Visual working memory representations bias attention more when they are the target of an action plan

Attention has frequently been regarded as an emergent property of linking sensory representations to action plans. It has recently been proposed that similar mechanisms may operate within visual working memory (VWM), such that linking an object in VWM to an action plan strengthens its sensory memory representation, which then expresses as an attentional bias. Here we directly tested this hypothesis by comparing attentional biases induced by VWM representations which were the target of a future action, to those induced by VWM representations that were equally task-relevant, but not the direct target of action. We predicted that the first condition would result in a more prioritized memory state and hence stronger attentional biases. Specifically, participants memorized a geometric shape for a subsequent memory test. At test, in case of a match, participants either had to perform a grip movement on the matching object (action condition), or perform the same movement, but on an unrelated object (control condition). To assess any attentional biases, during the delay period between memorandum and test, participants performed a visual selection task in which either the target was surrounded by the memorized shape (congruent trials) or a distractor (incongruent trials). Eye movements were measured as a proxy for attentional priority. We found a significant interaction for saccade latencies between action condition and shape congruency, reflecting more pronounced VWM-based attentional biases in the action condition. Our results are consistent with the idea that action plans prioritize sensory representations in VWM.

Health anxiety and attentional control interact to predict uncertainty-related attentional biases

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Current theories of health anxiety and a growing body of empirical literature suggest that those high in health anxiety symptoms might find uncertainty itself threatening and demonstrate attentional biases for uncertainty-related information (ABU). Moreover, a dual processes model of attention would suggest that individual differences in attentional control might modify such a relationship. The present study was designed to explore this proposed health anxiety-ABU relationship and also to consider attentional control as a moderator of theoretical and clinical relevance.

METHODS

Undergraduate participants (N = 148) completed a self-report measure of health anxiety symptoms and two performance-based tasks to assess ABU and attentional control.

RESULTS

Hierarchical regression analyses showed a significant interaction between health anxiety and attention control in predicting attentional disengagement from, but not engagement with, uncertainty-related words. Specifically, results of the simple slopes analysis suggested that those with elevated health anxiety symptoms and better attentional control may use top-down attentional control processes to disengage their attention from distressing uncertainty-related stimuli faster than those with worse attentional control.

LIMITATIONS

The analogue sample is a study limitation.

CONCLUSIONS

Results provide new insights into the nature of attentional biases within health anxiety. Results are discussed in light of recent work on attentional control and avoidance-based psychopathology.

Attentional engagement and inhibitory control according to positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia: An emotional antisaccade task

Despite schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by a high psychopathological heterogeneity, the underlying psychological mechanisms that result in different clinical profiles are unclear. This study examined the cognitive processing of emotional faces (angry, happy, neutral, and sad) by means of assessing inhibitory control (antisaccade task) and attentional engagement (prosaccade task) with the eye-tracking paradigm. Firstly, two clinical SZ subgroups classified according to the predominance of positive (PSZ; n = 20) or negative symptoms (NSZ; n = 34) and a control group of 32 individuals were compared. Secondly, the association between prosaccade and antisaccade measurements and the severity of positive and negative symptoms were analyzed. The PSZ group showed slower antisaccades when angry faces were displayed, and higher positive symptoms were associated with slower prosaccade latencies to ones. Conversely, the NSZ group made overall slower prosaccades with an emotional advantage for angry faces, and higher negative symptoms were associated with faster antisaccade latencies to ones. Hence, whereas positive SZ profile is related to a lack of attentional engagement and an impaired inhibitory control to threatening information; negative SZ profile is linked to a lack of attentional engagement to faces, mainly with non-threat ones, and with an advantage to ignore distracting threatening stimuli. These findings support affective information-processing theories suggesting a hypersensitivity to threat for positive SZ profiles, and a desensitization to socio-emotional information for negative ones. Consequently, characterizing psychological mechanisms of SZ may allow improving current treatments to threat management when positive symptoms are predominant, or emotion sensitization when negative symptoms prevail.

Influence of acute stress on attentional bias toward threat: How a previous trauma exposure disrupts threat apprehension

While previous trauma exposure is known to be a risk factor for the development and maintenance of many psychological disorders, it remains unclear how it increases individual risk for prospective psychopathology in the aftermath of a new trauma exposure. The aim of this study was to investigate how a prior exposure to trauma affects attentional processing of threat before and after an acute stress task. Specifically, we assessed attentional biases to threat before and after a cold pressor task in 17 individuals who have been exposed to trauma (TE) compared to 18 individuals without trauma exposure (NTE). Behavioral results showed difficulties to disengage from threat in TE but not in the control group prior to stress induction, as well as a switch to an attentional bias toward threat after the cold pressor task in the TE group. For the ERPs, we highlighted (1) decreased N1 negativity in response to threatening stimuli after an acute stress in both groups, and (2) a parallel increase in P1 for such stimuli only in the TE group. Those results suggest a vulnerability presented by previously traumatized individuals when dealing with threats as well as an acute responsitity toward stress. Those results are interpreted in regards with the theorical models of stress and anxiety.

