Pattern-Induced Visual Discomfort and Anxiety in Migraineurs: Their Relationship and the Effect of Colour

In migraineurs, coloured lenses were found to reduce the visual stress caused by an aversive pattern known to trigger migraines by 70%, but do such patterns also produce a low-level anxiety/fear response? Is this response lessened by colour? We sought to investigate this in a study comprising a broad screening component followed by a dot-probe experiment to elicit attentional biases (AB) to aversive patterns. Undergraduate psychology students completed headache and visual discomfort (VD) questionnaires (N = 358), thereby forming a subject pool from which 13 migraineurs with high visual discomfort and 13 no-headache controls with low visual discomfort, matched on age and sex, completed a dot-probe experiment. Paired stimuli were presented for 500 ms: aversive achromatic 3 cpd square wave gratings vs control, scrambled patterns. These conditions were repeated using the colour that was most comfortable for each participant. VD was greater in the more severe headache groups. On all measures, the migraineurs were more anxious than the controls, and a positive relationship was found between VD and trait anxiety. The 3 cpd gratings elicited an aversive AB in the migraine group which was somewhat reduced by the use of colour, and this was not seen in the controls. The results suggest a new role for colour in reducing visual stress via anxiety/fear reduction.

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Temporal Personality Variations among Participants from a University Subject Pool

Psychological Reports ◽

10.1177/0033294187060003-249.1 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 60 (3_part_2) ◽

pp. 1247-1254

Author(s):

Ronald R. Holden ◽

John R. Reddon

Keyword(s):

Psychology Students ◽

Temporal Variations ◽

Introductory Psychology ◽

Personality Variables ◽

Personality Differences ◽

Personality Research ◽

Subject Pool

This study examined personality differences in participants from a university subject pool as a function of the time of participation during the academic term and year. For 150 introductory psychology students with required participation in a subject pool, significant associations were found between time of participation and specific personality variables as measured by Jackson's Personality Research Form. Significant temporal associations with more general personality modal profiles were also obtained. Investigators using university subject pools are warned that these temporal variations in personality may represent possible confounds in research.

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Money talks in attention bias modification: Reward in a dot-probe task affects attentional biases

Visual Cognition ◽

10.1080/13506285.2014.984797 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (1-2) ◽

pp. 118-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Ólafía Sigurjónsdóttir ◽

Andri S. Björnsson ◽

Sigurbjörg J. Ludvigsdóttir ◽

Árni Kristjánsson

Keyword(s):

Attention Bias ◽

Attentional Biases ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Attention Bias Modification ◽

Probe Task ◽

Bias Modification

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SUBJECT POOL SIGN-UP PROCEDURES: A THREAT TO EXTERNAL VALIDITY

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.1989.17.1.29 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 29-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Jeffrey M. Jackson ◽

Mary E. Procidano ◽

Carrie J. Cohen

Keyword(s):

External Validity ◽

Psychology Students ◽

Introductory Psychology ◽

Individual Group ◽

Personality Dimensions ◽

Self Selection ◽

Subject Pool ◽

Personality Questionnaires ◽

Biased Samples

The extent to which introductory psychology students' self-selection into experiments produced biased samples was assessed in two experiments. As part of the normal sign-up procedure, students chose between apparently different experiments with quite different descriptions and between individual and group sign-up slots. Upon arriving at the laboratory, all students filled out personality questionnaires. Results demonstrated that students sorted themselves into experiments as well as into individual group sign-up slots in relation to personality dimensions. The resulting samples in each experiment were thus non-representative of even the restricted introductory psychology subject population. Implications and recommendations for the use of such populations were discussed.

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The effects of priming in a cued dot-probe task on appearance-related attentional biases in women

International Journal of Eating Disorders ◽

10.1002/eat.22699 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 50 (7) ◽

pp. 817-825 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ben R. Lane ◽

Kate E. Mulgrew ◽

Doug Mahar ◽

Melanie J. White ◽

Siobhan A. Loughnan

Keyword(s):

Attentional Biases ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Probe Task

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Selective amplification of ipRGC signals accounts for interictal photophobia in migraine

10.1101/2020.04.17.047290 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Harrison McAdams ◽

Eric A Kaiser ◽

Aleksandra Igdalova ◽

Edda B Haggerty ◽

Brett Cucchiara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retinal Ganglion Cells ◽

