Attentional bias for smoking and affective stimuli: A Stroop task study.

Prior research has demonstrated attentional biases to smoking-related cues among smokers, and several lines of research suggest strong ties between smoking and negative affect. The authors tested attentional biases to both smoking and affective cues in 27 smokers using an emotional Stroop paradigm, and examined the relationship between these forms of attentional bias. Findings indicated significant attentional biases to smoking-related and negative-affect words, but not positive-affect words. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the degree of attentional bias to smoking and negative-affect words. These data provide evidence of a close association between smoking-related and affective cue processing from a cognitive perspective. Potential theoretical and clinical implications for these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of smoking opportunity on attentional bias in smokers.

The emotional Stroop task was used to examine the influence of opportunity to smoke on attentionall bias to smoking-related stimuli. At the outset of the study, 92 nicotine-deprived smokers were told that they (a) would, (b) would not, or (c) might be able to smoke during the experiment. Next, participants completed an emotional Stroop task, in which they were presented with smoking-related or -unrelated words in an unblocked format. Smokers demonstrated interference to the smoking words, relative to matched neutral words, F(1, 87)?=?18.0, p?F(2, 87)?=?4.35, p?     

Attentional bias for craving-related (chocolate) food cues.

In this study, we investigated attentional biases for craving-related food cues. A pictorial dot probe task was used to assess selective attentional processing of one particular highly desired food, namely chocolate, relative to that of other highly desired foods. In Experiment 1, we examined biased processing of chocolate cues in habitual (trait) chocolate cravers, whereas in Experiment 2 we investigated the effect of experimentally induced (state) chocolate cravings on such processing. As predicted, habitual chocolate cravers (Experiment 1) and individuals in whom a craving for chocolate was temporarily induced (Experiment 2) showed speeded detection of probes replacing chocolate-related pictures, demonstrating an attentional bias for chocolate cues. Subsequent examination indicated that in both experiments the observed attentional biases stemmed from difficulty in disengaging attention from chocolate cues rather than from a shift of attention toward such cues. The findings have important theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias predicts outcome in smoking cessation.

Most attempts to quit smoking end in failure, with many quitters relapsing in the first few days. Responses to smoking-related cues may precipitate relapse. A modified emotional Stroop task-which measures the extent to which smoking-related words disrupt performance on a reaction time (RT) task-was used to index the distracting effects of smoking-related cues. Smokers (N=158) randomized to a high-dose nicotine patch (35 mg) or placebo patch completed the Stroop task on the 1st day of a quit attempt. Smokers using an active patch exhibited less attentional bias, making fewer errors on smoking related words. Smokers who showed greater attentional bias (slowed RT on the first block of smoking words) were significantly more likely to lapse in the short-term, even when controlling for self-reported urges at the test session. Attentional bias measures may tap an important component of dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between attentional bias and subjective craving in substance abuse.

Theoretical models of addiction suggest that attentional bias for substance-related cues should be associated with self-reported craving. The authors evaluated the strength of the association by performing a meta-analysis on 68 independent data sets from which correlation coefficients between subjective craving and attentional bias indices were derived. Additional stratified analyses were conducted to identify any variables that might moderate the association between craving and attentional bias. The primary meta-analysis indicated a significant, albeit weak (r = .19), association between attentional bias and craving. Stratified analyses revealed that the association was larger for illicit drug and caffeine craving than for alcohol and tobacco craving, larger for direct measures of attention (eye movement measures and event-related potential measures) than for indirect behavioral measures of attentional bias, and larger when craving strength was high than when it was low (all ps     

Attentional biases for threatening faces in children: Vigilant and avoidant processes.

The authors examined the processing of threat-related information in childhood anxiety with the emotional Stroop task and the dot probe task. In study 1, a nonclinical sample of 112 pupils (mean age = 9 years) performed pictorial versions of both tasks. For each task, an index indicating a bias for threat processing was computed. Positive correlations were found between these indices and anxiety. When compared with the original emotional Stroop index, the absolute value of the emotional Stroop index was a better predictor of anxiety. It was possible to replicate this result in study 2 with 80 pupils (mean age = 8.6 years). Results are discussed with regard to vigilance and avoidance as basic mechanisms underlying performance on the tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional task aptitude and performance anxiety.

Anxious responding (trait, state, and test anxiety) has a negative impact on overt performance. Researchers have used a unidimensional method of assessing anxiety and performance, although a more informative approach would involve a comprehensive assessment battery and multiple performance tasks. Incorporating this strategy, the authors measured the impact of anxiety on 4 attentional processing tasks. Results revealed that "types" of anxiety symptoms were differentially related to attentional task performance; test anxiety accounted for the most variance in predicting performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (D. Wechsler, 1997) letter-number sequencing and digit-span subtests, trait anxiety and fear of negative evaluation were more significant in predicting Stroop performance, and math anxiety accounted for the largest variance toward understanding Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (C. W. Lejuez, C. W. Kahler, & R. A. Brown, 2003) scores. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparative study of drug-related attentional bias: Evidence from Iran.