Cognitive attentional syndrome and metacognitive beliefs as potential treatment targets for metacognitive therapy in bipolar disorder

Most treatment guidelines emphasize the use of psychotropic drugs for both the acute and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). However, relying only on psychotropics without adjunctive psychosocial interventions may be insufficient in treating patients with BD. Given its unique view in the explanation of psychopathological states, metacognitive therapy (MCT) might be helpful for BD. Metacognitive theory posits that psychopathology is a result of the cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS) and that it is influenced and maintained by dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, perseverative thinking, attentional biases, and dysfunctional coping strategies. In this review, literature data regarding these areas in BD are examined. Studies suggest that perseverative thinking might be among the emotion regulation strategies endorsed in individuals with BD. Regarding attentional biases, literature data show that state-dependent, mood-changing attentional biases and a ruminative self-focused attention are present. Studies also suggest that cognitive self-consciousness is higher in BD compared to controls. It is seen that maladaptive coping strategies are frequently reported in BD, and that these strategies are associated with depression severity, negative affect and relapse risk. Studies focusing on dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs in BD reported that individuals with BD had higher scores for negative metacognitive beliefs, self-consciousness, need to control thoughts, and a lack of cognitive confidence. Also, dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs were associated with depressive symptomatology. These findings suggest that the components of CAS and dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs are evident in BD. For a subgroup of patients with BD who fail to respond to evidence-based psychopharmacological and adjunctive psychotherapeutic interventions, MCT might be an alternative way to consider as a treatment option. In conclusion, taken the available data together, we propose a sequential treatment protocol for BD, mainly based on the MCT treatment plan of depressive disorders.

Look at me: The relation between empathy and fixation on the emotional eye-region in low vs. high social anxiety

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Fixation on another person's eye-region may be an effective measure of one's level of empathy. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that this type of empathy measure may not be appropriate for individuals with high levels of social anxiety, since avoidance or hypervigilance attentional biases towards emotional faces are frequent in this condition.

METHODS

Using eye-tracking, we measured fixation time on the eye-region of another person in participants with low vs. high social anxiety, and we correlated this measure with empathy levels. In a second eye-tracking task, the two groups of participants were presented with pairs of emotional-neutral faces to determine the presence of attentional biases.

RESULTS

While participants with low social anxiety showed an association between empathy and fixation time on the other person's eyes, the association was null for participants with high social anxiety. Attentional biases towards emotional faces were absent in high social anxiety, but social anxiety correlated negatively with fixation on the eye region.

LIMITATIONS

Our sample was made up of Psychology undergraduates, and this may have had an influence on gaze behavior towards the eye region.

CONCLUSION

Fixation on the eye region is not a valid measure of empathy in high social anxiety, possibly due to systematic eye-region avoidance.

Sustained Attention and Individual Differences in Adolescents' Mood and Physiological Reactivity to Stress

Biased attention to sad faces is associated with depression in adults and is hypothesized to increase depression risk specifically in the presence, but not absence, of stress by modulating stress reactivity. However, few studies have tested this hypothesis, and no studies have examined the relation between attentional biases and stress reactivity during adolescence, despite evidence that this developmental window is marked by changes in depression risk, stress, and the function of attention. Seeking to address these limitations, the current study examined the impact of adolescents' sustained attention to facial displays of emotion on individual differences in both mood reactivity to real-world stress and physiological (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) reactivity to a laboratory-based stressor. Consistent with vulnerability-stress models of attention, greater sustained attention to sad faces was associated with greater depressive reactions to real-world stress. In addition, there was preliminary evidence from exploratory analyses that the impact of sustained attention on mood and/or physiological reactivity may be moderated by adolescents' age and sex such that relations are stronger for older adolescents and girls. The results of this study contribute to the current body of research on the role of attention in stress reactivity and depression risk and highlight the importance of considering age differences when examining these relations.

Attentional biases in dysphoria when happy and sad faces are simultaneously presented

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Difficulties to engage attention to positive stimuli and to disengage attention from negative stimuli are typically found in depression. Yet, most of the evidence supporting these attentional biases comes from experimental paradigms in which emotional information (e.g., happy or sad faces) is simultaneously presented with neutral information. Few studies have explored attentional biases when emotional stimuli of different valence are presented simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to assess visual scan patterns of non-dysphoric and dysphoric participants when emotional information is presented simultaneously.