Ganglion Cells ◽

Group Differences ◽

Retinal Ganglion ◽

Spectral Change ◽

Visual Discomfort ◽

Selective Amplification ◽

Pupil Response ◽

Migraine Group

AbstractSecond only to headache, photophobia is the most debilitating symptom reported by people with migraine. While the melanopsin-containing, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) are thought to play a role, how cone and melanopsin signals are integrated in this pathway to produce visual discomfort is poorly understood.We studied 60 people: 20 without headache and 20 each with interictal photophobia from migraine with or without aura. Participants viewed pulses of spectral change that selectively targeted melanopsin, the cones, or both, and rated the degree of visual discomfort produced by these stimuli while we also recorded pupil responses.We examined the data within a model that describes how cone and melanopsin signals are weighted and combined at the level of the retina, and how this combined signal is transformed into a rating of discomfort or pupil response. Our results indicate that people with migraine do not differ from headache-free controls in the manner in which melanopsin and cone signals are combined. Instead, people with migraine demonstrate an amplification of integrated ipRGC signals for discomfort. This effect of migraine is selective for ratings of visual discomfort, in that an amplification of pupil responses was not seen in the migraine group, nor were group differences found in surveys of other behaviors putatively linked to ipRGC function (chronotype, seasonal sensitivity, presence of a photic sneeze reflex).By revealing a dissociation in the amplification of discomfort versus pupil response, our findings suggest a post-retinal alteration in processing of ipRGC signals for photophobia in migraine.SignificanceThe melanopsin-containing, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) may contribute to photophobia in migraine. We measured visual discomfort and pupil responses to cone and melanopsin stimulation—the photoreceptor inputs to the ipRGCs—in people with and without migraine. We find that people with migraine do not differ from those without headaches in how cone and melanopsin signals are weighted and combined to produce visual discomfort. Instead, migraine is associated with an amplification of ipRGC signals for discomfort. This effect of migraine upon ipRGC signals is limited to photophobia, as we did not find an enhancement of pupil responses or a change in other behaviors linked to ipRGC function. Our findings suggest a post-retinal amplification of ipRGC signals for photophobia in migraine.

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On the relative sensitivity of spatial and non-spatial measures of attentional bias: Emotion-induced blindness, the dot probe, and gradations in ratings of negative pictures

10.31234/osf.io/jw7z6 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sandersan Onie ◽

Steven Most

Keyword(s):

Emotional Disorders ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Strong Evidence ◽

Spatial Relationship ◽

Relative Sensitivity ◽

Attentional Biases ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Attention Task ◽

Emotional Pictures ◽

Valence And Arousal

Attentional biases towards negative information are implicated in various emotional disorders. The literature probing this relationship relies on assumptions that the tasks used to measure attentional biases are sensitive to the negative emotional qualities of stimuli, but are such assumptions justified? We assessed the degree to which two widely used tasks – the dot probe and emotion-induced blindness – displayed sensitivity to gradations in valence and arousal ratings for negative emotional pictures. For emotion-induced blindness (the failure to see a target the follows an emotional distractor in a rapidly presented sequence of items), there was strong evidence of sensitivity to gradations in both valence and arousal. For the dot probe (a spatial attention task where latency to respond to a target depends on whether it appears at or away from the location of an emotional stimulus), there was moderate evidence of sensitivity to emotional vs. neutral stimuli, but there was also moderate to strong evidence that the task was insensitive to gradations in valence and arousal. That said, in the dot probe, response latency regardless of spatial relationship between the target and the emotional image appeared sensitive to gradations in stimulus emotionality; suggesting that such sensitivity may be characteristic of non-spatial, rather than spatial, aspects of attention. Implications for attentional bias studies are discussed. Notably, the finding that emotion-induced blindness was sensitive to gradations in ratings of emotional pictures supports claims that the effect arises due to stimulus emotionality rather than simply differences in visual features of pictures (e.g., color, brightness, complexity).

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Threat-Related Attentional Biases in Police Officers and Martial Artists: Investigating Potential Differences Using the E-Stroop and Dot Probe Task

SAGE Open ◽

10.1177/2158244017712776 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 215824401771277 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mario S. Staller ◽

Benjamin Zaiser ◽

Swen Körner ◽

Jon C. Cole

Keyword(s):

Police Officers ◽

Attentional Biases ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Probe Task

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Examining Attentional Bias in Scrupulosity: Null Findings From the Dot Probe Paradigm

Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy ◽

10.1891/0889-8391.29.4.302 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 302-314

Author(s):

Ryan J. Jacoby ◽

Noah C. Berman ◽

Robert Graziano ◽

Jonathan S. Abramowitz

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Future Research ◽

Attentional Biases ◽

Dot Probe ◽

Obsessive Compulsive ◽

Compulsive Symptom ◽

Computer Based ◽

Obsessive Compulsive Symptom

Research consistently demonstrates that individuals with anxiety symptoms exhibit attentional biases toward threatening stimuli using various computer-based tasks. However, the presence of attentional biases across obsessive-compulsive symptom presentations has been mixed and requires clarification. This study was the first to use the dot probe paradigm to investigate the association between scrupulosity symptoms (obsessions and compulsions having to do with religion and morality) and selective attention to scrupulosity-relevant lexical stimuli. Contrary to hypotheses, individuals with higher levels of scrupulosity did not selectively attend (i.e., have faster reaction times) to scrupulosity-specific threat words (e.g., hell) more so than to general threat or neutral words. Various potential explanations for these null findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

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