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DE, ANGELIS JACOPO. "HOW DO HUMANS RESPOND TO SOCIAL AND NON-SOCIAL STIMULI? EVIDENCE FROM TYPICALLY DEVELOPED INDIVIDUALS AND INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10281/309651.
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Secondo il filosofo greco Aristotele "L'uomo è per natura un animale sociale". Dopo 2350 anni, oggi sappiamo che questa affermazione è solo parzialmente vera. Sebbene le evidenze sperimentali abbiano messo in luce una preferenza per gli stimoli e le interazioni sociali negli esseri umani, questa conclusione non sembra applicabile a tutti gli individui e contesti. L'elaborazione degli stimoli sociali può infatti essere influenzata da caratteristiche degli stimoli sociali e non sociali, presentati in competizione, nonché da caratteristiche inter-individuali. Tra quest'ultime, il Disturbo dello Spettro Autistico è sicuramente un esempio prototipico di atipicità nei comportamenti sociali e nella cognizione sociale. Il presente lavoro di tesi era rivolta a: i. indagare se gli stimoli sociali esercitano una priorità di elaborazione negli individui a sviluppo tipico (TD), anche quando presentati in competizione con altri stimoli non sociali fortemente rilevanti (denaro); ii. Indagare se e come gli individui con ASD rispondono a stimoli sociali vs non sociali rispetto agli individui TD, prendendo in esame un duplice livello di elaborazione, cognitivo e fisiologico; iii. Indagare se le differenze tra individui TD e ASD nell'elaborazione degli stimoli sociali e non sociali possano considerarsi l'espressione di un fenotipo familiare allargato; iv. Indagare la possibilità di modificare la salienza degli stimoli sociali negli individui con ASD attraverso una metodologia di apprendimento implicito ABMT (Attention Bias Modification Treatment). La presente tesi presenta tre implicazioni: teorica, metodologica e clinica. Per quanto riguarda le implicazioni teoriche, il presente lavoro supporta solo parzialmente l'affermazione di Aristotele. I risultati infatti hanno evidenziato chiaramente che, sebbene gli stimoli sociali abbiano solitamente un accesso prioritario agli step di elaborazione, la loro valenza può essere influenzata da una varietà di variabili come le differenze individuali (e.g., tratti autistici) o caratteristiche degli stimoli non sociali presentati in competizione quelli sociali (e.g., stimoli di alto interesse autistico per l'autismo). Altresì, i risultati sottolineano la necessità di considerare le diverse fasi dell'elaborazione dello stimolo (cognitivo vs fisiologico) nell'esame delle risposte cognitive e fisologiche a diverse tipologie di stimoli. Per quanto riguarda le implicazioni metodologiche, il presente lavoro suggerisce l'integrazione di tecniche tradizionali con tecniche computazionali più avanzate (es: Machine Learning o Deep Learning). Per quanto riguarda le implicazioni cliniche, questo lavoro ha fornito un esame circa le modalità di elaborazione degli stimoli sociali in bambini e adulti ASD, sia a livello attentivo che fisiologico. In secondo luogo, ha contribuito a far ulteriormente luce sul concetto di fenotipo autistico allargato, mostrando i limiti di questo concetto e l'ipotetico ruolo di variabili ambientali nel modulare il comportamento sociale nell'autismo.According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle “Man is by nature a social animal”. After 2350 years, we know that this statement is partially true. Although experimental evidence has reported a preference for social stimuli and social interactions in human beings, this conclusion does not apply to every individuals and contexts. Social stimuli processing can indeed be affected by stimuli and competitive non-social stimuli features as well as by inter-individual characteristics. Among the clinical conditions characterized by atypicality in social behaviours and social cognition (e.g., schizophrenia, personality disorders etc.), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the most prototypical example. The present dissertation was aimed at: i. investigating whether social stimuli are prioritized by typically developed individuals (TD) even when they attentively compete with other relevant non-social stimuli (money); ii. Investigating whether and how individuals with ASD differently respond to social vs non-social stimuli compared to TD individuals, by considering both a cognitive and a physiological level of processing; iii. Investigating whether the differences between TD and ASD individuals in social vs nonsocial stimuli processing are the expression of a familiar phenotype; iv. Investigating whether it is possible to modify the salience of social stimuli in ASD individuals through an Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) methodology. The present dissertation is expected to provide three main implications: theoretical, methodological and clinical. As concerns the theoretical implications, the present work only partially supports Aristotle statement mentioned in the introduction. Indeed, the reported findings have clearly highlighted that, although social stimuli are usually prioritized, their valence may be affected by a variety of variables such as individual differences (e.g., autistic traits) or characteristics of the non-social stimuli presented in competition with the social ones (e.g., High Autism Interest stimuli). Finally, results stress the importance of considering the different stages of stimulus processing (i.e., cognitive vs physiological) when examining human responses to social vs non-social stimuli. As regards the methodological implications, the present work provides important hints for future research on social vs non-social stimuli processing with TD and atypical development populations, by suggesting the integration of traditional techniques with more advanced computational techniques (i.e., Machine Learning). As concern the clinical implications, this work has provided a rich examination of how children and adults of ASD children process social and non-social stimuli both at an attentional level and at a physiological level. Secondly, it has contributed to further shedding light on the concept of BAP, by showing its limitations and the role played by environmental variables in shaping the parents of ASD children’s behavioral responses.
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McCarthy, John Dylan. "Changing attention." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264180.
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Todd, Jemma Lauren. "Exploring the Role of Attention and Interpretation Biases in Understanding and Treating Pain." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/17033.
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The processes that lead to the development and maintenance of chronic pain are still not well understood, however prominent theories and growing empirical research indicate that cognitive processes are likely to be relevant to pain. The aim of this thesis was therefore to investigate the role of attentional bias and interpretation bias in the experience of pain. Chapter 2 presents a meta-analysis of dot-probe studies investigating whether attentional biases exist, and found attentional biases towards sensory pain words for chronic pain patients compared to healthy individuals. Chapter 3 presents a systematic review investigating the clinical relevance of attentional bias to pain through prospective and intervention research. This review found that changes in pain outcomes occur when attentional biases are successfully modified, and that avoidance of affective pain information appears particularly relevant for pain chronicity. This review formed the basis for a new theory, the threat interpretation model, which proposes a specific pattern of attentional bias dependent on threat interpretation. This model was tested experimentally. Chapters 4 and 5 explored the effect of threat on interpretation bias, attentional bias and pain using different paradigms accompanied by eye-tracking. Chapter 6 tested an attentional bias modification (ABM) procedure using a randomised controlled trial design. Together, the results suggest that avoidance of affective pain words predicts pain outcomes and can be modified, however mechanisms of change were not established. Overall, attentional biases appear important for pain; sensory pain biases are most reliably detected although avoidance of affective pain information may be more clinically relevant to pain development and maintenance. The clinical and theoretical implications of this research will be beneficial in advancing this field, so that novel interventions can be developed to improve the experience of pain.
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McAteer, Annie Melaugh. "Understanding alcohol attention bias in adolescence." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2017. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.727957.
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Ongoing pairing of alcohol consumption and alcohol related cues in the environment, through a process of classical conditioning, result in the development of alcohol attention bias (AAB) which reaches automaticity with ongoing alcohol use. AAB may co-occur alongside alcohol expectancies and physiological responses contributing to misuse (Robinson & Berridge, 1993). Understanding AAB is an important step in understanding addiction aetiology. The following series of studies employs the novel approach of eye tracking to examine AAB more directly, expanding current understanding which to date has relied on indirect methods. Inclusion of adolescent participants provides insight into earlier stages of AAB, an area where there is currently a dearth of research. Results indicate differences between drinking groups and age groups in AAB strength; older drinkers and heavy drinkers demonstrate the strongest bias. Employment of eye tracking provides novel insight into the efficacy of a modified dot probe task differentiating automatic and controlled processes. These studies provide insights regarding the early stages of AAB manifestation and the studies included in this thesis begin to address gaps in the current literature. Inferences from the cross sectional analysis and retraining task suggest the bias is not static and may change over time, approaching automaticity as alcohol use continues. Whilst AAB appeared to be associated with alcohol use, as evidenced across age groups, additional factors also appear to influence attentional processing as indicated by findings in non-drinkers. Inconsistent relationships between AAB, expectancies and physiological response are reported and possible explanations for this are outlined in the thesis. The clinical utility of these findings in understanding AAB and the role of interventions in reducing it are considered and recommendations for future work to further understand AAB' s development and its role in substance misuse are outlined.
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Mergelsberg, Enrique Laurent Paul. "An Investigation in Attention Bias Modification Training: Attention Bias Assessment, Acquisition and Change with the Dot-Probe Task." Thesis, Curtin University, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/77426.
