Changes In Attentional Bias Research Articles

Asymmetrical transfer effects of cognitive bias modification: Modifying attention to threat influences interpretation of emotional ambiguity, but not vice versa

Background and objectivesIt is well established that attention bias and interpretation bias each have a key role in the development and continuation of anxiety. How the biases may interact with one another in anxiety is, however, poorly understood. Using cognitive bias modification techniques, the present study examined whether training a more positive interpretation bias or attention bias resulted in transfer of effects to the untrained cognitive domain. Differences in anxiety reactivity to a real-world stressor were also assessed. MethodsNinety-seven first year undergraduates who had self-reported anxiety were allocated to one of four groups: attention bias training (n = 24), interpretation bias training (n = 26), control task training (n = 25) and no training (n = 22). Training was computer-based and comprised eight sessions over four weeks. Baseline and follow-up measures of attention and interpretation bias, anxiety and depression were taken. ResultsA significant reduction in threat-related attention bias and an increase in positive interpretation bias occurred in the attention bias training group. The interpretation bias training group did not exhibit a significant change in attention bias, only interpretation bias. The effect of attention bias training on interpretation bias was significant as compared with the two control groups. There were no effects on self-report measures. LimitationsThe extent to which interpretive training can modify attentional processing remains unclear. ConclusionsFindings support the idea that attentional training might have broad cognitive consequences, impacting downstream on interpretive bias. However, they do not fully support a common mechanism hypothesis, as interpretive training did not impact on attentional bias.

Attentional bias modification and pain: The role of sensory and affective stimuli

There is growing evidence to support attentional bias modification (ABM) techniques such as the modified dot-probe task within the pain literature. Such techniques can help to inform theoretical models of pain by identifying the causal role of attentional bias constructs. The aim of this research was to explore the effects of dot-probe ABM that trains individuals towards (+) or away from (−) sensory (S) and affective (A) pain words, on attentional biases, interpretation biases, and pain outcomes. Healthy undergraduate students (N = 106) completed questionnaires, an attentional bias dot-probe task, and an interpretation bias task before and after ABM, one of four ABM versions that differed in training direction (S+A+, S-A+, S+A-, S-A-), and pain outcomes using the cold pressor task. Those trained towards affective pain words were found to have a greater pain threshold but also greater distress at tolerance. However, mechanisms of change could not be established, as ABM did not affect attentional or interpretation bias, even though changes in attentional bias were associated with pain outcomes. These findings provide partial support for the threat interpretation model and highlight the utility of affective pain ABM, although further investigation of causal mechanisms is warranted.

A Pilot Study of an Adaptive, Idiographic, and Multi-Component Attention Bias Modification Program for Social Anxiety Disorder.

An attentional bias toward threat may be one mechanism underlying clinical anxiety. Attention bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce symptoms of anxiety disorders by directly modifying this deficit. However, existing ABM training programs have not consistently modified attentional bias and may not reflect optimal learning needs of participants (i.e., lack of explicit instruction, training goal unclear to participants, lack of feedback, non-adaptive, inability to differentiate or target different components of attentional bias). In the current study, we introduce a new adaptive ABM program (AABM) and test its feasibility in individuals with social anxiety disorder. We report task characteristics and preliminary evidence that this task consistently modifies attentional bias and that changes in attentional bias (but not number of trials) correlate with the level of symptom reduction. These results suggest that AABM may be a targeted method for the next generation of studies examining the utility of attention training.

