Acute Psychological Stress Disrupts Attentional Bias to Threat-Related Stimuli

Jiang, Caihong; Buchanan, Tony W.; Yao, Zhuxi; Zhang, Kan; Wu, Jianhui; Zhang, Liang

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14138-w

“…A study with combined SNS and HPA axis activation revealed an attentional bias toward threat-related stimuli in the placebo group, but not after yohimbine or hydrocortisone administration, nor its combination (Vasa et al, 2009). Similar results have been shown with psychosocial stress induction (Jiang et al, 2017). However, another study reported an attentional bias towards negative emotional stimuli after psychosocial stress (Roelofs et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Effects of hydrocortisone and yohimbine on selective attention to emotional cues

Metz

¹

,

Chae

²

,

Deuter

³

et al. 2021

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Introduction: Facial expressions contain important affective information, and selective attention to facial expression provides an advantage in the face of loss, stress and danger. In addition, the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis mediate the organism’s response to loss and danger. Here, we aimed at investigating the influence of sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activation on selective attention to affective facial stimuli. Methods and materials: One hundred-and-four healthy men between 18–35 years old (mean (standard deviation) age: 24.1 (3.5) years) participated in the study. We used a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Participants received either: (a) yohimbine, (b) hydrocortisone, (c) yohimbine and hydrocortisone or (d) placebo only and participated in a dot-probe task with sad, happy and neutral faces. We collected salivary samples to measure cortisol and alpha amylase activity in addition to measurements of blood pressure and heart rate. Salivary cortisol served as correlate of hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activation and salivary alpha amylase activity, blood pressure and heart rate as correlates of sympathetic nervous system activation. Measurements were carried out before and after drug administration. Results: We did not find a main effect or interaction effect of hydrocortisone or yohimbine administration on selective attention to happy faces. However, we found an interaction of yohimbine and hydrocortisone on selective attention to sad faces. Post-hoc t-test revealed an attentional bias away from sad stimuli and towards neutral faces in the hydrocortisone-only group. Discussion: Only hydrocortisone administration led to an attentional bias away from sad faces. Future studies should investigate these effects in major depression disorder, as this disorder is characterised by glucocorticoid resistance and increased processing of sad stimuli.

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“…Thus, the positions of the electrodes may have deviated slightly, introducing additional noise into the predictive models. In addition, a systematic evaluation and control of the participant's general cognitive state should have been conducted, as it could substantially affect the emotional ERP responses (Jiang et al, 2017). Further studies are necessary to elucidate these issues, especially focusing on the participants with low test-retest reliabilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Personality Predictions From a Brief EEG Recording

Li

¹

,

Wu

²

,

Hu

³

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Affective Comput.

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The assessment of personality is crucial not only for scientific inquiries but also for real-world applications such as personnel selection. However, most existing ways to quantify personality traits rely on self-reported scales, which are susceptible to biases such as self-presentational concerns. In this study, we propose and evaluate a novel implicit measure of personality that uses machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict an individual's levels in the Big Five personality traits from 5 minutes of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. Results from a large test sample of 196 volunteers indicated that the personality scores derived from the proposed measure converged significantly with a commonly used questionnaire, predicted behavioral indices and psychological adjustment in a manner similar to self-reported scores, and were relatively stable across time. These evaluations suggest that the proposed measure can serve as a viable alternative to conventional personality questionnaires in practice.

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“…Thus, the positions of the electrodes may have deviated slightly, introducing 306 additional noise into the predictive models. In addition, a systematic evaluation and 307 control of the participant's general cognitive state should have been conducted, as it 308 could substantially affect the emotional ERP responses (Jiang et al, 2017). Further 309 studies are necessary to elucidate these issues, especially focusing on the participants 310 with low test-retest reliabilities.…”

Section: Performances 276mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Personality Predictions from a Brief EEG Recording

Li

¹

,

Wu

²

,

Hu

³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The assessment of personality is crucial not only for scientific inquiries but also for real-world applications such as personnel selection. However, most existing ways to quantify personality traits rely on self-reported scales, which are susceptible to biases such as self-presentational concerns. In this study, we propose and evaluate a novel implicit measure of personality that uses machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict an individual's levels in the Big Five personality traits from 5 minutes of electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. Results from a large test sample of 196 volunteers indicated that the personality scores derived from the proposed measure converged significantly with a commonly used questionnaire, predicted behavioral indices and psychological adjustment in a manner similar to self-reported scores, and were relatively stable across time. These evaluations suggest that the proposed measure can serve as a viable alternative to conventional personality questionnaires in practice.

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Acute Psychological Stress Disrupts Attentional Bias to Threat-Related Stimuli

Cited by 27 publications

References 53 publications

Effects of hydrocortisone and yohimbine on selective attention to emotional cues

Effects of hydrocortisone and yohimbine on selective attention to emotional cues

Quantitative Personality Predictions From a Brief EEG Recording

Quantitative Personality Predictions from a Brief EEG Recording

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