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Attention bias change can reduce anxiety vulnerability. The mechanisms that underlie attention bias assessment and training with the dot-probe task are unclear. This research project investigated the main stimulus-probe associative learning mechanism within the dot-probe task. It compared the attentional engagement and disengagement processes that underlie attention bias change using the dot-probe task and a gamified attention training task. The current work aids the understanding of successful attention bias assessment, acquisition and change.
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Devigili, Andrea. "Correlati Elettrofisiologici del Bias Attentivo nella Fobia del Sangue." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3421655.
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People seem to automatically appraise the salience of stimuli relevant to survival and automatically direct attention toward whatever may constitute a potential danger. The phenomenon by which threatening stimuli capture more attention in comparison to neutral and pleasant ones is called attentional bias. In the literature, many hypotheses were advanced about attentional processes involved in this bias: it could consist in an early facilitation of the automatic encoding of threatening information, followed by a difficulty in disengaging attention (delayed disengagement), or in an initial orienting of attention toward threat stimuli followed by cognitive avoidance, that inhibits more detailed processing (vigilance-avoidance).
Many behavioural and electrophysiological data support the rapid and preferential processing of threatening stimuli, and these have been obtained by using a variety of experimental paradigms: threat stimuli are detected more quickly, require more processing resources, interfere with the execution of other tasks, maintain the subject’s attention for a longer time and make orienting of attention toward other stimuli more difficult. Several studies show that the attentional bias is enhanced in individuals with high levels of trait anxiety or with anxiety disorders, and that it is specifically related to disorder-related stimuli.
In specific phobias, information processing usually prioritises the detection and the analysis of phobia-related stimuli. However, this does not seem to occur in blood-injection-injury phobia. Blood phobics do not seem to show a facilitated processing of phobia-related stimuli. In contrast, an attentional bias towards phobia-related stimuli, reflected in larger amplitudes of event-related potential P300 and late positive potentials, can be effectively highlighted during passive viewing in other specific phobics.
Blood phobia is peculiar in many ways: at subjective, behavioural and physiological levels. Unlike other specific phobias, disgust is not a secondary emotion, that accompanies fear, but it is the predominant emotion elicited by phobic stimuli. At physiological level, a pattern of cardiovascular activation leading to fainting can be observed. Such a physiological response is associated with uncertainty as to the best behavioural strategy to adopt upon encounter with the phobic stimulus: action or motor inhibition.
The present dissertation describes three studies which aimed at investigating the presence of an attentional bias in blood-injection-injury phobia through behavioural and electrocortical measures. Different experimental paradigms and emotional control categories were used to test the specificity of the attentional bias towards phobia-related stimuli and to identify the underlying attentional mechanisms.Rilevare uno stimolo minaccioso nell’ambiente il più velocemente possibile è una funzione essenziale per gli esseri viventi, in quanto permette una risposta di difesa più efficace e comporta maggiori possibilità di sopravvivenza. Il fenomeno per cui gli stimoli minacciosi catturano attenzione in modo più efficace rispetto a stimoli neutri o piacevoli prende il nome di bias attentivo. Esistono numerose ipotesi in letteratura sui meccanismi attentivi alla base di questo bias. In particolare, vi sono due modelli: il primo sostiene che vi sia una facilitazione precoce nella codifica dell’informazione minacciosa, seguita da una difficoltà nello spostare l’attenzione da tale informazione verso altri stimoli (disingaggio ritardato); il secondo sostiene invece che l’iniziale orientamento dell’attenzione verso l’informazione minacciosa sia seguito da evitamento cognitivo, che ne inibisce una elaborazione più dettagliata (vigilanza-evitamento). Vi sono numerosi studi che hanno prodotto dati comportamentali ed elettrofisiologici a sostegno dell’esistenza di una elaborazione preferenziale degli stimoli minacciosi: ad esempio, gli stimoli di minaccia sono rilevati più velocemente, richiedono più risorse di elaborazione, interferiscono maggiormente nell’esecuzione di compiti concomitanti, mantengono l’attenzione per un periodo di tempo maggiore e rendono difficoltoso lo spostamento dell’attenzione su altri stimoli. Molteplici studi hanno inoltre dimostrato che gli individui con disturbi d’ansia, o con elevati livelli di ansia di tratto, presentano un bias attentivo più marcato, specificatamente nei confronti di stimoli legati al disturbo. E’ noto che nelle fobie specifiche l’elaborazione dell’informazione privilegia la detezione e l’analisi dello stimolo fobigeno. Tuttavia, questo non sembra verificarsi per la fobia di sangue-iniezioni-ferite. A livello elettrocorticale, nelle fobie specifiche si rileva solitamente un bias associato all’elaborazione dello stimolo fobico, che si riflette in compiti di visione passiva in una maggiore ampiezza della componente P300 dei potenziali evento-relati e in una maggiore positività tardiva (LPP). Questo effetto non è tuttavia emerso per la fobia del sangue. Questo disturbo d’ansia è infatti singolare da molteplici punti di vista: a livello soggettivo, è caratterizzato dall’emozione di disgusto, piuttosto che da quella di paura; a livello fisiologico, è caratterizzato da un pattern di attivazione cardiovascolare che spesso conduce allo svenimento; a livello comportamentale, è caratterizzato da un conflitto tra azione e inibizione motoria. Il presente lavoro di tesi descrive tre studi che avevano l’obiettivo di indagare la presenza di un bias attentivo nella fobia di sangue-iniezioni-ferite attraverso misure comportamentali ed elettrocorticali. Sono stati impiegati paradigmi sperimentali e categorie emozionali di controllo differenti al fine di testare la specificità del bias attentivo nei confronti del materiale fobigeno e di identificare i meccanismi attentivi coinvolti.
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Stone, Bryant M. "Effects of a Gratitude Intervention and Attention Bias Modification on Emotion Regulation." OpenSIUC, 2020. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2716.
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Much research testing positive psychological interventions (PPIs) has focused on the outcome of emotion regulation (e.g., increased positive or decreased negative emotions and affect). On the other hand, most research testing the effects of attention bias modification (ABM) has focused on the process of emotion regulation (e.g., reducing biased attention towards threatening faces in those with social anxiety disorder). Evidence is sparse and inconsistent on the process of emotion regulation in PPIs and the outcome of emotion regulation in ABM programs. Furthermore, few studies have examined the combined effects of a positive ABM (PABM) with PPIs, which is the focus of the current investigation. The aim of the study is to examine two relationships: 1) the effects of the gratitude letter PPI on the process of emotion regulation and 2) the combined effects of the PABM program and the gratitude letter PPI on the process and outcome of emotion regulation. The researchers used a dot-probe task to bias attention. The dot-probe task presented positive-neutral stimuli pairs (e.g., babies; geometric pattern). In the train-positive group, the probe appeared behind the positive images 90% of the time, compared to 50% in the control group. The researchers used a gratitude letter PPI, where participants wrote a letter for 15 minutes to someone they have never thanked, compared to the control condition who wrote a letter about their morning routine. The results suggest that the gratitude letter PPI does not affect the process of emotion regulation via attentional biases but does increase positive affect in the short term. Further, the PABM program may not affect the outcome of emotion regulation but did demonstrate a biasing of reaction time to positive pictures. This biasing of reaction times in the dot-probe was not consistent with eye-gaze patterns to positive images, suggesting that the dot-probe task does not measure or manipulate attentional biases. Finally, combining the dot-probe task and gratitude letter PPI did not produce a stronger effect on the process and outcome of emotion regulation than the gratitude letter alone. The findings of the current study suggest that the gratitude letter may be an effective and quick intervention to increase positive affect, but that the intervention is not suitable for long-term changes after a single administration. Further, individuals should not expect the dot-probe task to bias attention and should not except the task to influence the outcome of emotion regulation. Instead, researchers could use the task to measure and manipulate one’s decision-making processing speed.
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Hill, Jemma. "Attention training and the Positive Illusory Bias in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/attention-training-and-the-positive-illusory-bias-in-attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder(0b136c3a-52fc-42e1-96e4-8ed15242cd0a).html.
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Paper 1 provides a systematic review on the association between children over-rating their competence, termed Positive Illusory Bias (PIB), and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The evidence towards this construct was examined, in addition to its environmental specificity and modifiability. Findings confirmed an association between PIB and ADHD, with most studies evidencing higher discrepancies between self and adult ratings of competence in children with ADHD compared to controls. The nature and magnitude of this association was less clear however, with some of these studies showing absolute ratings of children to be similar to controls, and a PIB only evidenced when adults were used as objective evaluators, not actual performance. Thus the review was unable to discount the idea that the PIB may, in part, be a function of the system around children with ADHD under-estimating their abilities. Clinical implications are discussed. Paper 2 presents an investigation into the efficacy and feasibility of a metacognitive therapy technique, Attention Training (ATT) in children with ADHD. A novel intervention in this population, the study employed a single case series design, followed by an uncontrolled trial, both with a 6-week follow up. A total of 16 children aged 7-11 under the care of a children and adolescent mental health service received 5 sessions of the ATT. Findings revealed that children rated their attention as significantly improved, despite no statistical improvement found on parent ratings. Significant improvements were also shown in working memory and other aspects of executive functioning. Adherence to home practice of the ATT was generally poor, but session attendance was good and the treatment was well-liked by parents. Clinical implications and directions for future research are indicated. Paper 3 is a critical reflection of the research process. Reflections on paper 1 and 2 are given, including limitations and clinical implications. The impact of the research process on my personal development and learning is also discussed.
