Ernst H W Koster
Biographic Data
| ID | 2226480 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ernst H W Koster |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ernst H W |
| FAMILY NAME | Koster |
| SIGNATURE | KOSTER E H W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ghent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0792-476X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Assessing Belgian adolescents’ negative digital experiences in everyday life
There is widespread concern over the harms adolescents experience from digital media use. Yet, existing literature often overlooks mundane digital harms. This study administered a new instrument, the mundane Digital Harms scale (mDHS), to a sample of 865 adolescents to examine (RQ1) their mundane digital harm experiences, and how these associate with their (RQ2) time spent on different digital activities, (RQ3) use of digital disconnection strate…
Causal effects of social media use on self-esteem, mindfulness, sleep and emotional well-being
Introduction: The question whether social media use (SMU) has a causal influence on mental health sparks a lot of interest. Empirical research to date shows no consensus on the causal effects of SMU on mental well-being. Therefore, the present study assessed if experimentally implemented restrictions in SMU led to improvements in well-being outcomes using a combination of self-report and passive sensing data. Methods: = 32) condition. Participant…
Why, how, when, and for whom does digital disconnection work? A process-based framework of digital disconnection
Digital disconnection has emerged as a concept describing the actions people take to limit their digital connectivity to enhance their well-being. To date, evidence on its effectiveness is mixed, leading to calls for greater consideration of why, how, when, and for whom digital disconnection works. This article responds to these calls, presenting a framework that differentiates four key harms that contribute to experiences of digital ill-being (t…
Regaining control of your emotions? Investigating the mechanisms underlying effects of cognitive control training for remitted depressed patients
Studies suggest that cognitive control training shows potential as a preventive intervention for depression. At the same time, little is known regarding the mechanisms underlying effects of cognitive control training. Informed by theoretical frameworks of cognitive risk for recurrent depression (De Raedt & Koster, 2010; Siegle et al., 2007), the current study sought to model direct effects of cognitive control training on the complex interplay be…
A network analysis of Facebook use and well-being in relation to key psychological variables
Studies exploring the relationship between Facebook use and well-being have yielded inconsistent findings. Investigating the intermediate mechanisms seems to be of crucial importance to gain insight into the positive and negative consequences of Facebook use. A recent study illustrated the importance of taking into account social comparison and self-esteem, as these constructs are central to theories about the link between Facebook use and risk f…
Social media use and well-being
Mapping Dynamic Interactions Among Cognitive Biases in Depression
Depression is theorized to be caused in part by biased cognitive processing of emotional information. Yet, prior research has adopted a reductionist approach that does not characterize how biases in cognitive processes such as attention and memory work together to confer risk for this complex multifactorial disorder. Grounded in affective and cognitive science, we highlight four mechanisms to understand how attention biases, working memory diffic…
Attentional scope, rumination, and processing of emotional information
Rumination is considered as a relatively maladaptive form of repetitive thinking that has a marked impact on mood. Individual differences in attentional scope have been proposed as an important mechanism rendering some individuals more prone to ruminate than others. The attentional scope model of rumination posits that rumination is related to a narrowed attentional scope, which may affect processing of neutral and emotional information. This stu…
Finding patterns in emotional information
In everyday life, people are exposed to continuous flows of emotional information. The ability to organize and segment this continuous input seems critical to understand what is happening around us. This study investigated whether people are sensitive to subtle statistical regularities embedded in flows of emotional information. Experiment 1 showed that people were able to identify regularities in streams of negative visual scenes. Experiment 2 d…
Children's attentional breadth around their mother
Attentional processes in children are tuned toward their mother. It is unclear whether this is a cognitively controlled or more automatic, stimulus‐driven process. Therefore, 172 children (age 9–13) were assigned to either a cognitively controlled or a stimulus‐driven task measuring the breadth of their attentional field around their mother. Results demonstrated a narrower field around the mother for children completing the more stimulus‐driven t…
Effects of cognitive control training on the dynamics of (mal)adaptive emotion regulation in daily life
Cognitive control plays a key role in both adaptive emotion regulation, such as positive reappraisal, and maladaptive emotion regulation, such as rumination, with both strategies playing a major role in resilience and well-being. As a result, cognitive control training (CCT) targeting working memory functioning may have the potential to reduce maladaptive emotion regulation and increase adaptive emotion regulation. The current study explored the …
Safety first
