Selective attention and emotional vulnerability

Assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias.

Bibliographic Data

ID23366554
AuthorsColin Macleod (0000-0003-2407-7339, The University of Western Australia), Elizabeth Rutherford, Elizabeth M Rutherford, Lyn Campbell, Greg Ebsworthy, Lin Holker
Year2002
Volume111
Issue1
Pages107-123
Publication date2002-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Abnormal Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-843X • E-ISSN: 1939-1846
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1037/0021-843x.111.1.107
PMID11866165
OpenAlexW2122758649
LanguageEN
Citations received117
References cited33

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.

Association (psychology) · Attentional bias · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Vulnerability (computing) · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Mental Health Research Topics · Neuroscience · Psychology · Stress Responses and Cortisol

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