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Duran, Geoffrey. "Compréhension, Emotion, et Attention, une nouvelle approche à détecter le mensonge." Thesis, Lyon, 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018LYSE2090/document.
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Nous sommes tous familiers avec les notions de tromperie et de détection du mensonge Nous admettons volontiers que mentir n’est pas un acte acceptable moralement. Le mensonge a toujours posé un problème moral. Par exemple, Aristote disait que « le mensonge est en soi méchant et coupable », Kant considérait la vérité comme un « devoir inconditionnel en toutes circonstances ». Machiavel a adopté une position différente en louant le mensonge au service de soi. Après avoir été un problème moral et juridique pendant des millénaires, la question du mensonge et de sa détection est devenue depuis une soixantaine d’années une question de recherche. Comment les gens réussissent-ils à tromper les autres ? Comment sont-ils susceptibles de croire les mensonges des autres ? Sont-ils capables de détecter lorsque quelqu’un leur ment ? Si oui, comment ? Pourquoi les gens sont-ils dupés ? Ces questions sont toujours d’actualité et cette thèse s’inscrit dans la continuité des recherches sur la détection du mensonge, dans le cadre de la détection sans instruments spécialisés.Les parutions scientifiques issues de la littérature sur la capacité humaine de détection du mensonge sont pessimistes et montrent que les individus font rarement mieux que le hasard. Si des explications ont été apportées, de nombreuses interrogations persistent encore, comme l’influence de certains aspects de la personnalité et de la cognition sur la capacité à détecter les mensonges. Nous avons ainsi mené plusieurs études expérimentales dans le but de répondre à certaines questions encore présentes. L’ensemble de nos résultats suggèrent que les traits de personnalité associés à une sensibilité aux émotions des autres nuisent à la bonne détection du mensonge. Nos résultats montrent, pour la première fois, que des fonctions cognitives, comme la reconnaissance de la prosodie, l’attention et la compréhension du discours sont impliquées dans la détection du mensonge. Enfin, ce travail de thèse a également examiné si des aspects de la personnalité et de la cognition influencent la capacité de détection de membres des forces de l’ordreWe are all so familiar with the notions of deception and lie detection. We readily admit that lying is not morally acceptable. Lying has always been a moral problem. For example, Aristotle said that "falsehood is in itself mean and culpable" or Kant regarded the truth as "unconditional duty which holds in all circumstances.” Machiavelli has taken a different position by praising deceit in the service of self. After having been a moral and legal problem for millennia, the question of lies and their detection has become a question of research for about sixty years. How do people deceive others? How are people likely to believe the lies of others? Are they able to detect when someone is lying to them? And if yes, how? Why are people fooled? These questions are still relevant, and this thesis is part of the continuity of research on the detection of lies, in the context of detection without a specialized instrument.Scientific publications from the literature on the human capacity to detect lies are pessimistic and show that individuals rarely do better than chance. If explanations have been made, many questions still persist, such as the influence of certain aspects of personality and cognition on the ability to detect lies. We have conducted several experimental studies to answer some of the questions. All of our results suggest that personality traits associated with sensitivity to the emotions of others interfere with the capacity to detect lies. Our results show, for the first time, that cognitive functions, such as recognition of prosody, attentional processes and discourse comprehension, are involved in the detection of lies. Finally, this thesis also examined whether aspects of personality and cognition influence the detection ability of police officers (French Gendarmes)
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Skene, Wendy. "Attentional bias across the lifespan." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2014. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=217888.
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This thesis takes a lifespan approach to investigate attentional bias from childhood into older adulthood. Using the dot-probe task throughout, the primary aim was to identify age-related differences in attentional bias across the lifespan. Short and longer stimulus presentation times were used in some studies to investigate the time course of attentional bias. Furthermore, anxiety and executive function were measured to examine how these factors may influence attentional bias across the lifespan. Results found that children showed an attentional bias away from emotion faces which was most evident in those with low trait anxiety. Young adults attended to angry faces at the short presentation time, this was not maintained at longer presentation times. In older adults, results showed an initial avoidance of happy faces followed by a bias towards happy faces at the later presentation time. A direct comparison between children and young adults found that children showed avoidance of emotion compared to adults. A direct comparison of young and older adults found in those with higher state anxiety, young adults showed a bias towards threat at the long presentation time, whereas older adults showed a bias away from threat. Contrary to the predominant theory of attention, executive function was not found to be related to attentional bias in children or young adults. However it did influence attentional bias in older adults, where poorer inhibition was related to a bias away from the happy face. To summarise, this thesis has identified differences in attentional bias according to age and prompts further research into how age, anxiety, executive function and attentional bias may interact in a non-clinically anxious population.
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Bain, Kathleen Marie. "Attention Biases Associated with Vulnerability to Bipolar Disorder." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2013. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc271775/.
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Bipolar disorder is associated with significant social and occupational impairments, as well as increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. More research is needed to identify potential mechanisms associated with vulnerability to the disorder. Previous research has identified altered processing of emotional information in bipolar and bipolar-prone individuals, including attentional biases which appear to differ based on the current affective state of the individual. The current study applied a sensitive measure of attention (i.e., eye-tracking) to assess whether vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as indexed by hypomanic personality traits, would be correlated with biases in attention to emotional facial stimuli, independent of mood state. Hypomanic personality traits were hypothesized to be associated with greater attention to happy and angry faces, as indexed by faster initial orientation, more frequent gazes, and longer gaze duration for these stimuli. Participants completed self-report measures assessing current mood symptoms, positive and negative affect, and hypomanic personality traits. They then completed two tasks assessing attention for emotional faces. The first was an eye-tracking task, which measured latency to first fixation, total gaze duration and total number of gazes for each emotional face category. The second was a spatial cueing task which assessed both attentional engagement with emotional faces, and ability to disengage attention from this material. Hypomanic personality traits were significantly negatively correlated with latency to orient attention to happy faces. A trend toward decreased latency to orient to angry faces with higher hypomanic personality traits was also demonstrated. Hypomanic traits were not correlated with attention to sad faces. Furthermore, hypomanic traits were associated only with differences in initial orientation of attention, not with continued engagement or disengagement. The results of this study suggest that individuals with higher levels of hypomanic personality traits, who are hypothesized to be at greater risk of developing bipolar disorder, are characterized by differences in their initial orientation of attention to positive emotional stimuli, independent of their current mood state. This finding is indicative of biased information processing in individuals with vulnerability to bipolar disorder. Such a bias may have important clinical implications for individuals with a vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as it may represent a mechanism by which vulnerability leads to increased, and at times problematic, engagement with rewarding stimuli.
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Reinholdt-Dunne, Marie louise. "The relationship between Attention Control, Attentional Bias, and Anxiety." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.518493.
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Hellström, Vilma, and Sinéad Eriksson. "Web Data Collection to Assess Bias in Conservation Attention." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för elektroteknik och datavetenskap (EECS), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-302492.
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This research aims to detect and assess potential bias in the amount of attention different threatened species receive in the context of their conservation, and how this correlates to the species overall popularity and extinction risk, using data collected from the web. This bias was both examined in research and society in general. Extinction rates have increased significantly in the past decade due to human activity. This affects all ecosystems and is morally questionable. Using an API and the method of web scraping, data was collected from Twitter and Google Scholar respectively. The popularity of a species is defined by the number of occurrences the species have on these platforms. The conservation attention is determined by the number of occurrences in a conservation context. The data of the species conservation attention was compared to the extinction risk of the species, and the strength of the relationship between conservation attention and popularity was calculated. The results show that overall popularity seems to be more important for a species likelihood of receiving conservation attention, than its risk of extinction. Understanding that popularity is key for conservation attention is useful for successfully protecting threatened species. By either keeping this information in mind to counteract it or by taking advantage of it and reallocate resources to less popular speciesDenna rapport undersöker om popularitet eller utrotningsgrad har betydelse för hur stor uppmärksamhet en utrotningshotad art får angående dess artbevarande, både inom forskning och bland allmänheten. Under de senaste decennierna har antalet arter som är utrotningshotade ökat drastiskt, som följd av männsklighetens framfart. Detta påverkar både ekosystemen och anses moraliskt tvivelaktigt. För att undersöka området samlades data in från Twitter och Google Scholar genom applikationsprogrammeringsgränssnitt (API) respektive data skrapning (data scraping). Populariteten av en art baserades på antalet förekomster den hade på plattformen. Hur mycket uppmärksamhet artens bevarande fick, bestämdes genom antalet förekomster på plattformen inom specifikt det sammanhanget. De två datamängderna jämfördes, dessutom räknades styrkan på relationen mellan uppmärksamheten inom artbevarande och populariteten ut. Resultatet påvisar att popularitet verkar viktigt för en art för att få uppmärksamhet inom även dess bevarande, medan risken för utrotning av en art inte är oviktigt för mängden uppmärksamhet. Denna insikt kan användas för att främja artbevarande för alla arter, exempelvis genom att aktivt motverka partiskheten. Eller genom att uttnyttja partiskheten för att öka intresset för artbevarande i stort med hjälp av de mest populära arterna, och på sätt öka donationerna och omfördela pengarna till även de mindre populära djuren.
