Background and objectives: Instrumentality plays a key role in guiding attention, such that stimuli associated with achieving current goals of an individual prioritize attention. However, in depression, attention is prioritized to negative stimuli even when they are not relevant to current goals. In the current study, we tested whether attention is prioritized to stimuli that are associated with avoidance of imminent negative consequences over negative affective stimuli.
Methods: Using an eye-tracking based attention engagement-disengagement task, we presented pairs of negative faces, and neutral faces associated with avoidance of punishment (white noise and lost money) to a group of dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals.
Results: First, we replicated previous evidence on difficulties to disengage attention from negative stimuli, when prompted to direct eye-gaze towards simple neutral stimuli, in dysphoric compared to non-dysphoric individuals. Further, we found that both dysphoric and non-dysphoric individuals were faster to disengage their attention from negative pictures when prompted to direct eye-gaze towards punishment avoidance-related neutral stimuli, versus towards simple neutral stimuli.
Limitations: Although we seek to clarify the attention processes underlying depression, the current study employed a sub-clinical sample in order to serve as proof-of-concept study.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that stimuli instrumental to the goal of avoiding negative consequences receive preference in the attention system over simple negative affective stimuli. Our findings suggest that manipulating the instrumentality of avoidance motivation can effectively modulate the attention bias for negative information in dysphoria, and also possibly in depression, akin to the modulation patterns in non-dysphoric individuals.
Keywords: Attention; Avoidance; Eye-tracking; Goals; Negative.
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