Attentional biases to emotional stimuli: Key components of the RDoC constructs of sustained threat and loss

Gibb, Brandon E.; McGeary, John E.; Beevers, Christopher G.

doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32383

Cited by 75 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 176 publications

(211 reference statements)

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“…In testing these theories, the majority of research has focused on attentional biases in depression and anxiety. These studies consistently demonstrate the presence of attentional biases for threat-relevant information in anxiety disorders, perhaps particularly in terms of initial orienting of attention, and attentional bias for depression-relevant information (e.g., sad faces) in depression, particularly in terms of increased sustained attention to, or difficulty disengaging attention from, these stimuli (for reviews, see Armstrong & Olatunji, 2012; Bar-Haim et al, 2007; Gibb et al, 2016; Peckham et al, 2010). This highlights the disorder-specific nature of attentional biases both in terms of focus (threat-relevant vs. depression-relevant) and time course (initial orienting vs. sustained attention).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Suicidal ideation and attentional biases in children: An eye-tracking study

Tsypes

Owens

Gibb

2017

Journal of Affective Disorders

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Background Despite theoretical and empirical evidence for a heighted responsiveness to signals of social-threat in suicidal individuals, no studies to date have examined whether this responsiveness might also manifest in the form of specific biases in attention to interpersonal stimuli. The current study, therefore, examined the presence and nature of attentional biases for facial expressions of emotion in children with and without a history of suicidal ideation (SI). Method Participants were 88 children (44 with a history of SI and 44 demographically and clinically matched controls without such history) recruited from the community. The average age of children was 9.26 years (44.3% female; 67.0% Caucasian). Children’s history of SI was assessed via structured interviews with children and their parent. Attentional biases were assessed using a dot-probe task and included fearful, happy, and sad facial stimuli and focused on eye tracking and reaction time indices of attentional bias. Results Children with a history of SI exhibited significantly greater gaze duration toward fearful faces. The findings appeared to be at least partially independent of children’s history of major depression or anxiety disorders or their current depressive or anxious symptoms. Limitations The study is limited by its cross-sectional design, which precludes any causal conclusions regarding the role of attentional biases in future suicide risk. Conclusions Our results suggest that children with a history of SI exhibit biases in sustained attention toward socially-threatening facial expressions. Pending replications, these findings might represent a new avenue of suicide risk assessment and intervention.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Suicidal ideation and attentional biases in children: An eye-tracking study

Tsypes

Owens

Gibb

2017

Journal of Affective Disorders

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“…This is consistent with the finding for sad faces, as avoidance of positive stimuli is also a feature of depressive symptomatology 28 . While there was no association between inflammation and angry faces, the stimuli in our study were presented for 1000ms, a relatively long exposure time that likely captures processes central to depression (like difficulty disengaging from negative stimuli or avoidance of positive stimuli 28 ) rather than processes central to anxiety (like initial orientation towards threatening stimuli) 9 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Attentional bias was assessed using a dot-probe task, which is widely used in clinical and non-clinical populations 9,20 . In this task, a dot is presented on either the right or left side of a computer screen, and participants indicate which side of the screen the dot is on as quickly and accurately as possible by pressing the “j” or “f” key.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One such process is attentional bias, which plays a critical role in cognitive theories of depression. Selective attention towards and difficulty disengaging from negative, and especially sad, stimuli is theorized to reinforce negative mood and contribute to the development and maintenance of depression 9 . Indeed, individuals with depression or elevated depressive symptoms demonstrate biases towards negative emotional information 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, individuals with depression or elevated depressive symptoms demonstrate biases towards negative emotional information 10 . These biases predict increases in depressive symptom severity and are evident in individuals at high-risk for depression 9 . Training individuals to reduce negative attentional bias alleviates depressive symptoms 9 , suggesting attentional bias is not merely a symptom of depression but serves to initiate and sustain this disorder.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Inflammation and attentional bias in breast cancer survivors

Boyle

Ganz

Dyk

et al. 2017

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

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Evidence suggests an association between inflammation and depression, although findings are mixed. Focusing on core processes in depression may clarify associated biological underpinnings. Negative cognitive bias is a key component of depression, but has not been examined in relation to inflammation. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that elevated inflammatory markers would be associated with negative attentional bias in a sample of 91 breast cancer survivors. Participants were drawn from a larger study and provided blood samples for assessment of peripheral markers of inflammation and completed questionnaires and neuropsychological testing. Attentional bias towards emotional stimuli was assessed with a dot-probe computer task using emotional (sad, happy, angry) and neutral faces. Circulating concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) were positively correlated with negative attentional bias (p = .03), such that women with higher CRP allocated greater attention towards sad faces. This association held when controlling for attention function and current depressive symptoms. While cross-sectional, results are consistent with research showing that inflammation heightens the salience of negative emotional stimuli, and identify a novel pathway through which inflammation may lead to depression.

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Mind your words: Affective experience during reading mediates the effect of textual valence on comprehension

Smith

Ward

Wormwood

et al. 2022

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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In today's society, we are constantly absorbing information via text (e.g., news, social media), much of which may be affectively charged. However, to date, little is known about how the affective framing of the text itself may give rise to various affective experiences during reading. We examined how subtle changes to wording (negatively or positively valenced framing of the same content) influenced affective experiences during reading and subsequent comprehension. Results show that (a) affective framing in text elicited congruent subjective affective states throughout reading, (b) subjective affective valence throughout reading impacted comprehension at various levels, and (c) subjective affective valence mediated the relationship between affective framing and how participants integrated information from the text in their summaries, as well as if they included affect in their summaries. This indicates that even subtle affectively valenced content in text can indirectly influence some aspects of comprehension through eliciting subjective affective experiences in the reader.

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Attentional biases to emotional stimuli: Key components of the RDoC constructs of sustained threat and loss

Cited by 75 publications

References 176 publications

Suicidal ideation and attentional biases in children: An eye-tracking study

Suicidal ideation and attentional biases in children: An eye-tracking study

Inflammation and attentional bias in breast cancer survivors

Mind your words: Affective experience during reading mediates the effect of textual valence on comprehension

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