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Smith, N. Kyle. "Validating and eliminating the attention bias to negative information /." The Ohio State University, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1486474078048334.
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Lydecker, Janet. "Visual Attention Bias and Body Dissatisfaction in Eating Disorders." VCU Scholars Compass, 2013. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3158.
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Eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa, have profound negative effects on the quality of life of both affected individuals and their families. Behavioral approaches such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are commonly used for the treatment of these disorders. CBT teaches skills to restructure maladaptive thought patterns as a method of altering feelings and behaviors. However, even after CBT, 50-70% of women with bulimia and 67-87% of women with anorexia report continued eating disordered thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Measuring underlying cognitive processes such as orienting, maintaining, and executive attention in individuals with eating disorder symptomatology might be an important first step in improving these existing therapies. Attentional biases can be identified using a variety of techniques, including eye movement in response to stimuli (gaze patterns; focal points) as assessed by sophisticated eye tracking tasks. The current project sought to evaluate eye movement behavior related to body dissatisfaction, and to assess the feasibility of modifying attention. Participants (N = 1017) completed survey measures assessing disordered eating and body image (n = 1011), and participants meeting eligibility requirements participated in the in-person eye-tracking assessment (n = 85). Overall, longer gaze duration was associated with more dissatisfying body regions, and the attention modification intervention decreased time spent looking at the most dissatisfying region. Gaze time on the most dissatisfying body region was not different for self images compared with other images, nor was there an influence of level of shape concern. Body image anxiety also reduced after the attention modification intervention. These results suggest that it is feasible to modify attention biases related to body dissatisfaction. Implications and future extensions of this study are discussed.
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Munafò, Marianna. "L'ipotesi del bias attentivo nella fobia del sangue: un contributo psicofisiologico." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3421901.
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The work presented in this thesis describes three studies which had as their aim the investigation of the presence of an attention bias in blood-injection-injury phobia through behavioural and eletrocortical measurements. Different experimental paradigms and emotional control categories were used to test the specificity of the attentional bias towards phobia-related stimuli and to identify the attentive processes involved.Il presente lavoro di tesi ha l'obieetivo di indagare la presenza di un bias arttentivo nella fobia di sangue-iniezioni-ferite attraverso misure comportamentali ed eletrocorticali. Sono stati impiegati paradigmi sperimentali e categorie emozionali di controllo differenti al fine di testare la specificità del bias attentivo e di identificare i processi attentivi coinvolti.
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Christ, Bjorn U. "Personality and attention bias in adults with a history of childhood trauma, and attenuating effects of mu-opioid agonist buprenorphine on attention bias." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10247.
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The current study compared personality characteristics and cognitive functioning (specifically, attentional bias) in a sample of adults who had experienced childhood trauma (the Trauma group) and a matched healthy control group. The study also examined the possible effects of the mu-opioid agonist buprenorphine on attentional bias in the Trauma group.
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Capriola, Nicole N. "Associations between Fear of Negative Evaluation and Covert and Overt Attention Bias Through Eye-Tracking and Visual Dot Probe." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83431.
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Social Anxiety Disorder is characterized by irrational and persistent fears of potential evaluation and scrutiny by others. For socially anxious youth, the core, maladaptive cognition is fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Whereas Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets remediation of intense and unfounded FNE, Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) targets attention bias. The degree to which FNE and biased attention are related processes is unknown. This study sought to assess the relationship between FNE and two indices of attention bias (dot probe and eye-tracking). In addition, this study examines differences in attention bias between a clinically confirmed group of youth SAD and healthy controls. A significant group difference in average latency to fixate on angry faces was found [F(1,65) = 31.94, p < .001, ηp2 = .33]. However, the pattern was not consistent across the other attention bias metrics (i.e., dot probe bias scores and first fixation direction percentage towards angry faces). In addition, associations between FNE and the attention bias metrics were not statistically significant in either group. Future directions and implications of these findings within the context of refinements to existing interventions are discussed.Master of Science
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is characterized by irrational and persistent fears of potential evaluation and scrutiny by others. For socially anxious youth, a main feature of the disorder is fear of negative evaluation (FNE). Whereas Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets FNE, Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) targets attention bias. However, the degree to which FNE and biased attention are related processes has not been studied. This study examined the relationship between FNE and two indices of attention bias (dot probe and eye-tracking). This study also examines differences in attention bias between a youth with SAD and healthy youth (no psychological diagnoses). Group differences were found for only one attention bias measure (i.e., youth with SAD were quicker to look at anger faces relative to non-anxious youth). In addition, associations between FNE and the attention bias metrics were not statistically significant in either group. Future directions of these findings are discussed.
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Fitzgerald, Marilyn. "Are attention bias and interpretation bias reflections of a single common mechanism or multiple independent mechanisms?" University of Western Australia. School of Psychology, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2009.0052.
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There is abundant evidence of anxiety-linked threat-biased attention and anxiety-linked threat-biased interpretation (cf. Mathews & MacLeod, 1994, 2005). The present research aimed to determine whether these cognitive biases reflect a single common underlying mechanism (the Common Mechanism Account) or multiple independent underlying mechanisms (the Independent Mechanisms Account). To address this question, a battery of eight experimental tasks was developed; four tasks measured attention bias and four measured interpretation bias. Participants with different levels of trait anxiety, completed pairs of these tasks. The pattern of associations amongst all eight tasks was compared with the pattern of associations between the four tasks that measured attention bias and the pattern of associations between the four tasks that measured interpretation bias. Both Accounts predicted strong associations between the four tasks that measured attention bias, and between the four tasks that measured interpretation bias. However, the Common Mechanism Account predicted generally strong associations between all of the eight tasks, that were equivalent in strength to the associations between tasks measuring attention bias and to the associations between tasks measuring interpretation bias. In contrast, the Independent Mechanisms Account predicted weaker associations between all of the eight tasks than the associations either between the tasks measuring attention bias or between the tasks measuring interpretation bias. The obtained pattern of associations between internally reliable measures of anxiety-linked attention bias and anxiety-linked interpretation bias failed to support the Common Mechanism Account, but rather was consistent with the predictions of the Independent Mechanisms Account. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.
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Callinan, Sheila. "Attention training and traumatic stress symptoms : a controlled evaluation." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2011. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/attention-training-and-traumatic-stress-symptoms-a-controlled-evaluation(e72491ae-ac30-4556-a76a-2e533277593a).html.
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Many of the symptoms characteristic of PTSD such as hypervigiliance towards threat, involve attentional processes. The first part of this thesis explored the role of attentional processes in the maintenance and treatment of PTSD. Although general models of anxiety give attentional processes central prominence cognitive models of PTSD (e.g., Foa & Riggs, 1993; Brewin, Dalgleish, & Joseph, 1996; Ehlers & Clark, 2000) assign an important role to trauma memory and place little or no emphasis on the role of attentional processes in maintaining symptoms. Models of anxiety have suggested that attentional bias is automatic (Mathews & Macleod, 2002) or strategic (Wells & Mathews, 1994). Wells' (2000) Metacognitive Model of PTSD is one of the few models to emphasis thinking style and attention rather then memory. In this model attentional bias is thought to be strategic in nature. The evidence reviewed supports a role of attention in PTSD and suggests it may be beneficial to modify this process. Two different attention techniques based on models of bias are reviewed.The second part of the thesis described a randomized controlled evaluation of attentional training technique (ATT; Wells, 1990) on traumatic stress symptoms in a sample of 60 university students, who had previously experienced a stressful life event. ATT is a technique used in metacognitive therapy to modify the control of attention. Participants were randomly assigned to either an ATT group (n = 29) or a control group (n = 31). An emotional attention set shifting task was included as an objective measure of attention. The results supported the hypotheses, ATT reduced intrusions and negative affect, increased self-report attention flexibility and modified performance on the attention set shifting task. The results are consistent with the metacognitive model of PTSD. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed and the results add to studies suggesting positive effects of the technique across a range of disorders.The third part critically reflected on methodological and ethical issues from the above research study. The interpretation of the findings is limited by the student population. It is acknowledged that the results are preliminary in nature but it is believed that the study provides useful insights into the role of attentional processes in the development and treatment of traumatic stress symptoms and provides a basis for studies in the future.
