Ariel Zvielli

Temporal Dynamics of Attentional Bias

Biases of emotional attention are believed to be central to human (mal)adaptation and multiple forms of psychopathology. Yet fundamental questions remain regarding the nature and empirical study of attentional bias (AB). We thus aimed to (a) test a novel conceptualization and related operationalization of AB expression in time and (b) illuminate the nature of AB and specifically its temporal expression. We examined AB expression in time by means of a novel trial-level bias score (TL-BS) analysis of dot probe task data in two experiments—among spider phobics and healthy controls, and among smoking-deprived daily smokers. Findings revealed evidence of the dynamic expression of AB in time; furthermore, TL-BS parameters demonstrated unique associations with psychopathology and addiction beyond traditional bias score. The present research may help to bring the conceptualization and quantification of AB closer to the nature of the phenomenon and thereby advance basic and clinical knowledge.

Unreliability as a threat to understanding psychopathology: The cautionary tale of attentional bias.

The use of unreliable measures constitutes a threat to our understanding of psychopathology, because advancement of science using both behavioral and biologically oriented measures can only be certain if such measurements are reliable. Two pillars of the National Institute of Mental Healths portfolio-the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative for psychopathology and the target engagement initiative in clinical trials-cannot succeed without measures that possess the high reliability necessary for tests involving mediation and selection based on individual differences. We focus on the historical lack of reliability of attentional bias measures as an illustration of how reliability can pose a threat to our understanding. Our own data replicate previous findings of poor reliability for traditionally used scores, which suggests a serious problem with the ability to test theories regarding attentional bias. This lack of reliability may also suggest problems with the assumption (in both theory and the formula for the scores) that attentional bias is consistent and stable across time. In contrast, measures accounting for attention as a dynamic process in time show good reliability in our data. The field is sorely in need of research reporting findings and reliability for attentional bias scores using multiple methods, including those focusing on dynamic processes over time. We urge researchers to test and report reliability of all measures, considering findings of low reliability not just as a nuisance but as an opportunity to modify and improve upon the underlying theory. Full assessment of reliability of measures will maximize the possibility that RDoC (and psychological science more generally) will succeed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Dynamics of Attentional Bias to Threat in Anxious Adults: Bias towards and/or Away?

The aim of the present study was to question untested assumptions about the nature of the expression of Attentional Bias (AB) towards and away from threat stimuli. We tested the idea that high trait anxious individuals (N = 106; M(SD)age = 23.9(3.2) years; 68% women) show a stable AB towards multiple categories of threatening information using the emotional visual dot probe task. AB with respect to five categories of threat stimuli (i.e., angry faces, attacking dogs, attacking snakes, pointed weapons, violent scenes) was evaluated. In contrast with current theories, we found that 34% of participants expressed AB towards threat stimuli, 20.8% AB away from threat stimuli, and 34% AB towards some categories of threat stimuli and away from others. The multiple observed expressions of AB were not an artifact of a specific criterion AB score cut-off; not specific to certain categories of threat stimuli; not an artifact of differences in within-subject variability in reaction time; nor accounted for by individual differences in anxiety-related variables. Findings are conceptualized as reflecting the understudied dynamics of AB expression, with implications for AB measurement and quantification, etiology, relations, and intervention research.

Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT): Experimental test of a novel intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias

We present an experimental investigation of a novel intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias - Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT). A-FACT is grounded in the novel hypothesis that training awareness of (biased) attentional allocation will lead to greater self-regulatory control of attention and thereby ameliorate attentional bias and its maladaptive sequelae. To do so, A-FACT delivers computerized, personalized, real-time feedback regarding a persons (biased) allocation of attention concurrent with its expression. In a randomized control experimental design, we tested A-FACT relative to an active placebo control condition among anxious adults (N=40, 52.5% women, M(SD)=24.3(4) years old). We found that relative to the placebo control condition, A-FACT led to: (a) reduced levels of attentional bias to threat; (b) (non-significantly) lower rate of behavioral avoidance of exposure to an anxiogenic stressor; and (c) faster rate of emotional recovery following the stressor. The findings are discussed with respect to the novelty and significance of the proposed conceptual perspective, methodology, and intervention paradigm targeting attentional bias.

(De)coupling of our eyes and our mind's eye: A dynamic process perspective on attentional bias.

We aimed to illuminate the theorized, yet empirically elusive, connection between covert and overt attentional processes subserving attentional biases (AB). We found that covert and overt attentional processes were each expressed dynamically, fluctuating from moment-to-moment between phases of (over)engagement and phases of avoidance of threat stimuli. The key features of the temporal dynamics of covert and overt attentional processes were significantly correlated. Moreover, the real-time, dynamic expressions of overt and covert attentional processes were significantly coupled from trial-to-trial; and voluntary inhibition of overt attention decoupled their connection in time. In contrast to this dynamic process perspective on AB, when quantified through the decades-old paradigm conceptualizing AB as a static trait-like phenomenon, covert and overt attentional processes demonstrated (seemingly) no association and poor psychometrics. We discuss the implications of the findings for better understanding the nature of AB, its measurement, bio-psycho-behavioral correlates, and clinical modification. (PsycINFO Database Record