The Addiction-Stroop test has been widely used to investigate the attentional correlates of alcohol and drug abuse; however, the majority of the studies have been conducted with European and American participants. The present study tested whether Iranian drug abusers show higher attentional bias for drug-related stimuli. Participants included drug abusers (N = 53; 100% male), with a clinical history of opium and heroin abuse, who were in a Methadone Maintenance Therapy program. Only nonabusers (N = 71; 71, 54% male) with a history of having never abused of drugs or alcohol participated in the study as controls. All participants completed a computerized Persian version of classic and addiction Stroop tests. The results of a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that drug abusers had a higher attentional bias for drug-related stimuli than nonabusers, after the effects of age and education had been controlled. The results of repeating the MANCOVA (a) limited to men only, and (b) to men and women in the nonabuser sample showed that the observed difference in the drug-related attentional bias of drug-abusers and nonabusers was not an artifact of gender imbalance. Our findings support the idea that drug-related attentional bias is culture-free. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in acute tobacco withdrawal: Effects on subjective, cognitive, and physiological measures.

Gender differences in tobacco withdrawal are of considerable clinical importance, but research findings on this topic have been mixed. Methodological variation in samples sizes, experimental design, and measures across studies may explain the inconsistent results. The current study examined whether male (n = 101) and female (n = 102) smokers (≥15 cigarettes/day) differed in abstinence-induced changes on a battery of self-report measures (withdrawal, affect, craving), cognitive performance tasks (attention, psychomotor performance), and physiological responses (heart rate, blood pressure, brain electroencephalogram). Participants attended 2 counterbalanced laboratory sessions, 1 following 12 hr of abstinence and the other following ad libitum smoking. Results showed that women reported greater abstinence-induced increases in negative affect, withdrawal-related distress, and urge to smoke to relieve withdrawal distress. In contrast, both genders reported similar abstinence-induced changes in positive affect and urge to smoke for pleasure. Men and women exhibited generally similar abstinence-induced changes in physiological and cognitive performance measures. In addition, gender did not moderate the association between withdrawal symptoms and baseline measures of smoking behavior and dependence. Abstinence-induced changes in withdrawal distress mediated the effect of gender on latency until the 1st cigarette of the day at trend levels ( p     

Attentional bias for threat in older adults: Moderation of the positivity bias by trait anxiety and stimulus modality.

Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that emotion regulation goals motivate older adults to preferentially allocate attention to positive stimuli and away from negative stimuli. This study examined whether anxiety moderates the effect of the positivity bias on attention for threat. The authors employed the dot probe task to compare subliminal and supraliminal attention for threat in 103 young and 44 older adults. Regardless of anxiety, older but not young adults demonstrated a vigilant–avoidant response to angry faces. Anxiety influenced older adults’ attention such that anxious individuals demonstrated a vigilant–avoidant reaction to sad faces but an avoidant–vigilant reaction to negative words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Corrugator muscle responses are associated with individual differences in positivity-negativity bias.

Corrugator supercilii muscle activity is considered an objective measure of valence because it increases in response to negatively valenced facial expressions (angry) and decreases to positive expressions (happy). The authors sought to determine if corrugator activity could be used as an objective measure of positivity-negativity bias. The authors recorded corrugator responses as participants rated angry, happy, and surprised faces as “positive” or “negative.” The critical measure of bias was the percentage of positive versus negative ratings assigned to surprised faces by each participant. Reaction times for surprise expressions were longer than for happy and angry expressions, consistent with their ambiguous valence. Participants who tended to rate surprised faces as negative showed increased corrugator activity to surprised faces, whereas those who tended to rate surprise as positive showed decreased activity. Critically, corrugator responses reflected the participants’ bias (i.e., their tendency to rate surprise as positive or negative). These data show that surprised faces constitute a useful tool for assessing individual differences in positivity-negativity bias, and that corrugator activity can objectively reflect this bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias to threat: A perceptual accuracy approach.