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Read, Kendra Louise. "EXAMINING ATTENTION CONTROL AS A MODERATOR OF THREAT-RELATED ATTENTION BIAS AMONG ANXIETY DISORDERED YOUTH." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/344267.
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PsychologyPh.D.
Research from the information processing and temperament literatures has proposed dysfunction within systems of attention, including early attentional orientation (bottom-up) and later executive control of attention (top-down), in contribution toward the development of anxiety disorders. This study investigated the moderating role of attentional control on the relationship between threat-related attention bias and youth anxiety severity. Participants were 107 treatment-seeking youth (7-17 years, Mage = 11.17 years, SD = 3.06; 41.4% male) who met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Multimodal assessment (behavioral, youth-, and parent-report) of attention control, threat-related attention bias, and anxiety severity was conducted. Hierarchical regression analyses provided little support for attention control as a moderator of the relationship between threat-related attention bias and anxiety severity. However, attention control was identified as a more salient predictor of anxiety severity than threat-related attention bias. Measures of attention were identified as distinct from parent-reported symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression for youth. Similarly, measures of attention and anxiety severity for youth were not related to parenting behavior or parental attention control but were influenced by parents’ self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.
Temple University--Theses
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Zerrouk, Mohamed. "Attention Bias in Middle Childhood: The Impact of Effortful Control and Temperament." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/103514.
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Identifying whether a stimulus is threatening or not is critical for staying safe. The faster one can detect a threat, the greater chance there is to avoid any potential danger. Factors contributing to the visual attention of threat are therefore informative. Previous research has examined how aspects of temperament and effortful control interact and affect the attention allocated to threats, especially in clinically anxious populations. However, there is a sparsity of this literature existing for nonclinical populations. My study addressed previous gaps by examining whether negative affect and fear impact an attention bias to threat in children aged 6 through 8 while assessing how attentional control and inhibitory control moderate these relations. A modified visual search task with snakes as the threat was given to the participants after the children’s parents completed questionnaires and the children completed an attentional control task. Results showed that an attentional bias to snakes was seen in the sample. Negative affect as a main effect nor as an interaction effect with attentional control predicted for the attention bias to snakes. Fear predicted for the attention bias to snakes as a main effect. Interestingly, inhibitory control moderated the relation between fear and the attention bias to snakes. Only children with high inhibitory control and high fear predicted for the attention bias to snakes. Findings may indicate children with this temperament are more vulnerable to the onset of anxiety.M.S.
Identifying whether a stimulus is threatening or not is critical for staying safe. The faster one can detect a threat, the greater chance there is to avoid any potential danger. Factors contributing to the visual attention of threat are therefore informative. Previous research has examined how aspects of temperament and effortful control interact and affect the attention allocated to threats, especially in clinically anxious populations. However, there is a sparsity of literature existing for nonclinical populations. My study addressed previous gaps by examining whether aspects of temperament, specifically negative affect and fear, impact an attention bias to threat in children aged 6 through 8 while assessing how aspects of effortful control, specifically attentional control and inhibitory control, moderate these relations. A visual search task where participants would select a target among distractors with snakes as the target representing threat was given to the child participants after the children’s parents completed questionnaires and the children completed an I-spy task which measured the children’s attentional control. Results showed that an attentional bias to snakes was seen in the sample. Negative affect did not solely nor when interacted with attentional control predict for the attention bias to snakes. Fear predicted for the attention bias to snakes as a main effect. Interestingly, inhibitory control moderated the relation between fear and the attention bias to snakes, which meant that only children with high inhibitory control and high fear predicted for the attention bias to snakes. Findings may indicate children with this temperament are greater susceptible the development of anxiety.
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Holmes, Amanda Heloise. "Anxiety and attentional bias : the role of central attention processes." Thesis, Birkbeck (University of London), 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.395161.
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Southworth, Felicity. "Rumination and selective attention : an investigation of the impaired disengagement hypothesis." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/20017.
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The primary aim of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between rumination and selective attention, in particular, whether the tendency to ruminate is associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative information. It is well-established that the tendency to ruminate in response to negative mood is a key vulnerability factor in the development of depression (Nolen-Hoekseman, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008; Watkins, 2008), but attempts to understand the underlying processes contributing to heightened ruminative disposition have been relatively limited. Recently, a number of researchers have suggested that rumination may be characterised by biased attentional processing of negative information, particularly that individuals with high levels of ruminative disposition may have difficulty disengaging their attention from negative information (e.g., Koster, De Lissnyder, Derakshan, & De Raedt, 2011). Studies One and Two each investigated the relationship between individual differences in ruminative disposition and selective attention for negative information, using a modified dot-probe task designed by Grafton, Watkins, and MacLeod (2012) to enable the discrete assessment of biases in attentional engagement and disengagement. Study One found that heightened levels of dispositional ruminative brooding, as assessed by both the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS; Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991) and an in-vivo assessment of ruminative disposition, were associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative relative to positive information. Similarly, Study Two also found that heightened levels of ruminative disposition were associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative information, particularly for depression relevant stimuli presented for 1000ms. Study Three sought to extend these findings using an eye-tracking assessment of selective attention to measure the spontaneous allocation of attention between stimuli. However, ruminative disposition was not significantly associated with any index of attentional bias during the eye-tracking assessment, neither with biased attentional disengagement, nor with biased attentional engagement or maintenance of attention. Study Four then sought to replicate findings from Study Two using a selected sample of individuals with high and low levels of ruminative disposition. Participants in the high rumination group demonstrated greater attentional bias for depression relevant negative stimuli presented for 1000ms in comparison to those in the low rumination group. However, this between group difference reflected a general attentional preference for negative relative to positive stimuli (i.e., composite of attentional engagement and disengagement bias), but no specific difference in attentional disengagement bias or attentional engagement bias was observed. Finally, Study Five took a first step towards investigate the causal relationship between rumination and selective attention by investigating the causal effect of rumination on attentional bias. Although there no main effect of induced rumination on attentional bias was observed, the effect of induced rumination on attentional bias was found to be moderated by ruminative disposition. However, contrary to hypotheses, individuals with low levels of ruminative disposition demonstrated an attentional bias for valence-incongruent stimuli, which shifted to a bias for valence-congruent stimuli as ruminative disposition increased. Overall, there was support across the studies for the primary hypothesis that heightened ruminative disposition is associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative information. However, the findings do not suggest that ruminative disposition is exclusively associated with attentional disengagement bias, but instead indicate that facilitated attentional engagement may also be involved under some circumstances.
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Berglof, Hollie K. "Differential Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Depression: Potential Bias and Misdiagnosis." DigitalCommons@USU, 2003. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/6189.
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This study investigated whether psychologists are attempting to distinguish between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression in youth. Findings indicate that, overall, clinicians are conducting comprehensive evaluations and considering ADHD and depression as likely diagnoses. Clinicians were more likely to use self-report depression measures if the client was female or adolescent than if the child was male or school age; however, they were equally likely to incorporate ADHD-related measures with males and females , and 8 year olds and 15 year olds . Clinicians were more likely to consider adolescents than school-age children and females than males to have a mood disorder. Doctoral-level clinicians were more likely to consider a mood disorder and ADHD than master's- level clinicians. Clinicians who had completed a child psychopathology course were more likely to consider ADHD than those who had not completed such a course. The implications of these findings for child-oriented clinicians are discussed.
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Shrivastava, Sunaina. "Can’t switch off: the impact of an attentional bias on attitudes." Diss., University of Iowa, 2019. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6855.
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Extant attention theories explain how individuals direct attention towards different stimuli. However, the theories are relatively silent about how attention is switched off, other than the idea that attention to a stimulus may cease because another stimulus overwhelms the first in its demand for attention. We theorized that individuals have a tendency to ‘not switch off’ attention from a current process, in the absence of a competing stimulus that wrenches attention away from it. We present evidence consistent with this attentional bias – individuals continue attending to an ongoing mundane process until it reaches its ‘end’, even when that attention is normatively unwarranted, namely under conditions where (1) they cannot control or influence the process and (2) they are aware of the outcome with a reasonable degree of certainty as well. Moreover, since attention is a limited capacity resource, such attentional hijacking is negatively hedonically marked which gets mis-attributed to salient available targets. Consequently, we also demonstrate decreased positivity in attitudes towards entities associated with the incomplete process.
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Sutterby, Scott. "Attentional Bias Across the Dimension of Social Anxiety." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2006. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1005.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Psychology
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Hindi, Attar Catherine. "Affective bias in visual selective attention evidence from EEG and fMRI." Leipzig Leipziger Univ.-Verl, 2009. http://d-nb.info/1001282736/04.
