Measure Of Attentional Bias Research Articles

ERP and oscillatory differences in overweight/obese and normal-weight adolescents in response to food stimuli

BackgroundFindings are mixed regarding the association of electroencephalographic (EEG) attentional bias measures and body weight, with few studies measuring food craving or intake and no study reporting oscillatory measures.MethodsEEG data were collected while 28 satiated adolescents (14 overweight/obese) viewed pictures of neutral, low-calorie food, and high-calorie food stimuli and rated their desire to eat, before having access to high-calorie snacks.ResultsUnlike normal-weight adolescents, overweight/obese participants showed similar P300 amplitudes for high- and low-calorie food, and strongest event-related alpha band desynchronization for low-calorie stimuli. P300 amplitudes and state craving for low-calorie food furthermore predicted snack intake in this group.ConclusionsThe current research focus in overweight/obesity might need to be extended to include low-calorie food. While all participants showed an attentional bias for high-calorie food, it was the processing of low-calorie food which distinguished the two weight groups on measures of neural activity and which was associated with snack food intake in the overweight/obese group.

Attentional bias for alcohol cues in visual search—Increased engagement, difficulty to disengage or both?

Cognitive models emphasise the importance of attentional bias in addiction. However, many attentional bias tasks have been criticised for questionable psychometric properties and inability to differentiate between engagement and disengagement processes. This study therefore examined the suitability of two alternative tasks for assessing attentional bias within the context of alcohol use. Participants were undergraduate students (N = 169) who completed the Visual Search Task and Odd-One-Out Task, the latter of which is designed to differentiate between engagement and disengagement processes of attention, at baseline and one week later. Participants also completed baseline measures of alcohol consumption, craving, and alcohol use problems. Internal consistency was adequate for the Visual Search Task index, and weak for the Odd-One-Out Task indices. Test-retest reliability was weak for both tasks. The Visual Search Task index and the disengagement (but not the engagement) index of the Odd-One-Out Task showed a positive association with alcohol consumption. This study was restricted to a non-clinical student sample. The relatively high error rate of the Odd-One-Out Task might have reduced its sensitivity as an index of attentional bias. Both tasks showed some merit as attentional bias measures, and results suggested that attentional disengagement might be particularly related to alcohol use. However, the reliability of the current measures was inadequate. One potential explanation for the low reliability is that non-clinical samples may have weak and unstable attentional biases to alcohol. Future efforts should be made to improve the psychometric qualities of both tasks and to administer them in a clinical sample.

Intrusive memories and voluntary memory of a trauma film: Differential effects of a cognitive interference task after encoding.

Methods to reduce intrusive memories (e.g., of traumatic events) should ideally spare voluntary memory for the same event (e.g., to report on the event in court). Single-trace memory accounts assume that interfering with a trace should impact both its involuntary and voluntary expressions, whereas separate-trace accounts assume these two can dissociate, allowing for selective interference. This possibility was investigated in 3 experiments. Nonclinical participants viewed a trauma film followed by an interference task (Tetris game-play after reminder cues). Next, memory for the film was assessed with various measures. The interference task reduced the number of intrusive memories (diary-based, Experiments 1 and 2), but spared performance on well-matched measures of voluntary retrieval—free recall (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiments 1 and 2)—challenging single-trace accounts. The interference task did not affect other measures of involuntary retrieval—perceptual priming (Experiment 1) or attentional bias (Experiment 2). However, the interference task did reduce the number of intrusive memories in a laboratory-based vigilance-intrusion task (Experiments 2 and 3), irrespective of concurrent working memory load during intrusion retrieval (Experiment 3). Collectively, results reveal a robust dissociation between intrusive and voluntary memories, having ruled out key methodological differences between how these two memory expressions are assessed, namely cue overlap (Experiment 1), attentional capture (Experiment 2), and retrieval load (Experiment 3). We argue that the inability of these retrieval factors to explain the selective interference is more compatible with separate-trace than single-trace accounts. Further theoretical developments are needed to account for this clinically important distinction between intrusive memories and their voluntary counterpart.