An open trial evaluating an attention bias modification program for overweight adults who binge eat

Background and ObjectivesBinge eating is prevalent and is associated with significant psychiatric and medical comorbidities. To date, the most effective psychological treatments for individuals who binge eat are not effective for all patients and they do not result in significant weight loss. Dual process theories suggest that implicit factors, such as attention bias, may influence behavior, even when the behavior is in opposition to long-term goals. Attention bias modification programs have been tested in other areas of psychopathology, and could be utilized to improve outcomes for people who binge eat. Thus, the aim of this open trial was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of an attention bias modification program (ABM-Food) designed to train attention away from food cues. MethodsAdults who binge eat and were overweight or obese enrolled in an 8-week ABM-Food program, which consisted of one session in the lab each week and two training sessions at home. Nine participants completed the ABM-Food training program and the post-treatment assessment, and 8 completed the 3-month post-treatment assessment. Results: Results showed that the ABM-Food program is a feasible and acceptable treatment for adults who binge eat. Initial effectiveness data showed decreases in weight, eating disorder symptoms, binge eating, loss of control and responsivity to food in the environment, as well as changes in attention bias. The majority of these effects remained at the 3-month follow-up time point. LimitationsThis study is limited by the single-group open label trial, and the small sample size. ConclusionsThis open trial provides initial evidence for the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of ABM-Food for individuals who binge eat and are overweight or obese.

Hedonic Ambrosia: Highly palatable desserts are resistant to satiation-related changes in attentional bias

Hedonic Ambrosia: Highly palatable desserts are resistant to satiation-related changes in attentional bias

Age-related change in attentional biases to left and right visual fields on visual statistical learning

Age-related change in attentional biases to left and right visual fields on visual statistical learning

Attention Control and Attention to Emotional Stimuli in Anxious Children Before and After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This study investigated attention control and attentional bias for emotional stimuli in children with anxiety disorders, compared with disorder-free children. Furthermore, it examined the effect of individual cognitive behavioral therapy on these attentional variables in anxious children. Participants included 22 anxious and 20 control children (aged 7–12 years; 50 % female). Attention control was measured using a partial report-by-color task based on the theory of visual attention, which assesses ability to focus on task-relevant information and resist distraction by non-emotional task-irrelevant information. Attentional bias for emotional faces was assessed using a visual probe task with angry, happy, and neutral faces. Anxious and control children were assessed at baseline (pre-treatment) and, in addition, anxious children were re-assessed post-treatment and at 6 months following treatment. Before treatment, children with clinical anxiety showed poorer attention control and greater attentional bias for emotional faces in comparison to control children. Following treatment, anxious children showed a significant reduction in attentional bias for emotional faces, and a trend for improvement in attention control. There was no significant change in attentional bias or attention control between post-treatment and 6-months follow-up assessments. Findings contribute to prior research by showing that clinically anxious children exhibit both increased attention to emotional information and impaired attention control, and that following treatment their attentional bias and attention control are comparable with those of control children. Further research is required to clarify the extent to which changes in attentional functioning relate to the maintenance of anxiety disorders and responsiveness to treatment.

Brief and extended alcohol-cue-exposure effects on craving and attentional bias.

Past research has shown that underage college-student drinkers (UCSDs) report increased subjective craving and exhibit stronger attentional biases to alcohol following alcohol-cue exposure. To date, less research has examined whether momentary decreases in alcohol craving are associated with reductions in attentional bias. One experimental manipulation that has been used to produce within-session decreases in alcohol craving is to extend the duration of laboratory-based alcohol-cue exposure protocols. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of both brief and extended alcohol-cue exposure on subjective craving and attentional bias among UCSDs. Eighty participants were randomized either to a group that received a short, in vivo, alcohol-cue-exposure period (short-exposure group [SE], 2 3-min blocks) or to a group that received a long-exposure period (long-exposure group [LE], 6 3-min blocks). Both groups completed a visual probe task before and after cue exposure to assess changes in attentional bias. Analyses revealed no group differences in mean craving or mean attentional bias before or after cue exposure. Further, exploratory analyses revealed no sex differences in our measures of craving or attentional bias. For Group LE, but not Group SE, within-session changes in craving positively predicted within-session changes in attentional bias. However, further analyses revealed that this relationship was significant only for women in the LE group. Implications for treatments that aim to reduce craving and/or attentional bias are discussed.