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Parsons, Kelley Sue. "CHANGES IN SIGNAL PROBABILITY AND RESPONSE BIAS IN VIGILANCE." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin998424827.
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Jeffrey, Sian. "Attentional and interpretive bias manipulation : transfer of training effects between sub-types of cognitive bias." University of Western Australia. School of Psychology, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0234.
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[Truncated abstract] It is well established that anxiety vulnerability is characterised by two biased patterns of selective information processing (Mathews & MacLeod, 1986; Mogg & Bradley, 1998). First anxiety is associated with an attentional bias, reflecting the selective allocation of attention to threatening stimuli in the environment (Mathews & MacLeod, 1985; MacLeod, Mathews & Tata, 1986; MacLeod & Cohen, 1993). Second anxiety is associated with an interpretive bias, reflecting a disproportionate tendency to resolve ambiguity in a threatening manner (Mogg et al., 1994). These characteristics are shown by normal individual high in trait anxiety (Mathews, Richards & Eysenck, 1989; Mogg, Bradley & Hallowell, 1994; Mathews & MacLeod, 1994), and by examining clinically anxious patients who repeatedly report elevated trait anxiety levels (MacLeod, Mathews & Tata, 1986; Mogg & Bradley, 1998). '...' Two alternative hypotheses regarding this relationship are proposed. One hypothesis is that attentional and interpretive biases are concurrent expressions of a single underlying biased selectivity mechanism that characterises anxiety vulnerability (the Common Mechanism account). In contrast, a quite different hypothesis is that attentional and interpretive biases are independent cognitive anomalies that represent separate pathways to anxiety vulnerability (the Independent Mechanisms account). The present research program was designed to empirically test the predictions that differentiate the Common Mechanism and Independent Mechanisms accounts. The general methodological approach that was adopted was to employ bias manipulation tasks from the literature that have been developed and validated to directly modify one class of processing bias (i.e. attentional bias or interpretive bias). The effect of these direct bias manipulation tasks on a measure of the same class of processing bias or the other class of processing bias was then examined. The Common Mechanism and Independent Mechanisms accounts of the relationship between attentional and interpretive bias generate differing predictions concerning the impact of directly manipulating one class of processing bias upon a measure of the other class of processing bias. The central difference between the alternate accounts is their predictions regarding cross-bias transfer, that is the transfer of training effects from direct manipulation of one class of processing bias to a measure of the other class of processing bias. Whereas the Common Mechanism account predicts that such cross-bias transfer will occur, the Independent Mechanisms account does not predict such transfer. A series of seven studies is reported in this thesis. There was some difficulty achieving successful bias modification using bias manipulation approaches established in the literature; however when such manipulation was achieved no cross-bias transfer was observed. Therefore the obtained pattern of results was consistent with the Independent Mechanisms (IM) account, and inconsistent with the Common Mechanism (CM) account. A more detailed version of the IM account is developed to more fully accommodate the specific results obtained in this thesis.
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Foo, Chia Mun. "Learning Requires Attention for Binding Affective Reinforcement to Information Content." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/555.
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Humans are limited in their capacity to process information about the environment; to choose the most salient details to process, we have to make rapid value appraisals and prioritize our attentional resources. In this proposed study, it is expected that attention is required to learn from affective information. Learning is measured by the difference between update (the difference between the first and second estimation) and the estimation error (the difference between the average likelihood and the first estimation). Using a belief-updating paradigm, participants will be asked to estimate their likelihood of encountering a negative event, once before and once after they receive the average likelihood information. By comparing the difference in estimations after being exposed to desirable or undesirable information and a positive or negative reinforcer across three levels of attentional load, the effects of attention on learning from affective reinforcement can be examined. It is proposed that attention mediates learning from affective information. This is demonstrated by the failure to learn differentially from affective information under high attentional load, while in a no load condition participants will learn differentially according to the type of news and affective reinforcer that they receive. The expected result would indicate that attention is a necessity for optimal learning outcomes, especially when learning from affective information. This has implications in the effectiveness of communicating affective information, such as in the health care field.
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Fani, Negar. "Neural Correlates of Attention Bias in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A fMRI Study." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2011. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_diss/87.
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Attention biases to trauma-related information contribute to symptom maintenance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); this phenomenon has been observed through various behavioral studies, although findings from studies using a precise, direct bias task, the dot probe, have been mixed. PTSD neuroimaging studies have indicated atypical function in specific brain regions involved with attention bias; when viewing emotionally-salient cues or engaging in tasks that require attention, individuals with PTSD have demonstrated altered activity in brain regions implicated in cognitive control and attention allocation, including the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and amygdala. However, remarkably few PTSD neuroimaging studies have employed tasks that both measure attentional strategies being engaged and include emotionally-salient information.
In the current study of attention biases in highly traumatized African-American adults, a version of the dot probe task that includes stimuli that are both salient (threatening facial expressions) and relevant (photographs of African-American faces) was administered to 19 participants with and without PTSD during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). I hypothesized that: 1) individuals with PTSD would show a significantly greater attention bias to threatening faces than traumatized controls; 2) PTSD symptoms would be associated with a significantly greater attentional bias toward threat expressed in African-American, but not Caucasian, faces; 3) PTSD symptoms would be significantly associated with abnormal activity in the mPFC, dlPFC, and amygdala during presentation of threatening faces.
Behavioral data did not provide evidence of attentional biases associated with PTSD. However, increased activation in the dlPFC and regions of the mPFC in response to threat cues was found in individuals with PTSD, relative to traumatized controls without PTSD; this may reflect hyper-engaged cognitive control, attention, and conflict monitoring resources in these individuals. Additionally, viewing threat in same-race, both not other-race, faces was associated with increased activation in the mPFC. These findings have important theoretical and treatment implications, suggesting that PTSD, particularly in those individuals who have experienced chronic or multiple types of trauma, may be characterized less by top-down “deficits” or failures, but by imbalanced neurobiological and cognitive systems that become over-engaged in order to “control” the emotional disruption caused by trauma-related triggers.
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Pettit, Sharon. "Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder : the role of delay aversion and attentional bias." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.390719.
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Morrison, Amanda Sue. "Attention Bias and Attentional Control in the Development of Social Anxiety Disorder." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2014. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/290208.
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PsychologyPh.D.
Although several efficacious treatments exist for social anxiety disorder (SAD), less research has been devoted to identifying specific mechanisms involved in the etiology of SAD using high-risk, longitudinal designs. Given the high prevalence and personal and societal burden associated with a diagnosis of SAD, research is needed to elucidate causal factors at play in the development of SAD to inform innovative prevention programs for at-risk individuals. Theoretical models and empirical research suggest that biased attention toward threat-relevant information is an important factor in the maintenance of SAD. However, relatively little is known about the role of attention bias to threat in the development of SAD, and evidence is inconclusive with regard to whether attention biases lead to increases in anxiety over time. Also, only one study has examined attentional control as a potential factor moderating this relationship despite long-held assertions that "control over cognitive processes" may be an important individual difference factor determining the strength of the relationship between attention bias and development of excessive anxiety. Finally, a few studies have shown that attention bias to threat predicts stress reactivity, but these studies have only been conducted in unselected samples rather than with individuals at risk for developing SAD. Thus, the aims of this study were to examine the moderating effects of risk for SAD and attentional control on the relationships between attention bias to threat and (1) psychological and biological social stress reactivity and (2) development of SAD. The primary aim of the study was to examine the aforementioned relationships using attention bias to threat as assessed using the modified probe detection task (MPDT). In an exploratory analysis, the relationships were examined using an index of attention disengagement bias assessed with the Posner spatial cueing task (PSCT). Attentional control was represented by four indices, analyzed in separate regression analyses given their weak bivariate associations (i.e., Antisaccade task reaction time and accuracy rate, Attention Network Test executive control score, and total score on the Attentional Control Scale). First-year college students at low or high risk for developing SAD completed assessments of attention bias, attentional control, and anxiety during their first month of college. Approximately four months later, they completed a social stressor task and the same self-report measures of social anxiety. At the end of their first year in college, they completed the self-report measures of social anxiety once more, as well as a diagnostic interview for SAD. Correlational analyses indicated that attention bias to threat on the MPDT was associated with concurrent self-reported social anxiety but did not prospectively predict psychological or biological social stress reactivity, self-reported social anxiety, or SAD diagnostic status at the end of the first year in college. Hierarchical regression analyses supported the hypothesized double moderation for concurrent social anxiety, such that high levels of attentional control weakened the association between attention bias toward threat and social anxiety, only among the individuals at high risk for SAD. However, analyses did not support this relationship in predicting prospective outcomes, and several unexpected patterns emerged in which interactions between attention bias and attentional control were observed to predict prospective outcomes, but only among individuals at low risk for developing SAD. Likewise, exploratory analyses using the PSCT index of attention bias revealed unexpected interactions between risk group, attention bias, and attentional control. Considered together, results of the current study highlight the importance of considering individual differences in attention bias and attentional control in the maintenance and development of SAD.