Theories of attention to emotional information suggest that attentional processes prioritize threatening information. In this article, we suggest that attention will prioritize the events that are most instrumental to a goal in any given context, which in threatening situations is typically reaching safety. To test our hypotheses, we used an attentional cueing paradigm that contained cues signaling imminent threat (i.e., aversive noises) as well …
Attention training through gaze-contingent feedback
Reappraisal is central to emotion regulation but its mechanisms are unclear. This study tested the theoretical prediction that emotional attention bias is linked to reappraisal of negative emotion-eliciting stimuli and subsequent emotional responding using a novel attentional control training. Thirty-six undergraduates were randomly assigned to either the control or the attention training condition and were provided with different task instructio…
Interactions among emotional attention, encoding, and retrieval of ambiguous information
Emotional biases in attention modulate encoding of emotional material into long-term memory, but little is known about the role of such attentional biases during emotional memory retrieval. The present study investigated how emotional biases in memory are related to attentional allocation during retrieval. Forty-nine individuals encoded emotionally positive and negative meanings derived from ambiguous information and then searched their memory fo…
A novel attention training paradigm based on operant conditioning of eye gaze
Inability to engage with positive stimuli is a widespread problem associated with negative mood states across many conditions, from low self-esteem to anhedonic depression. Though attention retraining procedures have shown promise as interventions in some clinical populations, novel procedures may be necessary to reliably attenuate chronic negative mood in refractory clinical populations (e.g., clinical depression) through, for example, more acti…
Attention, interpretation, and memory biases in subclinical depression
Emotional biases in attention, interpretation, and memory are viewed as important cognitive processes underlying symptoms of depression. To date, there is a limited understanding of the interplay among these processing biases. This study tested the dependence of memory on depression-related biases in attention and interpretation. Subclinically depressed and nondepressed participants completed a computerized version of the scrambled sentences test…
A review of current evidence for the causal impact of attentional bias on fear and anxiety
Prominent cognitive theories postulate that an attentional bias toward threatening information contributes to the etiology, maintenance, or exacerbation of fear and anxiety. In this review, we investigate to what extent these causal claims are supported by sound empirical evidence. Although differences in attentional bias are associated with differences in fear and anxiety, this association does not emerge consistently. Moreover, there is only li…
Distinct temporal processing of task-irrelevant emotional facial expressions
There is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which emotional faces automatically attract attention. Using a single-target Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) methodology, it has been found that presentation of task-irrelevant positive or negative emotionally salient stimuli (e.g., negative scenes or erotic pictures) results in a temporary inability to process target stimuli (emotion-induced blindness). In the present study, we sought t…
Mindwandering heightens the accessibility of negative relative to positive thought
Aging and Attentional Bias for Death related and General Threat-related Information
This is the first study investigating attentional processing of both death- and threat-related information in older versus younger adults. Less avoidance from threat suggests that with aging, death becomes less of a concern, which might be indicative of acceptance of the own finiteness at old age
Understanding depressive rumination from a cognitive science perspective
To look or not to look
Previous eye movement studies of attentional bias in spider fear reported inconsistent results with respect to early attentional capture, suggesting that overt attentional capture only reliably occurs under specific circumstances. In addition, none of these studies explored covert attention. The present study examined attentional bias in spider phobia using a change detection paradigm that was expected to provide good conditions for documenting a…
Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders
Angry facial expressions hamper subsequent target identification
There is considerable evidence indicating that people are primed to monitor social signals of disapproval. Thus far, studies on selective attention have concentrated predominantly on the spatial domain, whereas the temporal consequences of identifying socially threatening information have received only scant attention. Therefore, this study focused on temporal attention costs and examined how the presentation of emotional expressions affects subs…
Attentional retraining procedures
According to cognitive models of anxiety disorders, attentional bias for threatening information is a vulnerability factor to the etiology and maintenance of anxiety. A recently developed methodology to reduce attentional bias has been found to reduce emotional reactivity and anxiety. The present study aimed at identifying the effects of this attentional bias reduction on early and later stages of threat processing. Undergraduates were allocated …
Why, how, when, and for whom does digital disconnection work? A process-based framework of digital disconnection