Predictive cues and spatial attentional bias for alcohol: Manipulations of cue-outcome mapping

Previous studies suggest that cues predicting the outcome of attentional shifts provide a measure of anticipatory alcohol-related attentional bias that is correlated with risky drinking and has high reliability. However, this is complicated by potential contributions of visual features of cues to reliability, unrelated to their predictive value. Further, little is known of the sensitivity of the bias to variations in cue-outcome mapping manipulations, limiting our theoretical and methodological knowledge: Does the bias robustly follow varying cue-outcome mappings, or are there automatic cue-related associative processes involved? The current studies aimed to address these issues. Participants performed variations of the cued Visual Probe Task (cVPT) in which cues were non-predictive; in which there were multiple cue pairs, used simultaneously and serially; and in which the cue-outcome mapping was reversed. The major findings were, first, that previously found reliability cannot be attributed to aspects of the cues not related to outcome-prediction; second, that reliability of the bias does not survive deviations from a simple, consistent cue-outcome mapping; third, that all predictive versions of the task showed a bias towards alcohol; fourth, that the bias did not simply follow awareness of the cue-outcome mapping; and finally, that only in the case of simultaneous multiple cue pairs, an association with risky drinking was replicated. The results provide support for the reliability of the anticipatory attentional bias for alcohol, suggest that relatively persistent associative processes underlie the bias in the alcohol context, and provide a foundation for future work using the cVPT.

Evaluating the efficacy of an attention modification program for patients with fibromyalgia: a randomized controlled trial.

Persons with chronic musculoskeletal pain may be hypervigilant for pain-related cues which, paradoxically, may be maintaining their pain. Several randomized controlled trials have assessed whether a modified dot-probe protocol (ie, attention bias modification [ABM]) reduces chronic pain- and pain-related symptoms in persons with several diagnoses, including fibromyalgia. Scalability and economic efficiency potentiates the appeal of ABM protocols; however, research results have been mixed, with only some studies evidencing significant symptom gains from ABM and some evidencing gains for the control group. The current randomized controlled trial sought to replicate and extend previous ABM research using idiosyncratic word stimuli and a 1-month follow-up. Participants included treatment-seeking adult women (n = 117) with fibromyalgia who were randomly assigned to a standard (ie, control) or active (ie, ABM) condition. The protocol was delivered online and involved twice-weekly 15-minute sessions, for 4 weeks, with questionnaires completed at baseline, posttreatment, and 1-month follow-up. Symptom reports were analysed with mixed hierarchical modelling. There was no evidence of differences between the control and ABM groups. Both groups had small significant (Ps < 0.05) improvements in pain experiences at posttreatment, but not at follow-up (Ps > 0.05). There were no significant changes for either group on measures of anxiety sensitivity, illness/injury sensitivity, pain-related fear, pain-related anxiety, or attentional biases (Ps > 0.05). The current findings add to the emerging and mixed literature regarding ABM for pain by demonstrating that ABM produces no substantive improvements in pain or pain-related constructs in a large sample of patients with fibromyalgia.

Heart disease and physical activity messages targeted at women: Attentional bias and automatic associations

IntroductionLittle is known regarding automatic processing of heart disease information yet automatic responses may influence message effectiveness. ObjectiveTo examine automatic and reasoned perceptions of heart disease and physical activity information in women with (n=29) and without (n=37) diagnosed heart disease. MethodParticipants read heart disease information followed by measures of attentional bias and automatic associations, a brief interview and a questionnaire measuring message involvement, believability, and attention, and attitudes and intention. ResultsWomen with heart disease had greater attentional bias for heart disease-related words than women without heart disease, although the effect was weak. Fruit and vegetables were more strongly associated with prevention than physical activity, again with a small effect. The only significant predictor of intentions was self-reported previous leisure-time physical activity. ConclusionThere was a small attentional bias for heart disease-related words in women with heart disease, but this was not related to other constructs including automatic associations, attitudes or intentions. Women in the current study reported ‘nothing new’ in the information, with may indicate they did not have positive affective responses to it and it may not have automatically attracted attention nor have activated associations with physical activity. Health promoters should consider what might make messages about physical activity and heart disease more salient for women.

Scanpath similarity measure reveals not only a decreased social preference, but also an increased nonsocial preference in individuals with autism.

We compared scanpath similarity in response to repeated presentations of social and nonsocial images representing natural scenes in a sample of 30 participants with autism spectrum disorder and 32 matched typically developing individuals. We used scanpath similarity (calculated using ScanMatch) as a novel measure of attentional bias or preference, which constrains eye-movement patterns by directing attention to specific visual or semantic features of the image. We found that, compared with the control group, scanpath similarity of participants with autism was significantly higher in response to nonsocial images, and significantly lower in response to social images. Moreover, scanpaths of participants with autism were more similar to scanpaths of other participants with autism in response to nonsocial images, and less similar in response to social images. Finally, we also found that in response to nonsocial images, scanpath similarity of participants with autism did not decline with stimulus repetition to the same extent as in the control group, which suggests more perseverative attention in the autism spectrum disorder group. These results show a preferential fixation on certain elements of social stimuli in typically developing individuals compared with individuals with autism, and on certain elements of nonsocial stimuli in the autism spectrum disorder group, compared with the typically developing group.

