CI activation using speech comprehension measures and electroencephalography recordings, both during passive listening and an active spatial listening task. Neural phase-locking to amplitude-modulated sounds interacted with time, such that phase-locking longitudinally increased stronger for 40 Hz compared with 4 Hz. In the spatial listening task, the benefit of performing the task with the CI on vs. off was most pronounced when the CI ear was primarily exposed to target speech. Lateralized alpha oscillations (~10 Hz) reliably marked CI users’ focus of spatial attention. Stronger alpha modulation in the hemisphere opposite to the nonimplanted ear indicates an attentional bias toward the acoustically hearing ear. Our findings suggest that adaptation to hearing with a CI is accomplished by dynamic changes in auditory phase locking and a bias in auditory spatial attention.

Abstract Mood congruent attention biases refer to the preferential attention for stimuli that match a person’s emotional state. While emotion can be defined along two dimensions: valence (negativity to positivity) and arousal (low to high), research has not yet evaluated the direct influences of both dimensions on mood-congruent attention biases. Further, research suggests that other stimulus factors, such as presentation duration, may play a large role in how attention biases manifest. This study aimed to clarify how attention biases for emotional stimuli, varying in valence and arousal, are impacted by mood valence and arousal at short and long stimulus presentation durations. Participants ( N = 223) were split into groups designated by (1) the stimulus presentation duration (short or long) and (2) the mood induction procedure (low arousal negative, high arousal negative, or neutral mood). Analyses examined interactions between stimulus valence, stimulus arousal, stimulus presentation duration group, and induced mood group on attention biases measured through a spatial cuing task. An arousal-based mood congruent bias was observed for the short duration, low arousal negative mood group, such that there was a greater attention bias towards low arousal than high arousal stimuli. An attention bias was also observed for the long duration, neutral mood group, such that there was greater attention bias away from negative than positive stimuli, a pattern that was not observed in the negative mood groups. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of considering both the valence and arousal of stimulus and mood, as well as stimulus duration when examining mood-congruent attention biases. Implications Understanding the specificity of mood-congruent attention biases may help inform treatment for anxiety and depression through targeted interventions.

In cluttered and complex natural scenes, selective attention enables the visual system to prioritize relevant information. This process is guided not only by perceptual cues but also by imagined ones. The current research extends the imagery-induced attentional bias to the unconscious level and reveals its cross-category applicability between different social cues (e.g., eye gaze and biological motion). Using a visual imagery task combined with an attentional bias paradigm, we showed that imagining a gaze cue biased selective attention toward the imagery-matching eye gaze. Removing the imagery task obliterated the attentional effect, emphasizing the pivotal role of mental imagery in driving the observed results. Furthermore, the attentional bias persisted even when the physically presented eye gazes were rendered invisible, suggesting the automaticity of the effect and a dissociation between attention and consciousness. When the imagery content involved biological motion cues, cross-categorical attentional bias toward imagery-matching eye gaze was evident. However, this cross-categorical effect did not extend to nonsocial arrow cues-imagining an arrow cue failed to bias attention toward imagery-matching eye gaze, though arrow cues induced within-categorical attentional biases for imagery-matching arrows. These findings point to the existence of shared mechanisms dedicated to processing different social cues rather than nonsocial cues. Taken together, the present study highlights a novel mechanism through which social cue-based imagery guides spatial attention, which operates independently of visual awareness and is supported by a dedicated social module, shedding light on the intricate interplay between the internal mental representations and the external physical world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the status of negative information attentional bias, self-management, and health-promoting behaviors among patients with chronic refractory wounds receiving orthopedic care. Additionally, the study sought to construct a structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the influence of negative attentional bias on self-management and health-promoting behaviors, with the intent of informing the clinical implementation of evidence-based health behavior education programs.MethodsA total of 226 patients with chronic refractory wounds under orthopedic treatment at a single institution between January 2020 and December 2022 were enrolled in this study. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire, the Negative Cognitive Processing Bias Questionnaire, the Chronic Disease Self-Management Scale (CDSMS), and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II). Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted to assess associations among negative attentional bias, self-management, and health-promoting behaviors. SEM using Amos 21.0 was conducted to examine potential mediating effects.ResultsHealth-promoting behaviors demonstrated a positive correlation with self-management and a negative correlation with negative attentional bias. Furthermore, self-management was negatively correlated with negative attentional bias (all p < 0.05). SEM indicated that negative attentional bias partially mediated the relationship between self-management and health-promoting behaviors, accounting for 31.65% of the total effect.ConclusionNegative attentional bias mediates the association between self-management and health-promoting behaviors among patients with chronic refractory wounds receiving orthopedic care. These findings suggest that enhancing self-management may improve engagement in health-promoting behaviors by reducing the influence of negative attentional bias.

Author response of: The Efficacy of Attentional Bias Modification for Anxiety: A Registered Replication. Round#1

ABSTRACT The potential relationship between cognitive control pattern and attentional bias in individuals with high social anxiety (HSAs) remains unclear. This study uses the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework to investigate the impact of cognitive control patterns on attentional bias in HSAs. 55 individuals with low social anxiety (LSAs) and 67 HSAs completed the AX-continuous performance task and dot-probe task. Compared to LSAs, HSAs demonstrated lower accuracy on BX and AY trial and a reduced discrimination index, indicating deficits in both proactive and reactive control. Notably, moderation analyses revealed that for those with higher proactive control, higher LSAS scores were associated with faster disengagement from threat-related social cues, while for those with lower proactive control, LSAS scores were unrelated to disengagement. Similarly, higher LSAS scores were associated with stronger attentional engagement with threat cues among individuals with higher reactive control. However, this association was eliminated among individuals with lower reactive control. This study is the first to reveal a pattern of co-impairment in both proactive and reactive control systems, alongside an independent moderation of attentional bias in HSAs, providing a more refined theoretical framework for targeted interventions.

