Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias.

Full Abstract

Although it is well-established that vulnerability to negative emotion is associated with attentional bias toward aversive information, the causal basis of this association remains undetermined. Two studies addressed this issue by experimentally inducing differential attentional responses to emotional stimuli using a modified dot probe task, and then examining the impact of such attentional manipulation on subsequent emotional vulnerability. The results supported the hypothesis that the induction of attentional bias should serve to modify emotional vulnerability, as revealed by participants' emotional reactions to a final standardized stress task. These findings provide a sound empirical basis for the previously speculative proposal that attentional bias can causally mediate emotional vulnerability, and they suggest the possibility that cognitive-experimental procedures designed to modify selective information processing may have potential therapeutic value.

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Author information

Author/s: MacLeod, Colin (C); Rutherford, Elizabeth (E); Campbell, Lyn (L); Ebsworthy, Greg (G); Holker, Lin (L);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Perth. colin@psy.uwa.edu.au

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of abnormal psychology (J Abnorm Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Feb; vol 111 (issue 1) : pp 107-23

Dates: Created 2002/02/27; Completed 2002/05/21; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 11866165, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention
Female
Humans
Male

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