Attentional bias and its temporal dynamics among war veterans suffering from chronic pain: Investigating the contribution of post-traumatic stress symptoms

BackgroundCognitive models propose that attentional dysregulation, including an attentional bias towards threat, is one of the factors through which chronic pain and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) maintain and exacerbate one another. The current investigation assessed the attentional bias for painful facial expressions and its relationship with PTSS, using both traditional and variability-based attentional bias measures, among veterans with chronic pain and PTSS and controls. MethodFifty-four veterans with chronic pain and 30 age/education-matched controls participated in this investigation. Participants completed a self-report measure of PTSS and a modified version of the dot-probe task with painful, happy, and neutral facial expressions. Attention was assessed using both traditional and variability-based reaction time measures of attentional bias. ResultsVeterans directed attention away from painful facial expressions (i.e., avoidance) relative to both the control group (between-subject effect) and relative to neutral faces (within-subject effect). Veterans also showed significantly elevated attentional bias variability for both happy and painful facial expressions compared to controls. Attentional bias variability for happy and painful facial expressions was correlated with PTSS among all participants. ConclusionVeterans with chronic pain and PTSS avoided pain-related stimuli and displayed an overall attentional dysregulation for emotional facial expressions. Avoidance of pain cues may be a coping strategy that these individuals develop under stressful conditions. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

The relation between parental chronic pain, pain-related attention and interpretation biases in pain-free adolescents.

BackgroundChildren of chronic pain patients run greater risk for developing chronic pain themselves. Exposure to chronic pain of the parent might install cognitive (e.g., pain catastrophizing, interpretation and attentional bias) and affective (e.g., pain anxiety) vulnerability which increase the risk for the development of chronic pain complaints in offspring. This study examines whether pain‐free offspring of parents with chronic pain complaints make more health‐threatening interpretations and display a stronger pain‐related attentional bias compared to the offspring of pain‐free parents. We furthermore examined differences between both groups on pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety and somatic symptoms and explored the relations between parental pain catastrophizing and aforementioned pain vulnerability measures in offspring.MethodsOffspring of parents with chronic pain complaints (n = 24) and pain‐free parents (n = 27) completed measures of attentional bias (i.e., pictorial dot probe), interpretation bias (i.e., ambiguous word association task), pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety and somatic symptoms. Parents completed measures of pain catastrophizing and psychological distress.ResultsNo differences between offspring of parents with and without pain complaints were observed on pain catastrophizing, pain anxiety and somatic symptoms. Both groups of healthy adolescents predominantly showed benign, non‐health‐threatening interpretations. Children of pain‐free parents showed an attention bias for pain stimuli, while offspring of parents with pain complaints showed no such bias.ConclusionsFuture research is needed to further elucidate the precise role of parental pain in the development of pain‐related biases and the significance of these biases in the onset and/or maintenance of a chronic pain condition in children and adolescents.SignificanceParental chronic pain may install psychological vulnerability for developing chronic pain and associated complaints in offspring. This study did not show differences in pain‐directed attentional and interpretation bias between offspring of parents with chronic pain complaints and offspring of pain‐free parents. Further (longitudinal) research is needed to elucidate the precise role of parental pain factors in the development of pain‐related vulnerability in offspring of chronic pain parents, thereby identifying important targets for the prevention and early intervention of chronic pain.

Mapping the Affective Dimension of Embodiment With the Sensation Manikin: Validation Among Chronic Pain Patients and Modification by Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement.