To investigate attentional bias to threatening information, the authors propose a new version of the spatial cueing paradigm in which the focus is on perceptual accuracy instead of response speed. In two experiments, healthy volunteers made unspeeded discriminations between three visual targets presented left or right. Each target was preceded by a visual cue (colored rectangle) at either the same (valid) or opposite (invalid) location. By means of differential classical conditioning with aversive white noise, a threat cue and a control cue were created. Analyses of error rates showed that cueing effects (lower proportion of errors in valid trials relative to invalid trials) were more pronounced in threat trials than in neutral trials. This threat-related bias was particularly because of threat cues reducing accuracy in invalid trials, indicating difficulty disengaging attention from threatening information. Engagement of attention was not affected by threat, as threat cues did not facilitate the processing of targets in valid trials. The findings are discussed in light of the strengths and limitations of spatial cueing tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning-induced attentional bias for face stimuli measured with the emotional Stroop task.

People with anxiety disorder display attentional bias toward threat-related objects. Using classical fear conditioning, the authors investigated the possible source of such bias in normal participants. Following differential fear conditioning in which an angry face of either male or female (conditioned stimulus: CS+) was paired with mild electric fingershock (unconditioned stimulus: US) but the angry face of the other gender and all other facial expressions unpaired (CS-), an emotional Stroop task was administered. In the Stroop task, participants were required to identify the color of the facial stimuli (red, green, blue, or yellow). Response latency was significantly longer for the CS+ angry face than the other unpaired facial stimuli (CS-). Furthermore, this acquired attentional bias was positively correlated with the level of trait-anxiety measured before the conditioning and the degree of self-reported aversiveness of the US. Our results demonstrated that attentional bias could be induced in normal individuals through a simple associative learning procedure, and the acquisition is modulated by the level of trait anxiety and the level of perceived fear of the aversive US. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias in drug dependence: Vigilance for cigarette-related cues in smokers.

Two experiments investigated attentional biases for smoking-related cues in smokers and nonsmokers, using the visual probe task. In Experiment 1, when pictures were displayed for 500 ms, smokers who had made repeated quit attempts showed an attentional bias for smoking-related scenes. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and revealed that when pictures were presented for 2,000 ms, the smoker group as a whole showed vigilance for smoking-related cues, but nonsmokers did not. The findings from the 500-ms exposure condition suggest that initial orienting of attention to smoking cues was associated with repeated unsuccessful attempts at abstinence in smokers. Results are discussed with reference to incentive-sensitization theories of addiction and to component processes of selective attention, such as initial orienting versus maintenance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking cues in a virtual world provoke craving in cigarette smokers.

Twenty smoking-deprived cigarette smokers participated in a study to test the ability of smoking cues within a virtual world to provoke self-reported craving to smoke. Participants were exposed to 2 virtual-reality simulations displayed on a computer monitor: a control environment not containing any intentional smoking stimuli and a cue-exposure environment containing smoking stimuli. At various points, participants rated their urge to smoke on a scale of 0-100. Results indicated that baseline urge ratings were equivalent in both conditions, but the maximum increase in urge ratings was significantly higher in the cue-exposure environment than in the control environment. This is comparable to what in vivo studies have reported, but with the advantage of simulating more naturalistic and complex settings in a controlled environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional capture with rapidly changing attentional control settings.

The classic theory of spatial attention hypothesized 2 modes, voluntary and involuntary. Folk, Remington, and Johnston (1992) reported that even involuntary attention capture by stimuli requires a match between stimulus properties and what the observer is looking for. This surprising conclusion has been confirmed by many subsequent studies. In these studies, however, the observer typically looks for the same property throughout an entire session. Real-world behavior, in contrast, often requires frequent shifts in attentional set. The present study examined whether such shifts weaken attentional settings, allowing task-irrelevant objects to capture attention. Surprisingly, fluctuating control settings did not increase vulnerability to capture by salient stimuli (color singletons and abrupt onsets). We conclude that the attention control system is remarkably flexible, able to rapidly and fully adopt new settings and abandon old settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proximal versus distal cues to smoke: The effects of environments on smokers' cue-reactivity.

Smokers are highly reactive to smoking-related cues that are directly linked, or most proximal, to actual smoking behavior (e.g., lit cigarettes). However, over the course of smoking, proximal cues may not be the only stimuli to become strongly associated with smoking. Distal cues, such as the environments in which smoking occurs (e.g., bar) might also gain associative properties and come to evoke robust reactivity from smokers. To test this, a pilot study was first conducted to develop standard pictorial stimuli of smoking and nonsmoking environments, all of which were completely devoid of proximal smoking cues. A comparison set of smoking and nonsmoking proximal cues was then created. Using the 12 total pictorial cues developed, 62 adult smokers participated in a cue-reactivity study during which they viewed and rated pictorial smoking and nonsmoking environment and proximal cues. Results demonstrate that, similar to proximal cues, environments associated with smoking can alone function as stimuli capable of evoking strong subjective reactivity from smokers. This work supports a broader conceptualization of drug-related cues in cue-based research and treatment development that includes proximal and distal cues as distinct categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)