When danger lurks in the background: Attentional capture by animal fear-relevant distractors is specific and selectively enhanced by animal fear.

Across 2 experiments, a new experimental procedure was used to investigate attentional capture by animal fear-relevant stimuli. In Experiment 1 (N = 34), unselected participants were slower to detect a neutral target animal in the presence of a spider than a cockroach distractor and in the presence of a snake than a large lizard distractor. This result confirms that phylogenetically fear-relevant animals capture attention specifically and to a larger extent than do non-fear-relevant animals. In Experiment 2 (N = 86), detection of a neutral target animal was slowed more in the presence of a feared fear-relevant distractor (e.g., a snake for snake-fearful participants) than in presence of a not-feared fear-relevant distractor (e.g., a spider for snake-fearful participants). These results indicate preferential attentional capture that is specific to phylogenetically fear-relevant stimuli and is selectively enhanced in individuals who fear these animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

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 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)     

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)     

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)     

When time stands still: Fear-specific modulation of temporal bias due to threat.

The current study was designed to test the fear-specific nature of temporal bias due to threat. A temporal bisection procedure was used in which participants (N = 46) were initially trained to recognize short (400 ms) and long (1,600 ms) standard durations. In the test phase, participants were asked to judge whether the duration of computer-generated faces drawn to appear threatening, fearful, and neutral, was closer to either the short or long duration they had learnt earlier. Past research was replicated—the durations of the arousing facial expressions were overestimated relative to a low arousal (neutral) expression. Overestimation for threat was positively correlated with individual differences in fearfulness, trait anxiety, and distress. Multiple regression analyses were carried out to test the hypothesis was that individual differences in anxiety and fearfulness but not other traits would uniquely predict temporal overestimation due to threat. The results showed that fearfulness but not other traits (trait anxiety, anger, distress, activity, and sociability) was a unique and strong (partial r = .47) predictor of increased overestimation for both threatening and fearful expressions. The findings support the hypothesis that threat-related expressions activate a fear-specific system (?hman & Mineka, 2001) or fear representations (Beck & Clark, 1997) in fearful individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional bias is associated with incentive-related physiological and subjective measures.

Drug cue reactivity is theoretically and clinically important. The modified Stroop task has been widely used to assess attention capture by drug cues (attentional bias). Attentional bias to drug cues is assumed to reflect the incentive value of those cues, but this has not been directly tested. The authors examined whether the smoking Stroop effect was associated with facial electromyography (EMG) assessed in real time. Heart-rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) responses were also assessed. Smokers (n = 79) attended up to four experimental sessions. Presession Abstinence state and within-session Smoking were manipulated across sessions. Over all assessments, participants exhibited a robust smoking Stroop effect. Using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) analyses, the smoking Stroop effect was positively associated with zygomaticus major activity but not with corrugator supercilii activity, HR, or SC. The smoking Stroop effect was also positively associated with self-reported positive outcome expectancies from smoking and with craving. In sum, attentional bias was more strongly associated with appetitive responses (zygomaticus major activity, positive outcome expectancies) than with withdrawal responses (e.g., corrugator supercilii activity) or measures of physiological arousal (e.g., HR, SC). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reduction of anxiety vulnerability through the modification of attentional bias: A real-world study using a home-based cognitive bias modification procedure.

Recent laboratory work suggests that biased attentional responding to negative information causally impacts anxiety reactivity to a contrived laboratory stressor. However, it remains unknown whether such attentional bias contributes to real-world anxiety vulnerability. In the present study, the authors addressed this issue by experimentally inducing biased attentional response to emotionally negative stimuli, using a home-based attentional training program and then examining the influence of this attentional manipulation on trait anxiety scores and on state anxiety responses to a subsequent stressful life event. The attentional bias modification procedure was effective in inducing attentional avoidance of negative information. Furthermore, this attentional manipulation served to reduce trait anxiety scores and to attenuate state anxiety responses to the subsequent naturalistic stressor. These findings support the hypotheses that biased attentional responding to emotionally negative information contributes causally to real-world anxiety vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observational fear conditioning in the acquisition and extinction of attentional bias for threat: An experimental evaluation.

