Impact of the temporal stability of preexistent attentional bias for threat on its alteration through attention bias modification

Abstract

Background: Attention bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce attentional bias for threat (AB), thereby diminishing anxiety symptoms. However, recent metaanalyses indicated mixed effects. Recent works suggest that the presence of AB prior to ABM can be considered as a critical moderating factor that may account for these mixed results. Methods: We assessed AB among highly trait-anxious individuals (n = 77) using both a face-version and a word-version of the dot-probe task at multiple time points: two weeks before ABM (t1), just prior to ABM (t2), and after ABM (t3). All participants were submitted to an ABM procedure including facial expressions. Analyses focused on 2 components of AB prior to ABM: a stable component, representing variance shared between the two baseline points (t1 and t2), and a dynamic component, representing variance that is specific to that point (t1 or t2). Results: The stable component of AB at baseline predicted the intensity of AB after ABM (t3) b s t r a c tBackground: Attention bias modification (ABM) aims to reduce attentional bias for threat (AB), thereby diminishing anxiety symptoms. However, recent meta-analyses indicated mixed effects. Recent works suggest that the presence of AB prior to ABM can be considered as a critical moderating factor that may account for these mixed results. Methods:We assessed AB among highly trait-anxious individuals (n ¼ 77) using both a face-version and a word-version of the dot-probe task at multiple time points: two weeks before ABM (t 1 ), just prior to ABM (t 2 ), and after ABM (t 3 ). All participants were submitted to an ABM procedure including facial expressions. Analyses focused on 2 components of AB prior to ABM: a stable component, representing variance shared between the two baseline points (t 1 and t 2) , and a dynamic component, representing variance that is specific to that point (t 1 or t 2 ).Results: The stable component of AB at baseline predicted the intensity of AB after ABM (t 3 ) while the dynamic component did not. The dynamic component of AB at baseline positively predicts performance improvement during ABM procedure, while the stable component negatively predicted it. Limitations: The findings depicted above only appear with the face-version of the dot-probe task. Conclusions:The present results highlight the contribution of both the stable individual differences and dynamic components of preexistent AB. They also show the importance of moving the conceptualization of AB beyond the group-based analysis by integrating the notion and the assessment of within-person variability.

Make up your mind about food: A healthy mindset attenuates attention for high-calorie food in restrained eaters

“…Thus, our results contribute to emerging evidence that state variables (such as situation, internal state, decision about eating) influence an attention bias for food, possibly through triggering different mindsets, and moreover suggest that particularly individuals who feel ambivalent about high-calorie food might be more susceptible to the influence of state fluctuations on their attention processing of food cues. In line with this argument, attention researchers from other psychology domains have also stressed the importance of considering state anxiety as well as trait-anxiety, and the stability of attentional bias for threat cues over time (Heeren, Philippot, & Koster, 2014), to take momentary variations in substance-related motivation into account when assessing attentional bias for drug cues (Christiansen, Schoenmakers, & Field, 2015) and demonstrated goal dependence of attention processing (Vogt, Lozo, Koster, & De Houwer, 2011). This highlights that variations in motivational states and goals, and corresponding mindsets, should be considered when assessing attention bias, for example either by experimentally controlling for mindsets or by incorporating the assessment of mindsets or motivational states when measuring attention bias.…”

Spatiotemporal brain dynamics underlying attentional bias modifications

“…For example, exaggerated biases toward emotionally negative stimuli could participates in intensifying anxiety (e.g. Amir et al, 2008;Britton et al, 2015;Heeren et al, 2015). Based on the evidence that abnormal AB contributes to the development and maintenance of many psychiatric disorders, important efforts have been invested into the development of behavioral interventions aiming to reduce ABs (Hakamata et al, 2010;Lopes et al, 2015;MacLeod and Clarke, 2014).…”

Effects of Attentional Bias Modification on Residual Symptoms in depression. A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Bias scores were calculated based on median reaction times. We choose to clean data for reaction times below 200-and 2000ms in accordance with recent literature that have aimed to grasp temporal stability in AB (27). The mean total trials included after applying the filter was 97.25% (,04%) in the placebo group and 97.23% (.02%) in the ABM group and did not differ between the groups [F (1,301) = .003, p = .958].…”