METHOD

Using an eye-tracker methodology, the gradient relation between attentional biases and depression scores as well as differences between groups in their attentional performance were assessed in non-dysphoric participants (N = 84) and dysphoric participants (N = 58). Three different pairs of faces were used: happy-neutral, neutral-sad, and happy-sad.

RESULTS

First, we found that simultaneous presentation of emotional information (i.e., happy vs. negative faces) reduces the magnitude of attentional biases towards positive information. Second, we also found a significant negative relation between attentional biases towards positive information and depression scores. Finally, compared to non-dysphoric participants, dysphoric individuals marginally spent less time attending positive information in both happy-neutral and happy-sad trials.

LIMITATIONS

The cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to make inferences about causality. Further, only one type of simultaneous emotional faces presentation (i.e., happy-sad) was used.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support the need for further research on the processing of competing emotional stimuli in depression.

Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework

When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.

Communication deficits and avoidance of angry faces in children with autism spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

Understanding how emotional faces are processed is important to help characterize the social deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

AIMS

We examined: (i) whether attention is modulated by emotional facial expression; (ii) the time course of the attentional preferences (short vs. long stimulus presentation rates); and (iii) the association between attentional biases and autistic symptomatology.

METHOD AND PROCEDURES

We applied a dot-probe experiment with emotional faces (happy, sad, and angry). The sample was composed of ASD children without additional language and/or intellectual impairments (n=29) and age-matched Typically Developing (TD) children (n=29).

OUTCOMES AND RESULTS

When compared to the TD group, the ASD group showed an attentional bias away from angry faces at long presentation rates. No differences between groups were found for happy or sad faces. Furthermore, correlational analyses showed that the higher avoidance of angry faces, the greater are the social communication difficulties of ASD children. The attentional bias away from angry faces may be an underlying mechanism of social dysfunction in ASD. We discuss the implications of these findings for current theories of emotional processing in ASD.

Performance in a blocked versus randomized emotional Stroop task in an aged, early traumatized group with and without posttraumatic stress symptoms

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Attentional biases (AB) for trauma-related stimuli have been examined in many studies assessing different trauma samples. In emotional Stroop tasks (EST), blocked and single-trial formats are used almost interchangeably in clinical research. There is reason to believe that different designs yield different results and assess different processes, which, however, has been hardly examined in studies. Furthermore, there is a dearth of information about AB in older trauma survivors with posttraumatic stress symptoms.

METHODS

Older adults with (n = 20) and without PTSD symptoms (n = 26) as well as non-traumatized controls (n = 21) completed an EST, in which words were presented both blocked and randomized.

RESULTS

Analyses revealed that individuals with PTSD symptoms showed AB for trauma- and depression-related words; however, mode of administration did not significantly influence reaction times.

LIMITATIONS

The emotional Stroop task cannot disentangle the underlying cognitive mechanism (i.e., facilitation, interference, avoidance).

CONCLUSIONS

PTSD symptoms in older trauma survivors are associated with AB. Overall, participants with PTSD symptoms did not show greater impairment of cognitive control in comparison to both control groups. Results also illustrate that methodological differences between task versions need to be considered more thoroughly.

Attentional bias modification in depression through gaze contingencies and regulatory control using a new eye-tracking intervention paradigm: study protocol for a placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Attentional biases, namely difficulties both to disengage attention from negative information and to maintain it on positive information, play an important role in the onset and maintenance of the disorder. Recently, researchers have developed specific attentional bias modification (ABM) techniques aimed to modify these maladaptive attentional patterns. However, the application of current ABM procedures has yielded, so far, scarce results in depression due, in part, to some methodological shortcomings. The aim of our protocol is the application of a new ABM technique, based on eye-tracker technology, designed to objectively train the specific attentional components involved in depression and, eventually, to reduce depressive symptoms.

METHODS

Based on sample size calculations, 32 dysphoric (BDI ≥13) participants will be allocated to either an active attentional bias training group or a yoked-control group. Attentional training will be individually administered on two sessions in two consecutive days at the lab. In the training task series of pairs of faces (i.e. neutral vs. sad; neutral vs. happy; happy vs. sad) will be displayed. Participants in the training group will be asked to localize as quickly as possible the most positive face of the pair (e.g., the neutral face in neutral vs. sad trials) and maintain their gaze on it for 750 ms or 1500 ms, in two different blocks, to advance to the next trial. Participants' maintenance of gaze will be measured by an eye-tracking apparatus. Participants in the yoked-control group will be exposed to the same stimuli and the same average amount of time than the experimental participants but without any instruction to maintain their gaze or any feedback on their performance. Pre and post training measures will be obtained to assess cognitive and emotional changes after the training.