Mindfulness-based interventions target novel pain relief mechanisms not captured by legacy pain scales, including 1) cultivating awareness of pleasant and neutral sensations proximal to unpleasant sensations and 2) interoceptively mapping sensation location and spatial distribution. We created a digital sensation manikin (SM) by overlaying a human figure silhouette with a grid of 469 "sensation" pixels. A series of five research questions examined the SM's discriminant validity, construct validity, incremental validity, convergence with an objective measure of pain attentional bias, and sensitivity to a mindfulness-based psychological treatment, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE). A sample of opioid treated chronic pain patients (n = 108; age, 53.79 (12.94) years; female, 65%) was recruited to answer research questions 1 to 5, and a sample of healthy controls (n = 91; age, 36.47 (13.50) years; female, 55%) was recruited as the comparison group for research question 1. Chronic pain patients reported significantly more unpleasant sensations than did healthy controls (p < .001, d = 1.23) and significantly fewer pleasant sensations (p = .001, d = 0.50). The SM also evidenced expected relationships with multiple measures of pain (r = 0.26-0.29) and well-being (r = -0.21 to 0.28), uniquely predicted pain interference (β = -0.18), and exhibited a significant association with pain attentional bias (r = 0.25). Finally, mindfulness-based intervention via MORE significantly increased the ratio of pleasant to unpleasant sensations reported by chronic pain patients relative to an active control condition (p = .036, d = 0.51). This study supports the SM's validity and indicates that assessing both pleasant and unpleasant sensations broadens the scope of pain measurement. Although the SM would benefit from further optimization, its continued use is likely to contribute to improved assessment and treatment options for chronic pain patients.

Are hoarding symptoms associated with interpersonally relevant attentional biases? A preliminary investigation

According to cognitive-behavioral models of hoarding disorder, positive and negative emotional processing biases may contribute to the core symptoms of clutter, acquiring, and difficulty discarding. In disorders commonly comorbid with hoarding (e.g., depression; anxiety), studies have revealed specific patterns of attentional biases that relate to central symptoms. However, links between hoarding symptoms and biased attention, particularly involving interpersonal content, remain empirically untested. In the present study, we aimed to conduct the first investigation of hoarding symptoms and attentional biases. A sample of 57 young adults viewed images of positive and negative facial expressions paired with neutral facial expressions. During stimulus presentation eye tracking data captured four measures of early-stage and late-stage attentional biases toward emotional stimuli. Hoarding symptoms were measured dimensionally using the Saving Inventory-Revised. Results yielded an association between early orientation toward negative stimuli and severity of acquiring symptoms. Conversely, difficulty discarding/saving was associated with multiple measures of late-stage positive attentional biases. Findings reinforce the importance of examining both positive and negative emotional systems in relation to specific hoarding symptom clusters, even at the basic information processing level.

Reliability and validity of measures of attentional bias towards threat in unselected student samples: seek, but will you find?

ABSTRACTAlthough attentional bias (AB) is considered a key characteristic of anxiety problems, the psychometric properties of most AB measures are either problematic or unknown. We conducted two experiments in which we addressed the reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity of different AB measures in unselected student samples. In Experiment 1 (N = 66), the visual probe task and the emotional flanker task yielded unreliable estimates of AB. Both the relevant and irrelevant feature visual search task yielded better reliability estimates, yet AB scores did not correlate significantly with each other nor with self-reported social anxiety. In Experiment 2 (N = 60), we retained only the visual search tasks. The relevant feature visual search task was again highly reliable, but it did not correlate significantly with anxiety measures. The irrelevant feature visual search task yielded only small reliability estimates, yet one of the scores was significantly correlated with implicit (but not self-reported or physiological) measures of social anxiety. Together, our results advocate the use of variants of visual search tasks to measure AB and they underline the importance of fundamental psychometric testing in AB research.

Facilitated attention for gambling cues in adolescent problem gamblers: An experimental study

BackgroundStudies investigating attentional biases in gambling have observed that problem gamblers’ attention is biased toward gambling cues. Despite the increase of gambling among adolescents, to date, no study has ever examined the role of attentional bias in adolescent gambling, as well as the relationships between adolescent gambling severity, craving, and alcohol use. MethodsThe present study comprised 87 adolescent participants. Based on South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA) scores, participants were assigned to non-problem or problem gamblers groups. Participants performed a modified Posner Task (with cue presentation times at 100 and 500 ms) to assess attentional biases. Following the experiment, participants completed the Gambling Craving Scale (GACS) and the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). ResultsCompared to non-problem gamblers, problem gamblers displayed facilitation bias for gambling cues at 500 ms and reported higher levels of craving and alcohol consumption. Results also indicated that alcohol use correlated with facilitation bias. LimitationsThe recruitment of a predominantly male sample and the use of an indirect measure of attentional bias may have affected the findings concerning attentional processes. ConclusionsThe present study provides the first empirical evidence of attentional processes in adolescent gambling, and confirms the role of attentional biases, craving, and alcohol use being associated factors in adolescent problem gambling. The results of the present study stress the importance of attentional biases in the initial stages of problem gambling and suggest the need for clinical interventions aimed at reducing attentional bias before they became automatic. Overall, the present study stressed the role of attentional bias as both facilitator and a consequence of gambling involvement.