Testing the inter-hemispheric competition account of visual extinction with combined TMS/fMRI

Theoretical models of visual neglect and extinction entail claims about the normal functioning of attention and parietal cortex in the healthy brain: (1) ‘pseudoneglect’, a commonly observed attentional bias towards left space, reflects the greater dominance of parietal cortex activity of the right versus left hemisphere; (2) the capacity to distribute attention bilaterally depends causally on the relative balance of parietal activity between the hemispheres; (3) disruption of the dominant right parietal cortex shifts this inter-hemispheric balance leftward, causing a rightward shift in attentional bias. We tested these claims using low-frequency offline transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to transiently inhibit activity in the right angular gyrus/intra-parietal sulcus, followed by a visual detection task to assess changes in attentional bias, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test for the predicted leftward shift in brain activity. The task required participants to covertly monitor both hemifields to detect and report the location of upcoming transient visual targets that appeared on the left, right or bilaterally. In the behavioural experiment, participants exhibited a leftward attentional bias (‘pseudoneglect’) at baseline, which was abolished by TMS. In the fMRI experiment, participants activated an expected network of visual, parietal and frontal cortex bilaterally during the period of covert bilateral attention. TMS shifted the relative hemispheric balance of parietal activity from right to left. The consistent direction of TMS-induced behavioural and functional change indicates a causal role for parietal inter-hemispheric balance in distributing visual attention across space.

Validation of a novel attentional bias modification task: The future may be in the cards

Attentional bias modification (ABM) is a promising therapeutic tool aimed at changing patterns of attentional selectivity associated with heightened anxiety. A number of studies have successfully implemented ABM using the modified dot-probe task. However others have not achieved the attentional change required to achieve emotional benefits, highlighting the need for new ABM methods. The current study compared the effectiveness of a newly developed ABM task against the traditional dot-probe ABM task. The new person-identity-matching (PIM) task presented participants with virtual cards, each depicting a happy and angry person. The task encourages selective attention toward or away from threat by requiring participants to make matching judgements between two cards, based either on the identities of the happy faces, or of the angry faces. Change in attentional bias achieved by both ABM tasks was measured by a dot-probe assessment task. Their impact on emotional vulnerability was assessed by measuring negative emotional reactions to a video stressor. The PIM task succeeded in modifying attentional bias, and exerting an impact on emotional reactivity, whereas this was not the case for the dot-probe task. These results are considered in relation to the potential clinical utility of the current task in comparison to traditional ABM methodologies.

Attention bias modification and its impact on experimental pain outcomes: Comparison of training with words versus faces in pain.

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of training participants' attention towards or away from painful faces versus pain-related words on pain outcomes on an acute experimental pain paradigm. Participants were randomized to receive either training towards or away from painful faces or words. Following training, participants completed the cold pressor task. The results confirm that attention bias modification produced the predicted changes in attentional biases. Clear training effects were observed for words and faces, such that attentional biases changed in the predicted direction on the stimuli presented during the training. However, for those trained on words, training effects also generalized to face stimuli. As predicted, those who received training away from painful stimuli took longer to report pain (higher pain threshold) during the cold pressor task, and this effect was more pronounced for those trained on words. Contrary to expectations, those trained on faces (regardless of training direction) reported less pain than those trained on words. There were no differences between the groups for pain tolerance (length of time participants were able to keep their arms in the cold pressor). These findings confirm that attentional biases are modifiable, and impact (in the expected manner) how quickly participants perceive pain. Further, exposure to painful faces resulted in additional benefits to the level of pain reported. However, we were unable to confirm that change in attentional biases was the mechanism of change.