Anxious persons show automatic and strategic attentional biases for threatening information. Yet, the mechanisms and processes that underlie such biases remain unclear. The central aim of the present study was to elucidate the relation between observational threat learning and the acquisition and extinction of biased threat processing by integrating emotional Stroop color naming tasks within an observational differential fear conditioning procedure. Forty-three healthy female participants underwent several consecutive observational fear conditioning phases. During acquisition, participants watched a confederate displaying mock panic attacks (UCS) paired with a verbal stimulus (CS+), but not with a second nonreinforced verbal stimulus (CS-). As expected, participants showed greater magnitude electrodermal and verbal-evaluative (e.g., distress, fear) conditioned responses to the CS+ over the CS- word. Participants also demonstrated slower color-naming latencies to CS+ compared to the CS- word following acquisition and showed attenuation of this preferential processing bias for threat following extinction. Findings are discussed broadly in the context of the interplay between fear learning and processing biases for threat as observed in persons suffering from anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

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)     

Attentional Biases to Internal and External Sources of Potential Threat in Social Anxiety.

D. M. Clark and A. Wells (1995) proposed that a shift of attention inward toward interoceptive information is a central feature of social phobia. However, few studies have examined attentional biases toward internal physiological cues in social phobia. The current experiment assessed whether socially anxious individuals exhibit an attentional bias (a) toward cues for an internal source of potential threat (heart-rate information), (b) toward cues for an external source of potential threat (threatening faces) or (c) both. Ninety-one participants who were selected to form extreme groups based on a social anxiety screening measure performed a dot-probe task to assess location of attention. Results showed that socially anxious participants exhibited an attentional bias toward cues of internal, but not external, sources of potential threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reaction-time paradigm to measure reward-oriented bias in rats.

The authors devised a nose-poke task with asymmetric position-reward mapping to distinguish between effects of bias and sensitivity in reaction times of rats. In all trials, the rats had to poke their noses into the hole to the left or to the right of center, corresponding to the side at which 4 lights were illuminated, while ignoring distracters on the other side. Reaction times were faster for large-reward trials than for small-reward trials. In large-reward trials, there was no influence of the number of distracters, whereas in small-reward trials, distracters produced an increase in reaction time. Analysis of reaction-time distributions according to a linear model of decision making suggests that most of the systematic variability was due to a reward-oriented bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attentional Bias and Drinking to Cope With Social Anxiety.

This study investigated the sensitivity of the emotional Stroop test for identifying individuals who reported drinking to cope with social fears. Community volunteers completed a modified Stroop task during which social threat, alcohol-related, and control words were presented. High scores on drinking-to-cope measures were hypothesized to be associated with longer response latencies to both social threat and alcohol-related words. Consistent with previous studies, alcohol dependence was correlated with latencies for alcohol-related words, and level of social anxiety was correlated with response latency to social threat words. As expected, drinking-to-cope measures predicted response latency to alcohol-related and social threat words. These results suggest that the emotional Stroop test is useful in studying the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood-induced shifts in attentional bias to emotional information predict ill- and well-being.

Previous research has suggested that biased attention toward emotional (typically threatening) stimuli contributes to ill-being (e.g., high levels of anxiety), but its contribution to well-being is less clear. The researchers assessed naturalistic shifts in attentional bias toward threatening and pleasant schematic face cues in response to five induced mood states in college students. They also assessed state anxiety and satisfaction with life concurrently and 3 weeks later. Controlling for concurrent anxiety, a fear-induced shift in attention to threatening cues was associated with increased levels of later anxiety. Controlling for concurrent life satisfaction, a happiness-induced shift in attention to emotional cues (both threatening and pleasant) was associated with increased levels of later life satisfaction. These results suggest that mood-induced changes in deployment of attention to emotional information may accumulate in ways that impact psychological functioning, yet these effects depend on mood state and the emotional cues afforded by the context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

What's in a name? Attachment-related attentional bias.

Participants completed a dot probe task that presented pairs of first names: the participant's own name and a neutral name (Experiments 1-4), the name of their attachment figure and a neutral name (Experiments 1-4), or the name of a known person and a neutral name (Experiments 2-4). A significant attentional bias effect was found for the attachment name in attachment-related contexts, whether they were threatening or positive. The results of Experiments 2 and 4 showed that the attentional bias effects for the attachment name were not driven by familiarity effects and could not be interpreted in terms of salience. Attachment anxiety was associated with hypervigilance toward the attachment name in threatening and positive attachment contexts. Attachment avoidance was unrelated to any attentional bias effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study.

This meta-analysis of 172 studies (N = 2,263 anxious,N = 1,768 nonanxious) examined the boundary conditions of threat-related attentional biases in anxiety. Overall, the results show that the bias is reliably demonstrated with different experimental paradigms and under a variety of experimental conditions, but that it is only an effect size of d = 0.45. Although processes requiring conscious perception of threat contribute to the bias, a significant bias is also observed with stimuli outside awareness. The bias is of comparable magnitude across different types of anxious populations (individuals with different clinical disorders, high-anxious nonclinical individuals, anxious children and adults) and is not observed in nonanxious individuals. Empirical and clinical implications as well as future directions for research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)