Digital disconnection has emerged as a concept describing the actions people take to limit their digital connectivity to enhance their well-being. To date, evidence on its effectiveness is mixed, leading to calls for greater consideration of why, how, when, and for whom digital disconnection works. This article responds to these calls, presenting a framework that differentiates four key harms that contribute to experiences of digital ill-being (t…
Aging and Attentional Bias for Death related and General Threat-related Information
This is the first study investigating attentional processing of both death- and threat-related information in older versus younger adults. Less avoidance from threat suggests that with aging, death becomes less of a concern, which might be indicative of acceptance of the own finiteness at old age
Selective attention to threat in the dot probe paradigm
Does Imminent Threat Capture and Hold Attention
According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture a…
Mood-Congruent Attentional Bias in Dysphoria
Attentional bias to negative information has been proposed to be a cognitive vulnerability factor for the development of depression. In 2 experiments, the authors examined mood-congruent attentional bias in dysphoria. In both experiments, dysphoric and nondysphoric participants performed an attentional task with negative, positive, and neutral word cues preceding a target. Targets appeared either at the same or at the opposite location of the cue…
Attention for emotional faces under restricted awareness revisited
Theoretical models of attention for affective information have assigned a special status to the cognitive processing of emotional facial expressions. One specific claim in this regard is that emotional faces automatically attract visual attention. In three experiments, the authors investigated attentional cueing by angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions that were presented under conditions of limited awareness. In these experiments, facial …
What's in a name? Attachment-related attentional bias
Participants completed a dot probe task that presented pairs of first names: the participant's own name and a neutral name (Experiments 1-4), the name of their attachment figure and a neutral name (Experiments 1-4), or the name of a known person and a neutral name (Experiments 2-4). A significant attentional bias effect was found for the attachment name in attachment-related contexts, whether they were threatening or positive. The results of Expe…
Allocation of spatial attention to emotional stimuli depends upon arousal and not valence
Attentional allocation to emotional stimuli is often proposed to be driven by valence and in particular by negativity. However, many negative stimuli are also arousing leaving the question whether valence or arousal accounts for this effect. The authors examined whether the valence or the arousal level of emotional stimuli influences the allocation of spatial attention using a modified spatial cueing task. Participants responded to targets that w…
Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders
Angry facial expressions hamper subsequent target identification
There is considerable evidence indicating that people are primed to monitor social signals of disapproval. Thus far, studies on selective attention have concentrated predominantly on the spatial domain, whereas the temporal consequences of identifying socially threatening information have received only scant attention. Therefore, this study focused on temporal attention costs and examined how the presentation of emotional expressions affects subs…
Attentional retraining procedures
According to cognitive models of anxiety disorders, attentional bias for threatening information is a vulnerability factor to the etiology and maintenance of anxiety. A recently developed methodology to reduce attentional bias has been found to reduce emotional reactivity and anxiety. The present study aimed at identifying the effects of this attentional bias reduction on early and later stages of threat processing. Undergraduates were allocated …
Understanding depressive rumination from a cognitive science perspective
To look or not to look
Previous eye movement studies of attentional bias in spider fear reported inconsistent results with respect to early attentional capture, suggesting that overt attentional capture only reliably occurs under specific circumstances. In addition, none of these studies explored covert attention. The present study examined attentional bias in spider phobia using a change detection paradigm that was expected to provide good conditions for documenting a…
Mindwandering heightens the accessibility of negative relative to positive thought
Aging and Attentional Bias for Death related and General Threat-related Information
This is the first study investigating attentional processing of both death- and threat-related information in older versus younger adults. Less avoidance from threat suggests that with aging, death becomes less of a concern, which might be indicative of acceptance of the own finiteness at old age
Distinct temporal processing of task-irrelevant emotional facial expressions
There is an ongoing debate concerning the extent to which emotional faces automatically attract attention. Using a single-target Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) methodology, it has been found that presentation of task-irrelevant positive or negative emotionally salient stimuli (e.g., negative scenes or erotic pictures) results in a temporary inability to process target stimuli (emotion-induced blindness). In the present study, we sought t…
Attention, interpretation, and memory biases in subclinical depression