Targeting Biased Emotional Attention to Threat as a Dynamic Process in Time Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT)

Recent findings suggest biases of emotional attention (BEA) may be expressed dynamically, fluctuating from moment to moment between overengagement and avoidance of emotional stimuli. We attempted to modify these temporal dynamics of BEA to threat among trait-anxious adults (N = 61) using Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT). A-FACT is a novel intervention methodology that delivers real-time feedback to a person concurrent with her/his dynamic BEA expression. We found that relative to a placebo control condition, A-FACT led to significantly reduced BEA dynamics toward and away from threat, temporal variability in BEA, and emotional reactivity to an anxiogenic stressor. Findings illustrate that BEA may be optimally conceptualized and quantified as a dynamic process in time and that intervention methods sensitive to and capable of targeting BEA process dynamics in real time—as in A-FACT—represent a promising new direction for cognitive bias modification research.

Attentional bias temporal dynamics predict posttraumatic stress symptoms: a prospective-longitudinal study among soldiers

Attentional bias (AB) to threat is thought to play a key role in the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTS). Empirical evidence though is inconsistent. Some studies report associations between AB towards, threat and PTS; other studies report associations between AB away from threat and PTS; yet other studies fail to find any association. We propose that prospective–longitudinal study of AB as a dynamic process, expressed from moment to moment in time, may help to understand these mixed findings and the role of AB in PTS.

Attentional Bias Dynamics and Posttraumatic Stress in Survivors of Violent Conflict and Atrocities New Directions in Clinical Psychological Science of Refugee Mental Health

Survivors of violent conflict and atrocities, forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) are at risk for trauma-related mental health problems. Experimental clinical research key to the development of interventions tailored to FDPs is limited. We examined relations among attentional bias (AB) to trauma cues, posttraumatic stress symptom (PTS) severity, and behavioral avoidance of exposure to trauma-related stimuli. A total of 110 Sudanese male asylum seekers (age M = 32.7, SD = 6.5) were recruited from the community in Israel. AB temporal dynamics significantly predicted levels of PTS as well as behavioral avoidance of exposure to trauma stimuli specifically. No effects were observed when AB was quantified traditionally as an aggregated mean representing a static trait. Findings demonstrate the potential role of AB dynamics in PTS among FDPs, help disambiguate extant mixed findings between AB and PTS, and suggest that cognitive bias modification targeting AB dynamics may be a promising new direction for FDP mental health research.

Exploration of a Factor Mixture-Based Taxonic-Dimensional Model of Anxiety Sensitivity and Transdiagnostic Psychopathology Vulnerability Among Trauma-Exposed Adults

The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between a factor mixture-based taxonic-dimensional model of anxiety sensitivity (AS) and posttraumatic stress, panic, generalized anxiety, depression, psychiatric multimorbidity, and quality of life among a young adult sample exposed to traumatic stress (N = 103, n females = 66, M age = 23.68 years, SD age = 9.55). Findings showed support for the conceptual and operational utility of the AS taxonic-dimensional model with respect to concurrent transdiagnostic vulnerability among trauma-exposed adults. Specifically, relative to the low-AS group, the high-AS group demonstrated elevated levels of panic, depressive, and posttraumatic stress symptom severity as well as greater psychiatric multimorbidity and poorer quality of life. Furthermore, past-month MDD, GAD, PTSD, and panic attacks occurred nearly exclusively among the high-AS group. Continuous AS physical and psychological concerns scores were found to be significantly related to levels of panic and posttraumatic stress symptom severity, psychiatric multimorbidity as well as panic attack status only among the high-AS group and not among the low-AS group. Findings are discussed with respect to their implications for the conceptual and operational utility of the FMM-based taxonic-dimensional model of AS, related vulnerability for psychopathology in the context of trauma, and the clinical implications of these findings for assessment and intervention.

Attentional bias temporal dynamics in remitted depression

Theory implicates attentional bias (AB) or dysregulated attentional processing of emotional information in the recurrence of major depressive episodes. However, empirical study of AB among remitted depressed patients is limited in scope and has yielded mixed findings. Mixed findings may be accounted for by how the field has conceptualized and thereby studied AB. We propose that a novel temporal dynamic process perspective on AB may help disambiguate extant findings and elucidate the nature of AB in remitted depression. Thus, we reexamined Dot Probe data among remitted depressed patients (RMD; n = 328) and nondepressed controls (NDC; n = 82) that previously yielded null effects when AB was quantified by means of the traditional aggregated mean bias score (Vrijsen et al., 2014). We reanalyzed data using a novel computational approach that extracts a series of bias estimations from trial to trial (Zvielli, Bernstein, & Koster, 2015). Key features of these dynamic process signals revealed moderate to excellent reliability relative to the traditional aggregated mean bias scores. These features of AB dynamics-specifically temporal variability in AB including AB toward and away from emotional stimuli-were significantly elevated among RMDs relative to NDCs. Moreover, among RMDs, a greater number of past depressive episodes were associated with elevation in these features of AB dynamics. Effects were not accounted for by residual depressive symptoms or social anxiety symptoms. Findings indicate that dysregulation in attentional processing of emotional information reflected in AB dynamics may be key to depression vulnerability. (PsycINFO Database Record