Attentional bias modification facilitates attentional control mechanisms: evidence from eye tracking

Nigel T M Chen; Patrick J F Clarke; Tamara L Watson; Colin MacLeod; Adam J Guastella

doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.12.002

Attentional bias modification facilitates attentional control mechanisms: evidence from eye tracking

Biol Psychol. 2015 Jan:104:139-46. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.12.002. Epub 2014 Dec 16.

Authors

Nigel T M Chen¹, Patrick J F Clarke², Tamara L Watson³, Colin MacLeod⁴, Adam J Guastella⁵

Affiliations

¹ Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, 100 Mallett Street, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia; Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. Electronic address: nigel.chen@uwa.edu.au.
² Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
³ School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
⁴ Centre for the Advancement of Research on Emotion, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; School of Psychology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Strada Mihail Kogãlniceanu 1,Cluj-Napoca 400084, Romania.
⁵ Brain & Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, 100 Mallett Street, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia.

PMID: 25527400
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.12.002

Abstract

Social anxiety is thought to be maintained by biased attentional processing towards threatening information. Research has further shown that the experimental attenuation of this bias, through the implementation of attentional bias modification (ABM), may serve to reduce social anxiety vulnerability. However, the mechanisms underlying ABM remain unclear. The present study examined whether inhibitory attentional control was associated with ABM. A non-clinical sample of participants was randomly assigned to receive either ABM or a placebo task. To assess pre-post changes in attentional control, participants were additionally administered an emotional antisaccade task. ABM participants exhibited a subsequent shift in attentional bias away from threat as expected. ABM participants further showed a subsequent decrease in antisaccade cost, indicating a general facilitation of inhibitory attentional control. Mediational analysis revealed that the shift in attentional bias following ABM was independent to the change in attentional control. The findings suggest that the mechanisms of ABM are multifaceted.

Keywords: Antisaccade; Attentional bias modification; Attentional control; Eye movement; Social anxiety.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention / physiology*
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / methods*
Emotions / physiology*
Eye Movements / physiology*
Female
Humans
Male
Thinking / physiology
Young Adult