DISCUSSION

The findings from this research will provide a proof-of-principle of the efficacy of eye-tracking paradigms to modify attentional biases and, consequently, to improve depressed mood. If the findings are positive, this new training approach may result in the improvement of cognitive bias modification procedures in depression.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This trial was retrospectively registered on July 28, 2016 with the ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02847793 registration number and the title 'Attentional Bias Modification Through Eye-tracker Methodology (ABMET)'.

An attentional bias for thin bodies and its relation to body dissatisfaction

Research suggests that humans have an attentional bias for the rapid detection of emotionally valenced stimuli, and that such a bias might be shaped by clinical psychological states. The current research extends this work to examine the relation between body dissatisfaction and an attentional bias for thin/idealized body shapes. Across two experiments, undergraduates completed a gender-consistent body dissatisfaction measure, and a dot-probe paradigm to measure attentional biases for thin versus heavy bodies. Results indicated that men (n=21) and women (n=18) show an attentional bias for bodies that correspond to their own gender (Experiment 1), and that high body dissatisfaction among men (n=69) and women (n=89) predicts an attentional bias for thin same-gender bodies after controlling for body mass index (BMI) (Experiment 2). This research provides a new direction for studying the attentional and cognitive underpinnings of the relation between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.

Attentional biases for food cues in overweight and individuals with obesity: a systematic review of the literature

Obesity rates have increased dramatically in recent decades, and it has proven difficult to treat. An attentional bias towards food cues may be implicated in the aetiology of obesity and influence cravings and food consumption. This review systematically investigated whether attentional biases to food cues exist in overweight/obese compared with healthy weight individuals. Electronic database were searched for relevant papers from inception to October 2014. Only studies reporting food-related attentional bias between either overweight (body mass index [BMI] 25.0-29.9 kg m(-2)) or obese (BMI ≥ 30) participants and healthy weight participants (BMI 18.5-24.9) were included. The findings of 19 studies were reported in this review. Results of the literature are suggestive of differences in attentional bias, with all but four studies supporting the notion of enhanced reactivity to food stimuli in overweight individuals and individuals with obesity. This support for attentional bias was observed primarily in studies that employed psychophysiological techniques (i.e. electroencephalogram, eye-tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging). Despite the heterogeneous methodology within the featured studies, all measures of attentional bias demonstrated altered cue-reactivity in individuals with obesity. Considering the theorized implications of attentional biases on obesity pathology, researchers are encouraged to replicate flagship studies to strengthen these inferences.

Unique associations between young adult men's emotional functioning and their body dissatisfaction and disordered eating

Research on emotional functioning, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating in males is predominated by studies of negative affect and emotion regulation. Other aspects of emotional functioning, namely emotion recognition and attentional biases toward emotional stimuli, have received little empirical attention. The present study investigated the unique associations between different aspects of men's emotional functioning and their disordered eating attitudes, muscularity dissatisfaction, and body fat dissatisfaction. Results from 132 male undergraduates showed that muscularity dissatisfaction was uniquely associated with both emotion regulation difficulties and an attentional bias toward rejecting faces. Body fat dissatisfaction was not uniquely associated with any aspect of emotional functioning. Disordered eating was uniquely associated with emotion regulation difficulties. Collectively, the results indicate differences in the patterns of associations between men's emotional functioning and their body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

Spatial attention: differential shifts in pseudoneglect direction with time-on-task and initial bias support the idea of observer subtypes

Asymmetry in human spatial attention has long been documented. In the general population the majority of individuals tend to misbisect horizontal lines to the left of veridical centre. Nonetheless in virtually all previously reported studies on healthy participants, there have been subsets of people displaying rightward biases. In this study, we report differential time-on task effects depending on participants' initial pseudoneglect bias: participants with an initial left bias in a landmark task (in which they had to judge whether a transection mark appeared closer to the right or left end of a line) showed a significant rightward shift over the course of the experimental session, whereas participants with an initial right bias shifted leftwards. We argue that these differences in initial biases as well as the differential shifts with time-on task reflect genuine observer subtypes displaying diverging behavioural patterns. These observer subtypes could be driven by differences in brain organisation and/or lateralisation such as varying anatomical pathway asymmetries (Thiebaut de Schotten et al., 2011).