Associations Between Attentional Bias and Interpretation Bias and Change in School Concerns and Anxiety Symptoms During the Transition from Primary to Secondary School

The transition from primary to secondary school is often associated with a period of heightened anxiety and worry. For most children, any feelings of anxiety subside relatively quickly but for a small minority, emotional difficulties can continue into the first year of secondary school and beyond. This study recruited 109 children and measured their anxiety symptoms and school concerns toward the end of primary school and again at the end of their first term of secondary school. We investigated for the first time whether pre-transition measures of attentional and interpretation bias, and the magnitude of change in attentional bias toward and away from threat stimuli were associated with pre- and post-transition measures of anxiety and school concerns, and the change in these measures over time. Over 50% of the current sample exceeded clinical levels of anxiety at pre-transition. However, anxiety symptoms and school concerns had significantly reduced by post-transition. Higher levels of pre-transition anxiety or school concerns, and a greater magnitude of change in attentional bias towards threat stimuli predicted a larger reduction in anxiety symptoms and school concerns across the transition period. A greater interpretation bias toward threat was associated with higher pre-transition anxiety symptoms and school concerns but not post-transition scores, or the change in these scores. While many children experience heightened anxiety prior to school transition, this appears to be largely temporary and self-resolves. Nonetheless, the current findings highlight the importance of monitoring children’s anxiety and concerns, and related cognitive processes during this important transition period.

Multivariate pattern analysis of the neural correlates of smoking cue attentional bias

The automatic capture of attention by drug cues, or attentional bias, is associated with craving and predicts future drug use. Despite its clinical significance, the neural bases of attentional bias to drug cues is not well understood. To address this gap, we undertook a neuroimaging investigation of the neural correlates of attentional bias towards smoking cues. Twenty-nine adults, including 14 active smokers and 15 non-smokers, completed a spatial cuing task during fMRI. A multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) decoded the neural responses to the brief presentation of smoking versus neutral images. These data were correlated with behavioral measures of attentional bias, which included analyses targeting the neural correlates of response facilitation and cue-related task interference. We detected a set of brain-behavioral correlates that were similar across both smokers and non-smokers, indicating a role for stimuli salience in the absence of nicotine conditioning in smoking cue attentional bias. However, multiple smoking-related modifications to the neural correlates of attentional bias and its components were also identified. For example, regions demonstrating smoking-related differences in the neural correlates of attentional bias included the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus. Response facilitation effects of smoking were observed in the right orbitofrontal gyrus and bilateral middle temporal gyrus. Smoking-cue related task interference was related to smoking-related effects in the frontal eye fields. Our findings suggest that multiple cognitive, affective, and visual object recognition processes contribute to attentional bias towards smoking cues, and suggest multiple circuit modifications that may contribute to perpetuation of addiction.

Failed attempts to improve the reliability of the alcohol visual probe task following empirical recommendations.

The visual probe task (VPT) is a computerized task used to measure attentional bias to substance-related stimuli. Little research has examined the psychometric properties of the VPT, despite concerns it demonstrates poor test–retest reliability and internal consistency. These issues can reduce confidence in inferences based on VPT performance. As such, we attempted to identify parameters under which the reliability of the alcohol VPT might be improved by applying recent empirical recommendations for outlier handling, bias calculation, and task design from the anxiety literature. We reanalyzed data from 3 previously published studies in our laboratory and 2 newly collected data sets. We compared tasks which presented images on the left/right of the screen to above/below, whether participants responded to the location or content of the probe, and whether general alcohol-related images or images personalized to the individual were used. In each VPT we also applied a priori outlier removal (2 and 3 standard deviations and median absolute difference) and data-driven outlier removal (winsorizing), in addition to calculating trial-level bias scores. Across all studies and tasks internal consistency and test–retest reliability of attentional bias measures were inadequate. There was no consistent improvement in internal consistency or test–retest reliability as a function of outlier removal methods. We were unable to demonstrate adequate reliability of the alcohol VPT, which further supports observations that these tasks may not yield reliable measures. Future research should focus on improving the reliability of these tasks or abandoning them in favor of more reliable alternatives.

