Xiao Gao

Identifying selective visual attention biases related to fear of pain by tracking eye movements within a dot-probe paradigm

Summary Heightened fear of pain is related to biases in initial orienting, but not maintenance, of visual attention based on eye‐movement tracking and reaction time indices. Abstract This research examined selective biases in visual attention related to fear of pain by tracking eye movements (EM) toward pain‐related stimuli among the pain‐fearful. EM of 21 young adults scoring high on a fear of pain measure (H‐FOP) and 20 lower‐scoring (L‐FOP) control participants were measured during a dot‐probe task that featured sensory pain‐neutral, health catastrophe‐neutral and neutral–neutral word pairs. Analyses indicated that the H‐FOP group was more likely to direct immediate visual attention toward sensory pain and health catastrophe words than was the L‐FOP group. The H‐FOP group also had comparatively shorter first fixation latencies toward sensory pain and health catastrophe words. Conversely, groups did not differ on EM indices of attentional maintenance (i.e., first fixation duration, gaze duration, and average fixation duration) or reaction times to dot probes. Finally, both groups showed a cycle of disengagement followed by re‐engagement toward sensory pain words relative to other word types. In sum, this research is the first to reveal biases toward pain stimuli during very early stages of visual information processing among the highly pain‐fearful and highlights the utility of EM tracking as a means to evaluate visual attention as a dynamic process in the context of FOP.

Biases in orienting and maintenance of attention among weight dissatisfied women: An eye-movement study

Despite evidence indicating fatness and thinness information are processed differently among weight-preoccupied and eating disordered individuals, the exact nature of these attentional biases is not clear. In this research, eye movement (EM) tracking assessed biases in specific component processes of visual attention (i.e., orientation, detection, maintenance and disengagement of gaze) in relation to body-related stimuli among 20 weight dissatisfied (WD) and 20 weight satisfied young women. Eye movements were recorded while participants completed a dot-probe task that featured fatness-neutral and thinness-neutral word pairs. Compared to controls, WD women were more likely to direct their initial gaze toward fatness words, had a shorter mean latency of first fixation on both fatness and thinness words, had longer first fixation on fatness words but shorter first fixation on thinness words, and shorter total gaze duration on thinness words. Reaction time data showed a maintenance bias towards fatness words among the WD women. In sum, results indicated WD women show initial orienting, speeded detection and initial maintenance biases towards fat body words in addition to a speeded detection - avoidance pattern of biases in relation to thin body words. In sum, results highlight the importance of the utility of EM-tracking as a means of identifying subtle attentional biases among weight dissatisfied women drawn from a non-clinical setting and the need to assess attentional biases as a dynamic process.

Cognitive, Psychosocial, and Sociodemographic Predictors of Willingness to Use HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men

This study was designed to identify predictors of lower versus higher willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China. Participants were 570 MSM who completed self-report measures of willingness to use HIV PrEP, beliefs about HIV, psychosocial factors, sexual experiences and sociodemographic characteristics. Results of a hierarchical binary logistic regression analysis indicated that membership in a higher willingness group was predicted by previous consultation about HIV, more reported barriers to using condoms, and elevations in depressive symptoms. Independent of these factors, higher willingness to use HIV PrEP was predicted by beliefs that the intervention was low in stigma and high in potential benefits. In sum, the study highlighted the utility of broad-based assessment of demographic, behavioral, personality, and cognitive factors in identifying Chinese MSM who express willingness to use a promising biologically-based intervention to lower HIV risk.

I can’t stop looking at them: Interactive effects of body mass index and weight dissatisfaction on attention towards body shape photographs

Although attentional biases toward body-related information contribute to the etiology and maintenance of body dissatisfaction (BD) and eating disorders (EDs), attentional disengagement in women with BD and EDs is not clear. The present study investigated the association between weight dissatisfaction and attentional disengagement from body-related pictures and the possible moderating effect of body mass index (BMI) on this relation. Two hundred and four undergraduate women engaged in an experiment using a pictorial spatial cueing paradigm including fat/thin bodies and neutral household photos. Partial correlations and simple slopes regression analyses were conducted with attentional disengagement index scores of each category of cues. Findings suggested that independent of BMI, weight dissatisfaction was directly associated with attentional disengagement from both fat and thin pictures. In addition, among women with low and medium BMIs, the more they were dissatisfied with their bodyweight, the more difficulty they had disengaging their attention from fat body pictures.

Eyes on the bodies: An eye tracking study on deployment of visual attention among females with body dissatisfaction

Visual attentional bias has important functions during the appearance social comparisons. However, for the limitations of experimental paradigms or analysis methods in previous studies, the time course of attentional bias to thin and fat body images among women with body dissatisfaction (BD) has still been unclear. In using free reviewing task combined with eye movement tracking, and based on event-related analyses of the critical first eye movement events, as well as epoch-related analyses of gaze durations, the current study investigated different attentional bias components to body shape/part images during 15s presentation time among 34 high BD and 34 non-BD young women. In comparison to the controls, women with BD showed sustained maintenance biases on thin and fat body images during both early automatic and late strategic processing stages. This study highlights a clear need for research on the dynamics of attentional biases related to body image and eating disturbances.