Emotional biases in attention, interpretation, and memory are viewed as important cognitive processes underlying symptoms of depression. To date, there is a limited understanding of the interplay among these processing biases. This study tested the dependence of memory on depression-related biases in attention and interpretation. Subclinically depressed and nondepressed participants completed a computerized version of the scrambled sentences test…
A review of current evidence for the causal impact of attentional bias on fear and anxiety
Prominent cognitive theories postulate that an attentional bias toward threatening information contributes to the etiology, maintenance, or exacerbation of fear and anxiety. In this review, we investigate to what extent these causal claims are supported by sound empirical evidence. Although differences in attentional bias are associated with differences in fear and anxiety, this association does not emerge consistently. Moreover, there is only li…
Interactions among emotional attention, encoding, and retrieval of ambiguous information
Emotional biases in attention modulate encoding of emotional material into long-term memory, but little is known about the role of such attentional biases during emotional memory retrieval. The present study investigated how emotional biases in memory are related to attentional allocation during retrieval. Forty-nine individuals encoded emotionally positive and negative meanings derived from ambiguous information and then searched their memory fo…
A novel attention training paradigm based on operant conditioning of eye gaze
Inability to engage with positive stimuli is a widespread problem associated with negative mood states across many conditions, from low self-esteem to anhedonic depression. Though attention retraining procedures have shown promise as interventions in some clinical populations, novel procedures may be necessary to reliably attenuate chronic negative mood in refractory clinical populations (e.g., clinical depression) through, for example, more acti…
Effects of cognitive control training on the dynamics of (mal)adaptive emotion regulation in daily life
Cognitive control plays a key role in both adaptive emotion regulation, such as positive reappraisal, and maladaptive emotion regulation, such as rumination, with both strategies playing a major role in resilience and well-being. As a result, cognitive control training (CCT) targeting working memory functioning may have the potential to reduce maladaptive emotion regulation and increase adaptive emotion regulation. The current study explored the …
Safety first
Theories of attention to emotional information suggest that attentional processes prioritize threatening information. In this article, we suggest that attention will prioritize the events that are most instrumental to a goal in any given context, which in threatening situations is typically reaching safety. To test our hypotheses, we used an attentional cueing paradigm that contained cues signaling imminent threat (i.e., aversive noises) as well …
Attention training through gaze-contingent feedback
Reappraisal is central to emotion regulation but its mechanisms are unclear. This study tested the theoretical prediction that emotional attention bias is linked to reappraisal of negative emotion-eliciting stimuli and subsequent emotional responding using a novel attentional control training. Thirty-six undergraduates were randomly assigned to either the control or the attention training condition and were provided with different task instructio…
Children's attentional breadth around their mother
Attentional processes in children are tuned toward their mother. It is unclear whether this is a cognitively controlled or more automatic, stimulus‐driven process. Therefore, 172 children (age 9–13) were assigned to either a cognitively controlled or a stimulus‐driven task measuring the breadth of their attentional field around their mother. Results demonstrated a narrower field around the mother for children completing the more stimulus‐driven t…
Attentional scope, rumination, and processing of emotional information
Rumination is considered as a relatively maladaptive form of repetitive thinking that has a marked impact on mood. Individual differences in attentional scope have been proposed as an important mechanism rendering some individuals more prone to ruminate than others. The attentional scope model of rumination posits that rumination is related to a narrowed attentional scope, which may affect processing of neutral and emotional information. This stu…
Finding patterns in emotional information
In everyday life, people are exposed to continuous flows of emotional information. The ability to organize and segment this continuous input seems critical to understand what is happening around us. This study investigated whether people are sensitive to subtle statistical regularities embedded in flows of emotional information. Experiment 1 showed that people were able to identify regularities in streams of negative visual scenes. Experiment 2 d…
Mapping Dynamic Interactions Among Cognitive Biases in Depression
Depression is theorized to be caused in part by biased cognitive processing of emotional information. Yet, prior research has adopted a reductionist approach that does not characterize how biases in cognitive processes such as attention and memory work together to confer risk for this complex multifactorial disorder. Grounded in affective and cognitive science, we highlight four mechanisms to understand how attention biases, working memory diffic…
Psychology (31 works) · Cognitive psychology (23 works) · Cognition (21 works) · Developmental psychology (16 works) · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes (15 works) · Neuroscience (15 works) · Attentional bias (12 works) · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies (12 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Mental Health Research Topics (9 works)