Attentional biases in healthy adults: Exploring the impact of temperament and gender. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pintzinger, Nina M.; Pfabigan, Daniela M.; Tran, Ulrich S.; Kryspin-Exner, Ilse; Lamm, Claus
• Is Part Of: Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry. Volume 52(2016)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 37
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Attentional bias -- Dot probe task -- Temperament -- Gender -- Negative affect -- Effortful control; Behavior therapy -- Periodicals; 616.89142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.02.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0005-7916

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Attentional biases such as faster attentional orienting toward negative information were consistently replicated in high-anxious and depressive individuals, but findings in healthy individuals are inconsistent so far. Methods: Using a dot-probe paradigm, we investigated whether temperament traits and gender, which are linked to (sub)clinical symptoms and attentional processing, influenced attentional biases in healthy adults. Results: All participants showed protective attentional biases in terms of orienting their attention away from negative information. In both genders higher values of negative affect were compensated with stronger attentional engagement with positive stimuli. This effect was more pronounced in men than in women. Effortful control fulfilled its regulative function in terms of stronger avoidance of negative stimuli only among men. Limitations: Reaction times after probe detection provide only a snapshot of attention and allow only for an indirect assessment of visual attention. Future research should emphasize methods that allow for continuous monitoring of attention allocation, therefore results of the present study await replication in psychophysiological or eye-tracking studies. Conclusion: Our results highlight the importance of considering influencing factors such as gender and temperament traits for attentional biases in healthy adults. Highlights: So far, attentional biases in healthy adults have not been consistently replicated. We explored whether temperament and gender influenced attentional biases. All participants showed attentional biases away from negative information. Temperament differentially influenced attentional biases in men and in women.