Attention bias toward noncooperative people. A dot probe classification study in cheating detection

Negative affective biases are a key feature of anxiety and depression that upholdand promote negative mood. Bias modification, which aims to reduce these biases using computerized training, has shown mixed success but has not been tested atscale. Smartphones present an easily-accessible and affordable means of testingthe impact of bias modification on mood in the general population. The aim was todetermine whether bias modification delivered via smartphones can improve mood ina large sample.153,385 self-referring participants were randomly assigned to modification or shambias training on a dot-probe or visual-search task. The primary outcome of interestwas balance of mood, assessed on the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.22,933 participants who provided at least two sets of mood ratings were included inanalyses.Results supported the prediction that visual-search modification would result inimproved mood (95% CI .10 to .82; p=.01, d=.05 after two mood ratings; 95% CI1.75 to 6.54; p=.001, d=.32 after six mood ratings), which was not seen for the shamversion. Dot-probe modification was not associated with mood improvements(p=.52).Visual-search, but not dot-probe, attention bias modification slightly but significantlyimproved mood in a large sample. Although this effect size is very small;waiting-lists, low responsiveness to available interventions, and, critically, theminimal cost/side-effects, suggest it might be worth considering an adjunct to currenttreatments.

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Threat bias in attention orienting: evidence of specificity in a large community-based study

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291712001651 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 43 (4) ◽

pp. 733-745 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

G. A. Salum ◽

K. Mogg ◽

B. P. Bradley ◽

A. Gadelha ◽

P. Pan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Symptom Severity ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Developmental Psychopathology ◽

Attention Bias ◽

Well Being ◽

Emotional Valence ◽

Mean Difference ◽

Stimulus Exposure ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Large Community

BackgroundPreliminary research implicates threat-related attention biases in paediatric anxiety disorders. However, major questions exist concerning diagnostic specificity, effects of symptom-severity levels, and threat-stimulus exposure durations in attention paradigms. This study examines these issues in a large, community school-based sample.MethodA total of 2046 children (ages 6–12 years) were assessed using the Development and Well Being Assessment (DAWBA), Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and dot-probe tasks. Children were classified based on presence or absence of ‘fear-related’ disorders, ‘distress-related’ disorders, and behavioural disorders. Two dot-probe tasks, which differed in stimulus exposure, assessed attention biases for happy-face and threat-face cues. The main analysis included 1774 children.ResultsFor attention bias scores, a three-way interaction emerged among face-cue emotional valence, diagnostic group, and internalizing symptom severity (F = 2.87, p < 0.05). This interaction reflected different associations between internalizing symptom severity and threat-related attention bias across diagnostic groups. In children with no diagnosis (n = 1411, mean difference = 11.03, s.e. = 3.47, df = 1, p < 0.001) and those with distress-related disorders (n = 66, mean difference = 10.63, s.e. = 5.24, df = 1, p < 0.05), high internalizing symptoms predicted vigilance towards threat. However, in children with fear-related disorders (n = 86, mean difference = −11.90, s.e. = 5.94, df = 1, p < 0.05), high internalizing symptoms predicted an opposite tendency, manifesting as greater bias away from threat. These associations did not emerge in the behaviour-disorder group (n = 211).ConclusionsThe association between internalizing symptoms and biased orienting varies with the nature of developmental psychopathology. Both the form and severity of psychopathology moderates threat-related attention biases in children.

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A Preliminary Investigation of the Time Course of Attention Bias Variability in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Moderating Role of Attentional Control

Behaviour Change ◽

10.1017/bec.2016.5 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 94-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Joseph R. Bardeen ◽

Mathew T. Tull ◽

Thomas A. Daniel ◽

John Evenden ◽

Erin N. Stevens

Keyword(s):

Posttraumatic Stress ◽

Attentional Control ◽

Time Course ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Preliminary Investigation ◽

Attention Bias ◽

Experimental Session ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Probe Task ◽

Attention Bias Variability

The present study sought to explicate the time-course of posttraumatic stress (PTS)-related attentional bias to threat (ABT) by examining differences in attention bias variability (ABV; a measure which accounts for the temporal dynamics of ABT). A dot-probe task with four presentation durations was used to capture both subliminal and supraliminal stages of processing. Task stimuli consisted of neutral and threat images. Attentional control (AC) was examined as a moderator of the relationship between PTSD and ABV. At an experimental session, participants (PTSD = 11, trauma control = 18) completed questionnaires, a modified dot-probe task, and a stimulus-response task measuring AC. Individuals in the PTSD group exhibited greater ABV compared to trauma control participants. AC moderated this relationship, with participants with PTSD and poor AC exhibiting significantly greater ABV than trauma-exposed control participants with poor AC. These effects remained significant after accounting for traditionally calculated ABT scores and variability on trials for which only neutral stimuli were present, thus ensuring that the observed effects were specific to the presence of threat stimuli and not merely a function of general variability in response times. Findings implicate AC as a buffering mechanism against threat-related attentional dyscontrol among those with PTSD. Clinical implications will be discussed.

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Reliability (or Lack Thereof) of Smartphone-Delivered Visual Dot Probe Attention Bias Indices

10.31219/osf.io/gj4eq ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nur Hani Hani Zainal ◽

Nicholas C. Jacobson

Keyword(s):

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Attention Bias ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Facilitation Effect ◽

Internal Reliability ◽

Intra Class Correlation ◽

Retest Reliability ◽

Reliability Estimates ◽

Intra Class Correlation Coefficient

Cognitive bias theories posit that generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) are entwined with attention bias (AB) toward threats, commonly indexed by faster response time (RT) on threat- congruent (vs. incongruent) trials on the visual dot probe (VDP). Moreover, although smartphone VDP assessments have been developed, their psychometric properties are understudied. This study thus aimed to assess the retest-reliability and internal reliability of 6 smartphone-delivered VDP AB and related indices in persons with and without GAD and SAD (Global ABI, Disengagement Effect, Facilitation Bias, AB Variability [ABV], Congruent RT, Incongruent RT). Participants (n = 819) completed a five-trial smartphone-delivered VDP for at least one session. Of these, 294, 151, 94 participants completed 2, 5, and 12 sessions, respectively, across 2 weeks. Across 5 trials per session, Global ABI, Disengagement Effect, and Facilitation Bias had low reliability estimates (mean intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.01–0.51; split-half reliability [r] = 0.01–0.18). Conversely, retest-reliability and internal reliability were good for Congruent RT and Incongruent RT (mean ICCs = 0.72–0.97; r = 0.37–0.92). Across 2, 5, and 12 sessions, poor retest-reliability and internal reliability estimates were consistently observed for all 6 AB and related indices. Compared to non-anxious controls, Global ABI and Facilitation Effect were stronger for those with GAD (d = 0.16–0.21) and SAD (d = 0.20–0.25), with negligible-to-small effect sizes. Theoretical and clinical implications, alongside suggestions to improve the reliability of smartphone VDP apps, are discussed.

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