Time course of attentional bias to painful facial expressions and the moderating role of attentional control: an eye-tracking study

Mazidi, Mahdi; Dehghani, Mohsen; Sharpe, Louise; Dolatshahi, Behrooz; Ranjbar, Seyran; Khatibi, Ali

doi:10.1177/2049463719866877

Cited by 19 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Furthermore, post-hoc analyses showed that this was not related to self-reported ability to focus attention, but rather the ability to shift attention. Only one recent study has investigated the moderating role of attentional control in adults with chronic pain between attentional bias and pain catastrophizing 19 . Mazidi et al 19 used a dot-probe task with eye-tracking (with 1500msec presentation).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only one recent study has investigated the moderating role of attentional control in adults with chronic pain between attentional bias and pain catastrophizing 19 . Mazidi et al 19 used a dot-probe task with eye-tracking (with 1500msec presentation). They found a general pattern of vigilance-avoidance amongst people with and without chronic pain and a moderation effect of attentional control in the relationship between pain catastrophizing and attention to happy faces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It seems likely that the differences in the nature of the tasks might account for the different findings. Mazidi et al 19 used a dot-probe task and the moderation effect was found for sustained attention (i.e. overall dwell time) in people with chronic pain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One hundred and seventy-one individuals contacted the researcher to participate in the study. Of those, 18 participants were excluded due to current or previous pain problems, 19 were excluded due to frequent or current migraine or tension-type headaches and one individual reported a history of head injury. Five other individuals were excluded as they reported a history of mental health difficulties.…”

Section: Participants Participants Were Volunteer Undergraduate Studmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lau et al 18 further investigated attentional control in adolescents by manipulating perceptual load and found that attentional biases for pain-related stimuli were observed in children with pain resulting in impairment compared with children without pain or those with low levels of impairment, but only under low perceptual loads where attentional control resources are available. Finally, Mazidi et al 19 found that attentional control moderated the relationship between pain catastrophizing and attention to happy faces in pain patients. Those with high attentional control and high pain catastrophizing focused more on happy faces (consistent with the vigilance-avoidance pattern identified).…”

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Attentional control moderates the relationship between pain catastrophizing and selective attention to pain faces on the antisaccade task

Ranjbar

Mazidi

Sharpe

et al. 2020

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cognitive models of chronic pain emphasize the critical role of pain catastrophizing in attentional bias to pain-related stimuli. the aim of this study was (a) to investigate the relationship between pain catastrophizing and the ability to inhibit selective attention to pain-related faces (attentional bias); and (b) to determine whether attentional control moderated this relationship. one hundred and ten pain-free participants completed the anti-saccade task with dynamic facial expressions, specifically painful, angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions and questionnaires including a measure of pain catastrophizing. As predicted, participants with high pain catastrophizing had significantly higher error rates for antisaccade trials with pain faces relative to other facial expressions, indicating a difficulty disinhibiting attention towards painful faces. In moderation analyses, data showed that attentional control moderated the relationship between attentional bias to pain faces and pain catastrophizing. post-hoc analyses demonstrated that it was shifting attention (not focusing) that accounted for this effect. Only for those with high self-reported ability to shift attention was there a significant relationship between catastrophizing and attentional bias to pain. These findings confirm that attentional control is necessary for an association between attentional bias and catastrophizing to be observed, which may explain the lack of relationships between attentional bias and individual characteristics, such as catastrophizing, in prior research. Cognitive models of chronic pain propose pain catastrophizing as a risk factor that give rise to pain-related concerns and fuels attentional bias to pain-related information 1-6. However, meta-analyses have failed to find relationships between theoretically important constructs, such as pain catastrophizing and attentional biases 7,8. The absence of a relationship is problematic for these theories that suggest attentional biases are associated with pain catastrophizing 2-6. There are explanations for this lack of relationship. Todd et al. 1 argued that attentional biases have a curvilinear relationship with threat and therefore relationships are obscured when assessed by simple correlations. Van Ryckegham et al. 9 have argued that the context of attentional biases is important to whether biases towards or away from pain are helpful. Another possibility was raised by Dear et al. 10 , who found that the reliability of the dot-probe is poor, and reliability remains questionable for some indices using eye-tracking 11. Another frequently raised issue is the lack of ecological validity of the stimuli (typically words). Numerous authors have argued that pain-related images 12 , facial expressions 13 or somatosensory stimuli 5 are more suitable to assess attentional biases in pain. Although research has used facial expression (e.g. 19 , all studies have used static faces, whereas Ceccarini

