A systematic review of event‐related potentials as outcome measures of attention bias modification

Abstract

| BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE 1.1 | Attention bias and attention bias modification Attention bias modification (ABM) was introduced nearly two decades ago as a method of modifying (i.e., increasing or decreasing) attentional biases or preferences (MacLeod et al., 2002;Mathews & MacLeod, 2002). Attentional bias arises due to the limited processing capacity of the brain. Humans are unable to process all sensory information equally and accordingly must selectively prioritize a subset of sensory inputs (Desimone & Duncan, 1995). Emotional salience-and in particular threat-relevance-is one way in which sensory information is prioritized (Ohman et al., 2001;Vuilleumier, 2005). An attentional bias to threat, therefore, refers to the preferential allocation of attentional resources to threatening stimuli relative to nonthreatening stimuli. Attention bias can be directly measured with psychophysiological measures such as event-related potentials (ERPs) or indirectly through reaction time (RT) measures . This review focuses on the usage of ERPs as outcome measures of ABM training, both as measures of attentional bias as well as measures of more distant cognitive processes influenced by ABM.

The Effect of Attention on Body Size Adaptation and Body Dissatisfaction

“…Therefore, the attention training may have worked; however, the dot probe task was not reliable enough to detect changes in attentional bias. This suggestion is supported by recent research using event-related potentials (ERPs), which are a more reliable measure of attentional bias than the dot probe task [68] and are more consistently modulated by attention training dot probe tasks [69]. However, we think this interpretation is less likely, given that our experiments produced five null results out of six for ΔAB and Bayesian analyses demonstrated moderate support for each of the five null hypotheses.…”

Mental Fatigue-Associated Decrease in Table Tennis Performance: Is There an Electrophysiological Signature?

“…All expected ERPs were visually confirmed. N1 was measured because of its proven susceptibility to MF, association with early visual processing originating from the visual cortex and involvement in spatial attention [ 31 , 34 , 37 ]. Both P2 and N2 have also been shown to be impacted by MF, and are also believed to originate from the ACC, an area that has been assumed to be the physiological basis of the effect of MF on human performance [ 25 , 26 , 31 , 32 , 34 ].…”

“…N1 was measured because of its proven susceptibility to MF, association with early visual processing originating from the visual cortex and involvement in spatial attention [ 31 , 34 , 37 ]. Both P2 and N2 have also been shown to be impacted by MF, and are also believed to originate from the ACC, an area that has been assumed to be the physiological basis of the effect of MF on human performance [ 25 , 26 , 31 , 32 , 34 ]. The P2 is a visual sensory ERP which has been proposed to represent salience detection, the recall of task rules, and allocation of attentional resources [ 30 , 31 , 38 ].…”

“…Both P2 and N2 have also been shown to be impacted by MF, and are also believed to originate from the ACC, an area that has been assumed to be the physiological basis of the effect of MF on human performance [ 25 , 26 , 31 , 32 , 34 ]. The P2 is a visual sensory ERP which has been proposed to represent salience detection, the recall of task rules, and allocation of attentional resources [ 30 , 31 , 38 ]. N2 is an anteriorly located ERP and represents processes of cognitive control, such as conflict monitoring, response inhibition, and error monitoring [ 32 , 37 ].…”

“…The study of Van Cutsem et al [ 30 ], detailing the influence of a caffeine-maltodextrine mouth rinse on MF effects, investigated the effect of ERPs on MF and found a decreased amplitude of the P2 component. This component is theorized to be a measure of, among other things, the allocation of attentional resources, a mechanism frequently associated with MF effects [ 30 , 31 ]. Other ERPs of interest in MF research include P3b [ 26 ], N2 [ 32 , 33 ] and N1 [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], with all of them connected to specific mechanisms of MF.…”