BackgroundSomatic symptom disorder and depression in clinical practice are strongly correlated. In this study, network analysis was used to assess the depressive symptoms of patients with somatic symptom disorder to identify the most core and influential symptoms. The aim of this study was to provide new perspectives for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients with somatic symptom disorder.MethodsA total of 899 individuals were enrolled from Gannan Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital, Ganzhou People’s Hospital, and Third People’s Hospital of Ganzhou. A version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was administered to assess symptoms of depression. We described the network structure of depressive symptoms, utilizing indicators of “strength,” “betweenness,” and “closeness” to identify the key symptoms within the network. A bootstrap approach with case-dropping was used to test the network’s stability.ResultsConcentration (PHQ7), Motor (PHQ8), and Anhedonia (PHQ1) symptoms had the highest centrality values, the strength values are 1.67, 1.62, and 1.58 respectively. The edge connecting sad mood (PHQ2) and energy (PHQ4) were the most influential in the model, with an edge weight of 0.69, the highest among all edges.ConclusionsThis network analysis study identifies distinct depressive symptomatology within the Chinese SSD patient population. Core symptoms anhedonia, cognition, and motivation primarily drive depressive symptoms, underscoring the need for clinical focus on these manifestations to prevent exacerbation. Tailored interventions targeting these core symptoms, including the integration of pleasant experiences, dopamine-based medications, attention bias modification training, and behavioral activation therapy, should be considered in treatment strategies.

Visual attention mechanisms help organisms prioritize evolutionarily relevant stimuli, like threats and mating opportunities. Individuals may, therefore, attend to specific facial features. In humans, it has consistently been shown that secondary sexual traits and attractive faces capture and hold attention. By contrast, evidence for such biases in nonhuman primates, especially great apes, remains scarce. To address this gap, we conducted two eye-tracking experiments with four zoo-housed Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), a species characterized by extreme sexual dimorphism. In both experiments, we found that orangutans exhibited an attentional bias toward fully flanged males, a sexually dimorphic trait of some adult males. They not only looked longer at flanged males but were also more likely to immediately fixate on them. This suggests that great ape cognition has been shaped by sexual selection in a similar fashion to humans, where attentional biases toward masculine and attractive faces are well-documented. At the same time, we cannot rule out the possibility that individuals attended more to flanged males due to their potential threat to both sexes. Nevertheless, by demonstrating attentional attunement to a secondary sexual trait, our findings contribute to the growing understanding of how sexually selected features influence cognition in nonhuman primates.

BackgroundPolicy-driven relocation of older adults from rural to urban areas in China is a significant stressor that often exacerbates anxiety. The mechanisms through which excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) heightens anxiety in this population remain poorly understood.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted with 301 relocated older adults (aged 60–89 years; 52.5% women) in Jilin Province. Participants completed validated self-report measures assessing ERS, attention to negative information (ANI), resilience, and anxiety. Pearson correlations were used to assess bivariate relationships among the main variables. The PROCESS macro was employed to examine (a) the mediating role of ANI on the association between ERS and anxiety; (b) the moderating influence of resilience on the ERS-to-ANI path, thereby constituting a moderated-mediation model; and (c) the full-path robustness check of the model.ResultsParticipants reported clinically meaningful levels of anxiety, which were positively associated with excessive reassurance seeking. The association between ERS and anxiety was mediated primarily through ANI. Further analysis found that the indirect effect of ERS on anxiety through ANI was more pronounced in the presence of higher levels of resilience.ConclusionERS exacerbates anxiety mainly by amplifying negative attention bias. Even highly resilient individuals may experience more severe anxiety if they exhibit this attention bias. These findings emphasize that interventions should not only focus on fostering resilience, but also incorporate training to mitigate negative attention biases.

Background: Cognitive biases in information processing, particularly attentional and memory biases, play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). These biases lead individuals with MDD to preferentially attend to and remember negative information, thereby maintaining a depressed mood. A recently proposed attentional resources model suggests that exposure to negative stimuli leads to deeper cognitive processing of subsequent information, regardless of its content. Based on this model, the current study investigated a novel paradigm that manipulated exposure to negative emotional stimuli and examined its effect on information processing and mood improvement. Method: Thirty-eight unmedicated participants with MDD and no comorbid disorders, and 37 healthy controls, completed three blocks of an emotional recall task, which involved watching a short emotional video followed by a recall task of neutral or positive valence stories. Mood changes were assessed throughout the task. Results: Results revealed that both the MDD and HC groups reported improved mood after exposure to a negative emotional video followed by a positive story. Conclusions: These results have important clinical implications. The paradigm may be applied in a broader sense as an active tool that may help to improve mood in depression treatment.

Attentional disengagement difficulties toward game-related social reward and avoidance toward real-life social reward among individuals with Internet gaming disorder.