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Participants Participants Were Volunteer Undergraduate Studmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attentional control moderates the relationship between pain catastrophizing and selective attention to pain faces on the antisaccade task

Ranjbar

Mazidi

Sharpe

et al. 2020

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Selective attention to pain and empathy: Studying frequent blood donors

2022

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Introduction Empathy is an interpersonal experience that enables understanding of other's emotions and can lead to altruistic behavior such as blood donation. Cognitive theories of empathy refer to selective attention as one of its cognitive dimensions. The current study examined if individuals who engage in altruistic behavior are characterized by a distinct pattern of selective attention to observation of pain in others. Methods We recruited 50 volunteer blood donors. Half (n = 25) of the volunteers donated for a self‐declared altruistic reason, and the other half of the volunteers donated blood for a health‐related reason. We assessed the individuals’ self‐reported empathy with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). We then measured the individuals’ selective attention toward faces expressing pain in a pictorial dot‐probe task. Results Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, participants who donated blood out of altruism reported significantly higher empathic concern on the IRI than those who donated blood for a health‐related reason. The altruistic donors also showed significantly greater selective attention toward facial expressions of pain. Moreover, among all donors, self‐report empathic concern on the IRI was significantly correlated with greater selective attention toward faces expressing pain. Discussion These findings suggest that altruistic individuals not only show higher levels of empathy, but also attend more to the pain of others. Limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Cognitive‐affective changes mediate the mindfulness‐based intervention effect on endometriosis‐related pain and mental health: A path analysis approach

Moreira

Gamboa

Oliveira

2023

European Journal of Pain

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BackgroundThere is poor knowledge about the therapeutic mechanisms of the conservative interventions for endometriosis. We hypothesized that the effects of a brief mindfulness‐based intervention (bMBI) on pelvic pain intensity (PPI), pain unpleasantness (PU) and quality of life mental health (QoL‐MH) are mediated by direct and indirect paths of changes in pain catastrophizing (PC), positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).MethodsA secondary analysis of a pilot randomized controlled trial of women with endometriosis, assigned to standard medical treatment (n = 32) and standard medical treatment plus bMBI (n = 31). We tested a series of parallel and serial mediators (PC, PA and NA) of the relationship between bMBI and outcomes (PPI, PU and QoL‐MH).ResultsThe bMBI group demonstrated improvement in PA (Cohen's f2 = 0.12 [0.01, 0.36]), decreases in NA (Cohen's f2 = 0.06 [0.00, 0.24]) and PC (Cohen's f2 = 0.16 [0.02, 0.42]). The PC reduction mediated the effect of the bMBI on PPI and PU directly; however, the PC effect through PA increase mediated the PU marginally but not PPI changes. bMBI effect on Qol‐MH was mediated directly by PA and NA. The PC improved Qol‐MH through PA increase and Pain decrease but not via NA.ConclusionsOur findings showed that bMBI impacts pain through changes in pain‐related cognitive‐affective factors. bMBI can improve QoL‐MH by multiple pathways, including but not limited to pain reduction, highlighting the independent potential of improvement in affect to restore mental health in endometriosis.SignificanceBrief mindfulness‐based intervention improves endometriosis pain through pain‐related cognitive‐affective factors and quality of life mental health via pain and affect changes unrelated to pain.

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Time course of attentional bias to painful facial expressions and the moderating role of attentional control: an eye-tracking study

Cited by 19 publications

References 64 publications

Attentional control moderates the relationship between pain catastrophizing and selective attention to pain faces on the antisaccade task

Attentional control moderates the relationship between pain catastrophizing and selective attention to pain faces on the antisaccade task

Selective attention to pain and empathy: Studying frequent blood donors

Cognitive‐affective changes mediate the mindfulness‐based intervention effect on endometriosis‐related pain and mental health: A path analysis approach

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