Life-Threatening Danger and Suppression of Attention Bias to Threat

Abstract

These data challenge current thinking about the role of attention in stress responding. Attentional threat avoidance may reduce the acute impact of imminent threat, but this may come at a price in terms of an elevated risk for psychopathology.

Threat-Related Attentional Biases in Police Officers and Martial Artists: Investigating Potential Differences Using the E-Stroop and Dot Probe Task

“…Similar results have been shown in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (Constans, McCloskey, Vasterling, Brailey, & Mathews, 2004;Sipos, Bar-Haim, Abend, Adler, & Bliese, 2014;Wald, Lubin, et al, 2011;Wald, Shechner, et al, 2011), and also in civilians who are regularly exposed to life-threatening danger (Bar-Haim et al, 2010). A third characteristic of threat-related attentional bias is the difficulty in disengagement (i.e., it is harder to disengage attention from a threat stimulus relative to a neutral stimulus; Cisler & Olatunji, 2010;Mogg, Holmes, Garner, & Bradley, 2008;Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2007).…”

“…Most studies investigating threat-related attentional bias involve clearly visible stimuli that are presented for at least 500 ms, to allow for conscious processing (Bar-Haim et al, 2007). Results of recent studies using longer exposure times found attentional bias toward and/or away from threat stimuli (Bar-Haim et al, 2010;Naim et al, 2015;Zvielli et al, 2014), which is in line with the vigilance-avoidance pattern. Yet, the finding of an attentional bias in response to a stimulus that is presented for a longer duration (i.e., supraliminal exposure) does not allow for the distinction between the contributions of a preconscious bias to the threatening stimulus and a bias that requires awareness of that stimulus.…”

“…J. Eysenck, 1992;MacLeod, Mathews, & Tata, 1986;Mogg & Bradley, 1998). A vast amount of research demonstrates that anxious individuals show an attentional bias toward threatening sources of information, whereas this effect is less consistent or not observed in nonanxious individuals (Bar-Haim et al, 2010;Bar-Haim et al, 2007;(Mogg & Bradley, 1998;Shechner et al, 2012;J. M. G. Williams, Mathews, & MacLeod, 1996).…”

Attention bias away from threat during life threatening danger predicts PTSD symptoms at one-year follow-up

“…[5][6][7][8][9] Evidence of such attention avoidance has emerged in research on combat veterans with PTSD, [10] in soldiers undergoing combat simulation, [11] and in civilians exposed to a lifethreatening danger. [12] These latter studies also reveal a significant inverse correlation between attentional threat avoidance and severity of PTSD symptoms during the acute stress phase. Again, this inverse correlation contrasts with the typical positive correlation manifest between attention biases and anxiety, when individuals are studied in low-stress environments.…”

Association of Predeployment Gaze Bias for Emotion Stimuli With Later Symptoms of PTSD and Depression in Soldiers Deployed in Iraq

“…Attentional avoidance of threat-related stimuli has been associated with greater distress in people exposed to acute stressors, such as rocket attacks (11). However, other cross-sectional research finds that veterans with elevated PTSD symptoms show an attentional bias toward negative images compared to veterans with low levels of PTSD symptoms (33,34).…”