Digging deeper in the differential effects of inflammatory and psychosocial stressors in remitted depression: Effects on cognitive functioning

BackgroundMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) covers a wide spectrum of symptoms, including cognitive dysfunction, which can persist during remission. Both inflammatory states and psychosocial stress play a role in MDD pathogenesis. MethodsThe effects of inflammatory (i.e., Salmonella typhi vaccine) and psychosocial stressor (i.e., Trier Social Stress Test), as well as their combination were investigated on cognition in women (aged 25–45 years, n = 21) with (partially) remitted MDD and healthy controls (n = 18) in a single-blind placebo-controlled study. In a crossover design, patients received on the first day one of the aforementioned interventions and on the other day a placebo, or vice versa, with a washout period of 7–14 days. Short-term and verbal memory, working memory, attention, verbal fluency, information processing speed, psychomotor function, and measures of attentional bias to emotions were measured. Exploratory analyses were performed to assess the correlation between biomarkers of inflammation and the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal axis and cognitive functioning. ResultsIn patients, inflammatory stress decreased information processing speed and verbal memory, and increased working memory; after psychosocial stress, there was an increase in attention. There was also an increased negative attentional bias in patients after inflammatory stress. Neither stressor had any effect in controls. LimitiationsLimitations are the relatively small sample size and antidepressant use by a part of the participants. The effects of the stressors were also measured a relatively short period after administration. ConculsionPatients were sensitive to the cognitive effects of inflammation and psychosocial stress on cognition, while controls were not.

Eye Tracking Measures of Attentional Bias in the Internet Gaming Disorder

Eye Tracking Measures of Attentional Bias in the Internet Gaming Disorder

Sham sleep feedback delivered via actigraphy biases daytime symptom reports in people with insomnia: Implications for insomnia disorder and wearable devices.

This study investigated whether providing sham feedback about sleep to individuals with insomnia influenced daytime symptom reports, sleep-related attentional bias and psychomotor vigilance. Sixty-three participants meeting DSM-5 criteria for insomnia disorder were recruited from the community. Following baseline assessments and actigraphy briefing, participants were randomised to receive next-day sham feedback on sleep quality ("positive" vs. "negative" sleep efficiency condition). Feedback was delivered at habitual rise-time using an integrated actigraphy-diary watch to simulate wearable device behaviour. Participants completed symptom reports immediately before receiving feedback, and at 12:00 and 15:00hr, using the experience sampling method. Following this they returned to the laboratory in the evening to complete symptom reports and computerised tests of sleep-related attentional bias and basic psychomotor vigilance. Participants randomised to negative feedback (n=32) evidenced impaired daytime function (decreased alert cognition [d=0.79], increased sleepiness/fatigue [d=0.55]) in the evening compared with those given positive feedback (n=31). Within-day trajectories revealed that the positive-feedback group, relative to the negative-feedback group, displayed a significantly greater increase in positive mood and alert cognition (from rise-time to 12:00hr), and significantly greater decrease in sleepiness/fatigue. There were no significant between-group differences on measures of sleep-related attentional bias [d=0.20] or psychomotor vigilance [d=0.12]. This controlled experiment shows that sham feedback about sleep biases appraisal of daytime symptoms, highlighting a pathway connecting sleep misperception with daytime features of insomnia. Findings have important implications for wearable devices that claim to measure "objective" sleep yet may provide inaccurate data relative to gold-standard measurement.

Attention bias for social threat in youth with tic disorders: Links with tic severity and social anxiety

ABSTRACTMany individuals with Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders (TS/CTDs) report poor social functioning and comorbid social anxiety. Yet limited research has investigated the role of cognitive factors that highlight social threats in youth with TS/CTD, and whether these biases underlie tic severity and co-occurring social anxiety. This study examined whether selective attention to social threat is enhanced young people with TS/CTDs compared to healthy controls, and whether attention biases are associated with tic severity and social anxiety. Twenty seven young people with TS/CTDs and 25 matched control participants completed an experimental measure of attention bias toward/away from threat stimuli. A clinician-rated interview measuring tic severity/impairment (YGTSS Total Score) and questionnaire measures of social anxiety were completed by participants and their parents. Young people with TS/CTD showed an attention bias to social threat words (relative to benign words) compared to controls but no such bias for social threat faces. Attention bias for social threat words was associated with increasing YGTSS Total Score and parent-reported social anxiety in the TS/CTDs group. Mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect path between YGTSS Total Score and social anxiety, via attention to social threat. Tentatively, these associations appeared to be driven by impairment rather than tic severity scores. Preliminary data suggests that youth with TS/CTD have enhanced attention to threat, compared to controls, and this is associated with impairment and social anxiety. Attention to threat could offer a cognitive mechanism connecting impairment and social anxiety, and so be a valuable trans-diagnostic treatment target.