Temple University--Theses
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Akber, Tedis. "Clarifying the role of attention on Own Gender Bias in face recognition." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 2015. http://oleg.lib.strath.ac.uk:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=24984.
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Extensive research in face recognition has demonstrated that we are better at remembering individuals belonging to our own social groups than those who do not. There is a tendency to remember better faces which belong to our own race (Own Race Bias, Meissner and Brigham, 2001), our own age (Own Age Bias, Anastasi & Rhodes, 2012) and even our own gender (Own Gender Bias, Herlitz & Loven, 2013). The present thesis aimed to examine possible underlying mechanisms concerning Own Gender Bias. While research on this topic is fairly limited, in general female observers compared to male observers demonstrate an advantage in face recognition. Further, this advantage is more prominent for female faces than for male faces. This tendency to better recognise same gender faces is only consistent for female observers (Herlitz & Loven, 2013). Recent studies on Own Gender Bias emphasise the role of attention; however two studies (Loven, Herlitz, & Rehnman, 2011; Palmer, Brewer, & Horry, 2013) which have directly investigated its role provide inconsistent results. The role of attention has been further highlighted by Hugenberg and colleagues (Hugenberg, Wilson, See, & Young, 2013), in their recent extension of Categorisation-Individuation Model (CIM), where they aim to apply the model to all Own Group Biases. Hugenberg and colleagues also emphasised the role of motivation, especially for Own Gender Bias, since the perceptual models might be less applicable to Own Gender Bias considering that at their core lays the amount of experience that one has with a category of faces. By drawing on the plethora of research on Own Race Bias and the recent findings from Own Gender Bias literature, the main aim of this thesis was to examine specific attentional and motivational processes which may underlie Own Gender Bias in face recognition. Studies 1a and 1b investigated the ability of same gender faces in capturing attention when they were task irrelevant. The results did not reveal any gender differences however an initial preferential allocation of attention to the male face was demonstrated (in manual reaction times as well as eye movement analysis), a finding which was interpreted in terms of male faces being perceived as more threatening. It was argued that participant gender might be more important in later stages of attention rather than in the pre-attentional stages of attention. Hence, 12 in study 2a and 2b sustained attention was examined in a go/no-go task, where the face was also task irrelevant. Based on previous findings (Bindemann, Burton, Hooge, Jenkins, & De Haan, 2005), it was assumed that faces would sustain attention compared to other objects, however this finding as well as any indication of gender differences or a possibility of same gender faces holding attention were not found. Therefore, Study 3 used eye tracking technology to examine the role of attention during encoding and recognition stages while participants performed a simple yes/no recognition task. Study 3 aimed to control for perceptual expertise by utilising androgynous faces (gender ambiguous faces) in a between groups design, where for each group, the gender social category of the androgynous faces was activated. Results suggested that female observers outperformed male performers, with no indication of Own Gender Bias being present. The eye movement analysis seemed to suggest that male and female observers differed from each other in the amount of attention that they paid to the eyebrow and the nose regions of the face. It was only the amount of attention paid to the eyebrow region which was found to result in low accuracy scores; no other pattern for the other internal features was found. Considering the absence of the Own Gender Bias, and findings that participants' sexual orientation seems to modulate the male Own Gender Bias (Steffens et al., 2013), Study 4 used a simple yes/no recognition task without manipulating the face stimuli to examine the basic effect of Own Gender Bias. Furthermore, Study 4 took a social cognitive perspective with an evolutionary viewpoint, where partner guarding and mating purposes variables were hypothesized to act as motivation. It was argued that if Own Gender Bias is subsumed by motivation (as suggested by CIM) then females who routinely inspect other females for mate guarding purposes would display a stronger female Own Gender Bias. However an opposite sex Gender Bias was expected for those who were sexually unrestricted and were always searching for new short-term partners. The results revealed no Own Gender Bias, even on groups who scored high on mate guarding and searching. It was speculated that since females' behaviour especially in relation to mate guarding and mate preferences changes throughout the menstrual cycle, it might be a variable that might need to be taken into consideration in future studies on Own Gender Bias. It was concluded that further studies are needed to establish the consistency of Own Gender Bias, furthermore the results were discussed in terms of the different theories of own group bias.
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Sharpe, Emma. "Attention, emotion processing and eating-related psychopathology." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2016. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/21487.
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The work within this thesis examined aspects of emotion processing among non-clinical females who varied in levels of eating-related psychopathology. Five studies employed a quantitative approach in order to assess potential deficits in both the control and experience of emotion. To examine the experience of emotion, Studies 1, 2 and 3 assessed the attentional processing of emotional stimuli in those with high and low levels of eating-related psychopathology. In Studies 1 and 2, specific components of attention bias including orientation, disengagement and avoidance were assessed in order to explore their role in contributing to disordered eating behaviour. Findings from these studies did not reveal any differences in attentional orienting between those with high and low levels of eating-related psychopathology. However, when primed with happy faces, those with high levels of disordered eating were significantly quicker than those with low levels to disengage from threat-relevant words. This finding could be interpreted in terms of emotional arousal with happy facial displays providing a protective function against subsequently presented stimuli. With regards to emotional avoidance, those with higher levels of eating-related psychopathology were more likely to avoid emotional displays relative to those with lower levels. In fact, a higher drive to achieve thinness was shown to predict a greater avoidance of both angry and happy facial expressions. Interestingly, depression, anxiety and alexithymia were all shown to impact upon attentional processing. In Study 3, the efficacy of attention training in reducing attentional biases towards threat in women with varying levels of disordered eating was examined. Importantly, a single session of attention training was found to be successful in modifying previously observed attentional biases towards threat. However, eating-related psychopathology was shown to have only a partial influence on participants attention processing. These findings suggest that the success of attention training may be independent of disordered eating. To examine the control of emotion within a non-clinical population, Study 4 utilised self-report questionnaires to explore associations between deficits in emotional functioning and severity of eating-related psychopathology. The data obtained from this questionnaire-based investigation are reported in a series of three short studies. Specifically, Study 4.1 of this chapter examined the relationship between difficulties in the regulation of emotion within eating-related psychopathology. Furthermore, Studies 4.2 and 4.3 set out to explore some of the factors which may influence emotion processing, such as pessimistic attitudes regarding emotional expression. Across all studies, the role of depression, anxiety and alexithymia as potential confounding factors was considered. Findings revealed a significant relationship between eating-related psychopathology and difficulties regulating emotion. Dysfunctional or negative attitudes towards the expression of emotion were also linked to a greater number of eating disorder-related concerns and behaviours. However, many of the associations between eating-related psychopathology and impaired emotional functioning were no longer apparent when depression, anxiety and alexithymia had been statistically accounted for. These findings not only support previous research, but highlight the importance of mood and alexithymia in contributing to the emotional deficits observed. Finally, Study 5 aimed to explore the potential consequences of inadequate emotion processing within eating-related psychopathology. Self-report measures were utilised to assess the frequency of eating-related intrusive thoughts in those with high levels of eating-related psychopathology. As predicted, those with greater levels of disordered eating reported experiencing a higher frequency of thoughts or intrusions relating to eating. This may point towards a failure to successfully process emotional experience in this group. Taken together, this body of work enhances the current understanding of the role of emotion processing in contributing to both the onset and maintenance of disordered eating. These findings also emphasise the key role of mood and alexithymia in influencing the relationship between emotional functioning and eating-related psychopathology. Therefore further research examining emotion processing within disordered eating must acknowledge the potential contribution of depression, anxiety and alexithymia. Furthermore, the present findings provide clear support for the development of a model of cognitive-emotion processing within eating-related psychopathology. The implications of these findings for both eating disorder treatment and prevention are discussed. Possible directions for future research are also identified.
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Preston, Jennifer Leigh. "Is attentional bias towards threat a hallmark of chronic worry?" Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1153692231.
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Lunning, Ashley. "Teachers' bias in referring students with ADHD characteristics for special education services." Online version, 2009. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2009/2009lunninga.pdf.
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King, Kristine. "A Treatment Feasibility Study of an Attention Retraining Approach for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/42697.
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Information-processing studies have shown an attentional bias (AB) towards threat cues in individuals with anxiety disorders. Research has consistently shown that AB to threat may play a causal role in the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Recent empirical evidence has demonstrated support for Attention Retraining (AR) to modify AB to threat, resulting in reductions of anxiety. Currently, AR approaches have not been systematically tested in individuals with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of a computer-based attention retraining (CBAR) treatment for clinical levels of PTSD using a modified dot-probe paradigm. A single-case time-series design was employed with a treatment and post-treatment period, following baseline. Results indicated significant reductions in trauma-related symptoms, attention to threat cues, state anxiety and depression, along with a significant increase in coping self-efficacy. AB change for the group was not significant. A significant relationship between AB change and PTSD symptoms was found. The results were discussed from the standpoint of the viability of AR for trauma.Master of Science
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Griesmer, Allison E. "The Utilization of Eyetracking to Understand Attention Switching in Socially Anxious and Depressed Individuals." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1495320053409078.