Stories We Love by Conceptions of Love Among Couples From the People's Republic of China and the United States

This research examines conceptions of love among dating and married couples from China and the United States. Sixty-one dating and 81 married American couples and 46 dating and 94 married Chinese couples completed portions of Sternbergs (1998) Love Stories Scale and measures of demographics, stress, and relationship satisfaction. Factor analyses revealed several love story components (objectification-threat, devotion-caring, pragmatism, pornography) common to both cultures, albeit there were subtle differences in their specific elements. Culturally unique components included “love as war” and “love as fairy tale” for the Americans and “love as current tending” and “incomprehensibility of lover” for the Chinese. Devotion–care was the strongest predictor of relationship satisfaction within each culture, independent of demographics and perceived stress. In sum, the research suggests that although Chinese and American views of love overlap somewhat, subtle cultural differences and culturally unique metaphors are also apparent.

Predictors of willingness to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among female sex workers in Southwest China

Abstract This research examined predictors of willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among female sex workers (FSW) in Southwest China. The final sample included 395 women (mean age=26.73 years, SD=6.74 years) who were predominantly of Han majority ethnicity (84.6%) and had completed middle-school education or lower (63.0%). Participants were recruited initially from commercial sex venues (e.g., saunas, massage parlors) in the cities of Nanchang, Luizhou, Nanning, Urumqi, and Karamay as well as two districts of Chongqing municipality and subsequently via snowball procedures. They completed a battery of self-report measures assessing beliefs about HIV and PrEP, psychosocial influences, demographics and willingness to use HIV PrEP. Willingness to use HIV PrEP was predicted by high levels of trust in physicians and more reported unmet interpersonal belongingness needs. Beyond these factors, willing and unwilling groups were differentiated on the basis of intervention-specific beliefs (perceived stigma and self-efficacy in use of PrEP). Together, findings suggested interpersonal factors should be considered in concert with perceptions of intervention characteristics in assessing motivations to enroll in PrEP within this particular at-risk group.

The cognitive advantage for one’s own name is not simply familiarity: An eye-tracking study

Eye-tracking technique and visual search task were employed to examine the cognitive advantage for one’s own name and the possible effect of familiarity on this advantage. The results showed that fewer saccades and an earlier start time of first fixations on the target were associated with trials in which participants were asked to search for their own name, as compared to search for personally familiar or famous names. In addition, the results also demonstrated faster response times and higher accuracy in the former kind of trials. Taken together, these findings provide important evidence that one’s own name has the potential to capture attention and that familiarity cannot account for this advantage.

Time Course of Attentional Bias Components Toward Body-shape Related Pictures Among Women with Fat Negative Physical Self: An Eye Movement Study: Time Course of Attentional Bias Components Toward Body-shape Related Pictures Among Women with Fat Negative Physical Self: An Eye Movement Study

Despite evidence indicating fatness and thinness information are processed differently among weight preoccupied and eating disordered individuals, the exact nature of these attentional biases is not clear. In this research, eye movement (EM) tracking assessed biases in specific component processes of visual attention (i.e., orientation, detection, and maintenance of gaze) in relation to body related pictures among 20 women with fat negative physical self (FNPS) and 20 body satisfied young women. Eye movements were recorded while participants completed a dot-probe task that featured fatness-neutral and thinness-neutral picture pairs with the stimuli being presented for 2000 ms. Women with FNPS showed different attentional bias pattern toward fat- and thin-related pictures, with vigilance-maintenance pattern toward fat body pictures and vigilance pattern toward thin body pictures. Specifically, compared to controls, women with FNPS were more likely to direct their initial gaze toward fatness pictures, had a shorter mean latency of first fixation on both fatness and thinness pictures, had longer first fixation and total gaze duration on fatness pictures. Reaction time data showed a maintenance bias towards fatness pictures and difficulty in disengagement from both fatness and thinness pictures among the women with FNPS. In sum, results indicated women with FNPS show initial orienting, speeded detection and initial and total maintenance biases towards fat body pictures in addition to a speeded detection in relation to thin body pictures, which partly supported Vitousek and Hollons (1990) cognitive model.

Differences in neural activation to depictions of physical exercise and sedentary activity: an fMRI study of overweight and lean Chinese women

Objective:Neuroimaging studies have documented differences in neural responses to food cues in obese versus lean samples but little is known about weight status differences in responsiveness to other key features of obesogenic environments, particularly cues reflecting physical activity. To address this gap, patterns of activation related to visual depictions of sedentary activities and vigorous physical exercise were assessed in overweight (O-W) and average weight (A-W) samples via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods:Thirteen O-W and 13 A-W Chinese women were instructed to imagine engaging in 90 physical exercise activities and 90 sedentary activities and to watch 90 landscape images presented during three runs of an fMRI scan within a cross-sectional design.Results:Behavioral results indicated O-W women endorsed more negative attitudes toward physical activity than A-W did. Imaging analyses indicated that body mass index had a significant negative association with activation of the right putamen and a positive correlation with activation in the right medial frontal gyrus, specifically Brodmann Area 10 in the exercise–sedentary image contrast condition. For the sedentary–control contrast, significantly less activation in an insula area related to negative affect was observed for the O-W group. Finally, for the exercise–control contrast, O-W women also displayed comparatively weaker activation in a cingulate gyrus area implicated in kinesthetic memory of body movements and the re-experiencing real events.Conclusion:Together, results supported contentions that exposure to depictions of physical exercise corresponds to reduced activation of reward centers and heightened activation in regions associated with negative affect regulation among O-W women compared with leaner peers.