The phenomenon of attentional bias to alcohol, where drinkers demonstrate a preference in allocating visual attention towards alcohol-related stimuli rather than neutral stimuli, is well-established. Studies detecting this phenomenon typically utilize computer-administered stimulus presentation tasks such as the visual dot probe task. Despite their frequency of use, these tasks do not represent the ways in which individuals typically encounter alcohol outside of the laboratory. Typical environments where alcohol is present allow individuals to move about freely and encounter alcohol while also being exposed to many other stimuli. This dissertation sought to implement a novel approach to assessing attentional bias in vivo, and identify how alcohol consumption might influence such in vivo attentional bias. This two-study dissertation utilized an in vivo task where participants looked freely around a room representing a recreational setting containing numerous objects while portable eye-tracking glasses monitored what an individual looked at and for how long. Target items of alcohol and neutral beverages were placed throughout the environment and fixation time spent on these objects was recorded. The first study of this dissertation examined attentional bias to alcohol-related objects across two identical testing sessions to understand the impact of novelty on allocation of in vivo attention. The second study tested individuals using the same in vivo assessment following a 0.30 g/kg dose of alcohol, a 0.65 g/kg dose of alcohol and a placebo. Participants also completed the visual dot probe task in order to measure and compare their attentional bias in a more traditionally implemented task to the novel in vivo approach. Results from the first study indicate that as the novelty of stimuli begins to wane and habituation to neutral stimuli occurs, attentional bias to alcohol-related objects emerges. This attentional bias was shown to be related to drinking habits, where heavier drinkers demonstrated increased attentional bias. The second study in this research found no discernible effect of alcohol consumption on in vivo attentional bias, but did identify a satiating effect of consumption on bias as measured by the visual dot probe task. Additional visual dot probe findings suggest the specificity of the effect of alcohol consumption on attentional bias. Together, these findings help inform whether there is benefit in utilizing an ecological model of measuring attentional bias and how the phenomenon might be measured in laboratory settings in the future.

There is abundant evidence of anxiety-linked threat-biased attention and anxiety-linked threat-biased interpretation (cf. Mathews & MacLeod, 1994, 2005). The present research aimed to determine whether these cognitive biases reflect a single common underlying mechanism (the Common Mechanism Account) or multiple independent underlying mechanisms (the Independent Mechanisms Account). To address this question, a battery of eight experimental tasks was developed; four tasks measured attention bias and four measured interpretation bias. Participants with different levels of trait anxiety, completed pairs of these tasks. The pattern of associations amongst all eight tasks was compared with the pattern of associations between the four tasks that measured attention bias and the pattern of associations between the four tasks that measured interpretation bias. Both Accounts predicted strong associations between the four tasks that measured attention bias, and between the four tasks that measured interpretation bias. However, the Common Mechanism Account predicted generally strong associations between all of the eight tasks, that were equivalent in strength to the associations between tasks measuring attention bias and to the associations between tasks measuring interpretation bias. In contrast, the Independent Mechanisms Account predicted weaker associations between all of the eight tasks than the associations either between the tasks measuring attention bias or between the tasks measuring interpretation bias. The obtained pattern of associations between internally reliable measures of anxiety-linked attention bias and anxiety-linked interpretation bias failed to support the Common Mechanism Account, but rather was consistent with the predictions of the Independent Mechanisms Account. Theoretical and applied implications of the results are discussed.