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Rooney, Tessa. "Exploring a Potential Facilitating Role for Pain-Related Attentional Bias in Nocebo Hyperalgesia." Thesis, Faculty of Science, School of Psychology, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/28533.
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The nocebo effect comprises the negative counterpart of the placebo. This occurs when administration of an inert intervention, coupled with negative information or conditioning, results in the occurrence of negative effects. While the literature agrees on the importance of negative expectancies in activating nocebo effects, other potential factors remain relatively overlooked. The aim of the present study was to use a novel gaze-augmented dot-probe task to investigate whether pain-related attentional bias contributes to nocebo effects. This was founded on theories within the pain literature, which propose a causal role for attentional biases in the subsequent experience of pain. Ninety-three participants (60 female, M = 19.67) were randomly allocated to one of four groups (nocebo-towards, nocebo-away, control-towards, control-away). A gaze-augmented variant of the the dot-probe training task was designed in an attempt to manipulate attentional biases either towards or away from pain. Participants then received either nocebo or control instruction and conditioning, by pairing a sham TENS device with contingently high pain stimulation (nocebo) or non-contingent pairing (control). Participants were required to rate pain intensity, expectancy and distress during a test phase where all TENS and no-TENS shocks were administered at the same intensity. Results showed an overall nocebo effect – rating TENS paired shocks higher than no-TENS – for all outcomes. No consistent training effect was shown for attentional bias across reaction time and eye-tracking measures. However, attentional bias was shown to interact with nocebo conditioning for intensity ratings, with tentative partial support shown for expectancy. The key interaction showed attentional bias condition to differentially affect nocebo extinction trends. Thus, results provide preliminary validation for exploration of attentional bias as a potential mechanism of nocebo hyperalgesia, however necessarily a more sensitive and dependable measure of attentional bias must be established to allow more definitive conclusions.
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Calamaras, Martha R. "Evaluating Changes in Attentional Biases following Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Phobia." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2010. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_theses/79.
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The purpose of the current study was to evaluate changes in attentional biases following CBT for Social Phobia. It was found that 1.) consistent with previous investigations, the overall sample displayed vigilance toward threatening facial stimuli prior to receiving treatment, and 2.) participants’ pattern of responding to threatening facial stimuli changed following treat-ment, but only when the sample was divided into those who were vigilant and those who were avoidant prior to treatment. Findings provide support for the presence of two distinct sub-groups with differing attentional styles, one with a tendency for vigilance toward social threats, and a second with a tendency to avoid threat cues. These findings have important implications for how individuals may differentially respond to treatment and may help explain some of the mixed findings in the extant literature on Social Phobia and attention bias.
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Raykos, Bronwyn C. "Attentional and interpretive biases : independent dimensions of individual difference or expressions of a common selective processing mechanism?" University of Western Australia. School of Psychology, 2007. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2007.0018.
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[Truncated abstract] Attentional and interpretive biases are important dimensions of individual difference that have been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of a range of clinical problems. Yet there has been no systematic investigation into the relationship between these dimensions of individual difference. The current research program tested predictions derived from two competing theoretical accounts of the relationship between attentional and interpretive biases. The Common Mechanism Account proposes that cognitive biases represent concurrent manifestations of a single underlying selective processing mechanism. The Independent Mechanism account proposes that independent mechanisms underlie each bias. . . An apparent contradiction is that the manipulation of one bias served to also modify the other bias, despite the observation that the magnitude of the resulting change in both biases was uncorrelated. Neither the Common Mechanism nor the Independent Pathways accounts can adequately explain this pattern of results. A new account is proposed, in which attentional and interpretive biases are viewed as representing mechanisms that are related but that are not the same. Theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed, including the possibility that the two biases each may best predict emotional reactions to quite different stressful events and that training programs designed to attenuate allocation of attentional resources to threat may serve to reduce both attentional and interpretive selectivity in emotionally vulnerable individuals.
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Ware, Lezlee J. "Monitoring Visual Attention in Videotaped Interrogations: An Investigation of the Camera Perspective Bias." Ohio : Ohio University, 2006. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1162582536.
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Sage, Karen Elizabeth. "Attention and emotion processing in children and parents : Exploring anxiety and attentional bias." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.525689.
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Willemse, Cesco. "Beyond the dot-probe : investigating attention bias in social anxiety using novel techniques." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2016. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/63949/.
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The focus of this thesis is on attentional biases for emotional faces within trait social anxiety. There are two central aims. Firstly, to provide a theoretical expansion of what is known about attentional biases in social anxiety, especially regarding the theorised bias-components of facilitated attention toward threat, delayed disengagement away from threat, and attentional avoidance of threat. The second aim is to provide an experimental expansion by exploring paradigms that are relatively novel to the field, by using a mixed-method approach across four studies. The first study presents adaptations of the attentional blink task. Between these tasks, processing stages and task-relevance of the emotional faces are manipulated. The second study investigates whether a child-version of the attentional blink task can be used to investigate attention bias in child social anxiety. Study three means to disentangle bias components by measuring eye-movements using a saccadic curvature paradigm and study four explores if anxiety-related sustained attention toward different emotions is reflected in neural activation with a steady-state visual evoked potential paradigm. Ultimately, the findings and the existing literature are brought together under three themes. The first two map onto the thesis aims. Under the theme of components of attention bias, mixed support for facilitated attention, delayed disengagement and attentional avoidance in social anxiety is offered. The second theme evaluates that, with suggested adjustments, the presented novel techniques have the potential to explore attention bias in social anxiety. The third theme stems from the findings and focuses on how task-relevance of emotion might moderate social anxiety-attention links. Taken together, this thesis extends knowledge of differential information processing in social anxiety and reveals the potential benefits of using novel techniques.
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Maki, Kristen M. "The Effects of Stress Induction on Pre-attentive and Attentional Bias for Threat in Social Anxiety." Fogler Library, University of Maine, 2003. http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/MakiKM2003.pdf.
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McIlwraith, Sarah. "Attention bias for negative semantic stimuli in late life depression and clinical research portfolio." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2009. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1251/.
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Background: Recent studies indicate that depressed individuals may have difficulties disengaging visual-spatial attention from negative information. Preliminary studies in depressed older adults provide evidence for the existence of biased attention to negative stimuli. However, the specific components of attention driving the detected bias effects in this population are not known. Aims: This study examined the mechanisms underlying attention biases in Late Life Depression (LLD). It was predicted that depressed older adults, like their younger counterparts, would demonstrate an impaired ability to disengage attention from negative stimuli relative to neutral and positive stimuli, as compared to non-depressed older adult controls. Methods: 16 clinically depressed older adults and 22 older adult controls matched for age, gender and pre-morbid verbal IQ performed an emotional spatial cueing task that required classifying a target stimulus. The location of the target was correctly or incorrectly cued by a neutral, positive or negative word. Results: Planned comparisons did not support the primary hypotheses. However, participants in the depressed group, in general, were slower to respond than participants in the control group. Conclusions: Results suggest that the ability to disengage attention from negative words is not impaired in LLD; however methodological limitations prevent firm conclusions being drawn. Possible explanations for the results are discussed along with directions for future research.
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Perkins, Kirsten Johanna. "The components of visual attention : how might they contribute to attentional bias in anxiety?" Thesis, Birkbeck (University of London), 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.419535.
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Seehuus, Martin. "Discrepant Attentional Biases Toward Sexual Stimuli." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2015. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/416.
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There are at least two types of response to stimuli: an automatic response that happens before conscious thought (a Type 1 response) and a deliberative, intentional response (a Type 2 response). These responses are related to behavior associated with the affective loading of the stimulus presented. Prior research has shown, for example, that a Type 1 tendency to spend more time looking at fear-provoking stimuli is associated with higher levels of general anxiety, while a Type 2 tendency to spend more time looking away from happy faces is associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Some stimuli categories elicit mixed responses, indicated by discrepant Type 1 and Type 2 responses. For example, alcoholics in recovery tend to look toward alcohol-themed pictures in the first 200 milliseconds, then look away. This suggests that alcoholics in recovery have an automatic draw to alcohol that is overridden by the conscious application of a cognitive schema to avoid alcohol. Sexual response studies to date have measured Type 1 and Type 2 responses separately; however, no study has yet measured both types of response within the same person. This study was the first to examine both Type 1 and Type 2 responses to erotic stimuli within the same individual as a test of within-individual variation of attentional responses to sexual stimuli. Results do not support a connection between either attentional bias or conflicting Type 1 and Type 2 responses and sexual desire or distress. Implications of these non-findings are discussed in theoretical and methodological contexts, and future research is suggested.