Beyond negativity: Motivational relevance as cause of attentional bias to positive stimuli

Vogt, Julia; Bajandouh, Yasmene; Alzubaidi, Umkalthoom

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-816660-4.00001-5

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Altogether, the uncertainty of a neutral infant face reflects multiphase emotional appraisals for ambiguous valence on highly goal-relevant stimuli (Vogt et al, 2019). These appraisals ultimately allow the individual to enter a state in which it is easier to recognise the infant (Ding et al, 2016; Jia et al, 2017) and to become more refined in the operation (Nittono et al, 2012), which lays the foundation for the provision of good parenting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Jia

Ding

Cheng

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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The effect of the babyface schema includes three typical responses, namely, the preference response, viewing motivation, and attention bias towards infant faces. It has been theorised that these responses are primarily influenced by infants’ facial structures. However, recent studies have revealed the moderating role of facial expression, suggesting that the strongest effect of the babyface schema may be related to the neutral facial expression; this hypothesis remains to be tested. In this study, the moderating role of facial expression was assessed in three successive experiments (total N = 402). We used a series of images of the same face with multiple expression-standardised images of infants and adults to control for facial structure. The results indicated that the effect sizes of the babyface schema (i.e., response differences between infants and adults) were different for multiple expressions of the same face. Specifically, the effect sizes of neutral faces were significantly greater than those of happy and sad faces according to the preference response (experiment 1, N = 90), viewing motivation (experiment 2, N = 214), and attentional bias (experiment 3, N = 98). These results empirically confirm that neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest effect of the babyface schema under the condition of using adult faces as a comparison baseline and matching multiple expressions of the same face.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Jia

Ding

Cheng

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…The current review focuses on well-known biases that reflect distorted processing in health as well as in psychopathology: (1) expectancy bias, in which individuals overestimate the likelihood of encountering the fear-relevant stimulus (encounter bias) or the negative outcome that will follow the encounter [consequence bias; for reviews on negative and positive expectancy bias, see (24,25), respectively]; (2) attention bias, which is exhibited through faster engagement with and slower disengagement from the fear-relevant stimulus, followed by attentional avoidance of said stimuli [for reviews on negative and positive attention bias, see (26,27), respectively]; (3) memory bias, in which individuals remember fear-related items more often than fearunrelated items [for reviews on negative and positive memory bias, see (28,29), respectively]; (4) perception bias, in which individuals overestimate a physical characteristic of the fearrelevant stimulus, such as its size or distance [e.g., (30)(31)(32); for a recent review, see (33)]; (5) interpretation bias, in which individuals interpret ambiguous stimuli as threatening [for reviews on negative and positive interpretation biases, see (34,35), respectively]. Although these biases exist in healthy populations, they are more severe and persistent in populations with psychopathologies [for a review, see (36)].…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Biases in Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: A Review

2021

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Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia can lead to avoidance of crucial medical procedures and to detrimental health consequences, even among health workers. Yet unlike other specific phobias, BII phobia has been understudied. Specifically, while cognitive biases have been extensively investigated in other anxiety disorders, little is known about the same biases in BII phobia. The current article reviews cognitive biases in BII phobia and suggest future directions for further study and treatment. The reviewed biases include attention, expectancy, memory, perception, and interpretation biases. The investigation of these biases is highly relevant, as cognitive biases have been found to interact with anxiety symptoms. Results showed that attention, expectancy, and memory biases are involved in BII phobia, while no studies were found on interpretation nor perception biases. Mixed results were found for attention bias, as different studies found different components of attention bias, while others found no attention bias at all. Similarly, some studies found a-priori/a-posteriori expectancy biases, while other studies found only one type of bias. A better understanding of the cognitive particularities of BII phobia may lead to better treatments and ultimately reduce avoidance of needles and blood-related situations, thereby enabling individuals with BII phobia to undergo potentially life-saving medical procedures.

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“…Given the immediate existential jeopardy associated with threatening stimuli, it could be argued that these should always be prioritized over self-cues in the attention system. Indeed, some authors argue for a general attention bias for negative over positive stimuli (Ito et al, 1998; Öhman & Mineka, 2001; Pratto & John, 1991; although see Becker et al, 2011; Vogt et al, 2020). Since threat cues are inherently negative while self is considered a positive stimulus (Beggan, 1992; Robins & Beer, 2001), this would indicate that threatening cues should be positioned higher than self-cues in the attentional hierarchy.…”

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confidence: 99%

Me first? Positioning self in the attentional hierarchy.

Cunningham¹,

Vogt²,

Martin³

2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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The attention system that allocates resources across competing aspects of the environment is influenced by biases toward particular types of stimuli, such as cues of threat (e.g., angry-face image), self-reference (e.g., own-face image) and current goals (e.g., food image when hungry). Here, we used dot probe tasks to investigate which of these stimulus types are prioritized in the attentional hierarchy, measuring response latency to dot probes presented in the same location as different face types. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 42) were presented with self, angry and neutral face images in the dot probe task, which revealed a clear attentional bias for self-images over both angry and neutral images. In Experiment 2, each participant (N = 69) was assigned a self, angry or neutral goal image for a secondary monitoring task designed to induce a temporary goal, and this image was included in the stimuli presented in the dot probe task. Again, self-cues were found to produce a strong attentional bias, but images associated with temporary goals were found to be the most effective source of attentional bias. Results are discussed in relation to the relative importance of self, threat and temporary goal cues in the attentional hierarchy.

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Beyond negativity: Motivational relevance as cause of attentional bias to positive stimuli

Cited by 9 publications

References 90 publications

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Cognitive Biases in Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: A Review

Me first? Positioning self in the attentional hierarchy.

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