Changes in attentional bias to drug cues and fMRI Stroop with behavioral treatment for cocaine dependence

Changes in attentional bias to drug cues and fMRI Stroop with behavioral treatment for cocaine dependence

Is opioid dose a strong predictor of the risk of opioid overdose? Important confounding factors that change the dose–overdose relationship

Is opioid dose a strong predictor of the risk of opioid overdose? Important confounding factors that change the dose–overdose relationship

Sustained effects of attentional re-training on chocolate consumption

Background and objectivesAccumulating evidence shows that cognitive bias modification produces immediate changes in attentional bias for, and consumption of, rewarding substances including food. This study examined the longevity of these attentional bias modification effects. MethodsA modified dot probe paradigm was used to determine whether alterations in biased attentional processing of food cues, and subsequent effects on consumption, were maintained at 24-h and one-week follow-up. One hundred and forty-nine undergraduate women were trained to direct their attention toward (‘attend’) or away from (‘avoid’) food cues (i.e., pictures of chocolate). Within each group, half received a single training session, the other half completed 5 weekly training sessions. ResultsAttentional bias for chocolate cues increased in the ‘attend’ group, and decreased in the ‘avoid’ group immediately post training. Participants in the ‘avoid’ group also ate disproportionately less of a chocolate food product in a so-called taste test than did those in the ‘attend’ group. Importantly, the observed re-training effects were maintained 24 h later and also one week later, but only following multiple training sessions. LimitationsThere are a number of limitations that could be addressed in future research: (a) the inclusion of a no-training control group, (b) the inclusion of a suspicion probe to detect awareness of the purpose of the taste test, and (c) the use of different tasks to assess and re-train attentional bias. ConclusionsThe results showed sustained effects of attentional re-training on attentional bias and consumption. They further demonstrate the importance of administering multiple re-training sessions in attentional bias modification protocols.

Stress-Related Changes in Attentional Bias to Social Threat in Young Adults: Psychobiological Associations with the Early Family Environment.

This study investigated the association of chronic childhood stress exposure with acute stress-related attentional alterations that have been previously linked to vulnerability to mental and physical illness in early adulthood. Participants were randomized in a crossover design to complete both a mild laboratory social stress task and a computerized task assessing attentional bias to socially threatening words. Salivary cortisol was measured throughout the study. Exposure to acute laboratory stress altered attentional processing, and this relationship was moderated by chronic childhood stress exposure. Also, a positive association between cortisol reactivity and attentional bias was observed, with cortisol reactivity negatively related to childhood chronic stress exposure. While previous work has supported a role for early chronic stress exposure in influencing acute stress reactivity, this work provides initial insight into how both prior chronic childhood stress and current acute stress together relate to the attentional gateway and may be associated with stress adaptation and psychological vulnerability into adulthood.

Augmenting one-session treatment of children's specific phobias with attention training to positive stimuli

This study examined the efficacy of combining two promising approaches to treating children's specific phobias, namely attention training and one 3-h session of exposure therapy (‘one-session treatment’, OST). Attention training towards positive stimuli (ATP) and OST (ATP+OST) was expected to have more positive effects on implicit and explicit cognitive mechanisms and clinical outcome measures than an attention training control (ATC) condition plus OST (ATC+OST). Thirty-seven children (6–17 years) with a specific phobia were randomly assigned to ATP+OST or ATC+OST. In ATP+OST, children completed 160 trials of attention training responding to a probe that always followed the happy face in happy-angry face pairs. In ATC+OST, the probe appeared equally often after angry and happy faces. In the same session, children completed OST targeting their phobic situation/object. Clinical outcomes included clinician, parent and child report measures. Cognitive outcomes were assessed in terms of change in attention bias to happy and angry faces and in danger and coping expectancies. Assessments were completed before and after treatment and three-months later. Compared to ATC+OST, the ATP+OST condition produced (a) significantly greater reductions in children's danger expectancies about their feared situations/object during the OST and at three-month follow-up, and (b) significantly improved attention bias towards positive stimuli at post-treatment, which in turn, predicted a lower level of clinician-rated phobia diagnostic severity three-months after treatment. There were no significant differences between ATP+OST and ATC+OST conditions in clinician, parent, or child-rated clinical outcomes. Training children with phobias to focus on positive stimuli is effective in increasing attention towards positive stimuli and reducing danger expectancy biases. Studies with larger sample sizes and a stronger ‘dose’ of ATP prior to the OST may reveal promising outcomes on clinical measures for training attention towards positive stimuli.

A review of current evidence for the causal impact of attentional bias on fear and anxiety.

Prominent cognitive theories postulate that an attentional bias toward threatening information contributes to the etiology, maintenance, or exacerbation of fear and anxiety. In this review, we investigate to what extent these causal claims are supported by sound empirical evidence. Although differences in attentional bias are associated with differences in fear and anxiety, this association does not emerge consistently. Moreover, there is only limited evidence that individual differences in attentional bias are related to individual differences in fear or anxiety. In line with a causal relation, some studies show that attentional bias precedes fear or anxiety in time. However, other studies show that fear and anxiety can precede the onset of attentional bias, suggesting circular or reciprocal causality. Importantly, a recent line of experimental research shows that changes in attentional bias can lead to changes in anxiety. Yet changes in fear and anxiety also lead to changes in attentional bias, which confirms that the relation between attentional bias and fear and anxiety is unlikely to be unidirectional. Finally, a similar causal relation between interpretation bias and anxiety has been documented. In sum, there is evidence in favor of causality, yet a strict unidirectional cause-effect model is unlikely to hold. The relation between attentional bias and fear and anxiety is best described as a bidirectional, maintaining, or mutually reinforcing relation.

Changes in Attentional Bias to Emotional Faces After Varied Exercise Intensities in Women.

Changes in Attentional Bias to Emotional Faces After Varied Exercise Intensities in Women.

The Development of Insomnia or the Plasticity of Good Sleep? A Preliminary Study of Acute Changes in Sleep and Insomnia Resulting from an Analogue Trauma

The present preliminary study aimed to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the development of insomnia. An analogue stressor (i.e., trauma video) was used to prevent presleep cognitive de-arousal. Subsequent changes in nocturnal sleep and sleep-related attentional processing were examined. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to either a cognitive arousal (trauma video; age: M = 22.9, SD = 4.3, 6 male, 11 female) or control (pleasant video; age: M = 23.8, SD = 5.8, 7 male, 10 female) condition. Although no significant differences were found for presleep cognitive de-arousal (p = .39), the cognitive arousal group experienced a significant worsening in sleep latency (p = .048, partial η2 = .12) and an increase in sleep-related attentional bias (p = .032, d = 0.51) following the manipulation. However, changes in sleep and attentional bias were not maintained. Vulnerability to stress did not significantly account for any change in attentional bias, arousal, or sleep. These findings challenge current conceptualizations of the development of insomnia, yet also supporting the notion that good sleep is a default state that protects individuals from sleep disturbance.

Attentional bias modification in smokers trying to quit: A longitudinal study about the effects of number of sessions

Attentional bias modification (ABM) to avoid smoking-related cues is a potentially new intervention in addition to existing therapy to stop smoking. We examined immediate and long-term changes in attentional bias and treatment outcomes from multiple ABM sessions in 67 smokers trying to quit. After assessing attentional bias baseline, participants were randomly allocated to one of three training groups: three sessions of ABM (avoid 3); two sessions of placebo-ABM and one session of ABM (avoid 1); and three sessions of placebo-ABM (avoid 0). At baseline, all groups had similar positive attentional bias, which became negative at 24h post-training. After 1month, avoid 1 and avoid 3 still exhibited negative attentional biases. Only avoid 3 maintained this effect at 6-month, but not at 12-month assessments. ABM produced a long-lasting automatic and maintained avoidance to smoking-related cues which depended on number of sessions; however its effects on treatment outcomes are uncertain.