[Truncated abstract] Socio-cultural processes are often cited as one of the main causes of body dissatisfaction amongst women. Numerous studies have found that exposure to thin, idealized images in the media increases women's body dissatisfaction. The central aims of this thesis are to investigate how exposure to thin and fat bodies alters womens perceptions of body normality and body ideals, whether body dissatisfaction is related to these changes, and whether body dissatisfaction is associated with an attentional bias toward thin bodies. In Chapter 1 I review the main theories dominating body dissatisfaction research. In Chapter 2 I present two studies which investigate how exposure to thin and fat bodies influences perceptions of body normality and ideal body size. Women who varied on a measure of body dissatisfaction (Experiment 1 & 2) and awareness and acceptance of societal standards of beauty (Experiment 2) rated a range of computer generated bodies, varying in simulated BMI, for how normal (Experiment 1 & 2) and ideal they looked (Experiment 2). They were then exposed to either thin or fat bodies, and they re-rated the bodies. Increased levels of body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal standards of beauty were related to a thinner most normal and ideal rated body, before any exposure, as well as a greater discrepancy between the most normal and ideal rated bodies. Both Experiments 1 & 2 revealed that brief exposure to thin or fat bodies altered women's perceptions of body normality and body ideal, where exposure to fat bodies made womens perceptions of a normal and ideal body fatter, and exposure to thin bodies, made perceptions of the most normal and ideal rated body thinner. ... In Chapter 5 I present normative data for the Body Shape Questionnaire-34 (a measure of dissatisfaction with body weight and shape) (Cooper et al, 1987) from an Australian university sample. Many researchers use university samples iv when investigating body dissatisfaction, so it is useful to have normative data for such a sample. One thousand and fifty two women aged between 16 and 30 completed the BSQ-34. A mean score of 94.4 (SD = 34.5) was found, with a range of 34-203. My scores are comparable with those found in an American undergraduate sample, and are significantly higher than those found in community, undergraduate and clinical samples in the UK and Italy. Results indicate that levels of body dissatisfaction may be higher in Australia than in the UK and Italy. Together, these studies provide some important new findings. 1) Body dissatisfaction and internalisation of societal standards of beauty are related to thinner body norms and ideals. 2) Women's perceptions of normal and ideal female body sizes can be readily altered by exposure to thin and fat bodies, and 3) women selectively attend to thin bodies, but the more dissatisfied she is with her own body, the less she attends to thin bodies. Potential implications of these results for the treatment of body dissatisfaction may include the incorporation of treatment programs which target not only unnaturally slim body ideals, but perceptions of what constitutes a normal body, as well as trying to alter selective attention toward thin bodies in the environment. The results may also highlight to the media that consistently showing ultra slim models will very likely affect women's perceptions of normal and ideal female body sizes.

[Truncated abstract] It is well established that anxiety vulnerability is characterised by two biased patterns of selective information processing (Mathews & MacLeod, 1986; Mogg & Bradley, 1998). First anxiety is associated with an attentional bias, reflecting the selective allocation of attention to threatening stimuli in the environment (Mathews & MacLeod, 1985; MacLeod, Mathews & Tata, 1986; MacLeod & Cohen, 1993). Second anxiety is associated with an interpretive bias, reflecting a disproportionate tendency to resolve ambiguity in a threatening manner (Mogg et al., 1994). These characteristics are shown by normal individual high in trait anxiety (Mathews, Richards & Eysenck, 1989; Mogg, Bradley & Hallowell, 1994; Mathews & MacLeod, 1994), and by examining clinically anxious patients who repeatedly report elevated trait anxiety levels (MacLeod, Mathews & Tata, 1986; Mogg & Bradley, 1998). '...' Two alternative hypotheses regarding this relationship are proposed. One hypothesis is that attentional and interpretive biases are concurrent expressions of a single underlying biased selectivity mechanism that characterises anxiety vulnerability (the Common Mechanism account). In contrast, a quite different hypothesis is that attentional and interpretive biases are independent cognitive anomalies that represent separate pathways to anxiety vulnerability (the Independent Mechanisms account). The present research program was designed to empirically test the predictions that differentiate the Common Mechanism and Independent Mechanisms accounts. The general methodological approach that was adopted was to employ bias manipulation tasks from the literature that have been developed and validated to directly modify one class of processing bias (i.e. attentional bias or interpretive bias). The effect of these direct bias manipulation tasks on a measure of the same class of processing bias or the other class of processing bias was then examined. The Common Mechanism and Independent Mechanisms accounts of the relationship between attentional and interpretive bias generate differing predictions concerning the impact of directly manipulating one class of processing bias upon a measure of the other class of processing bias. The central difference between the alternate accounts is their predictions regarding cross-bias transfer, that is the transfer of training effects from direct manipulation of one class of processing bias to a measure of the other class of processing bias. Whereas the Common Mechanism account predicts that such cross-bias transfer will occur, the Independent Mechanisms account does not predict such transfer. A series of seven studies is reported in this thesis. There was some difficulty achieving successful bias modification using bias manipulation approaches established in the literature; however when such manipulation was achieved no cross-bias transfer was observed. Therefore the obtained pattern of results was consistent with the Independent Mechanisms (IM) account, and inconsistent with the Common Mechanism (CM) account. A more detailed version of the IM account is developed to more fully accommodate the specific results obtained in this thesis.

The present study examined the impact of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) on adults’ ability to discriminate between various facial expressions of emotions. Additionally, the study examined whether individuals reporting PTSS exhibited an attentional bias toward threat-related facial expressions of emotions. The research design was a 2 (expression intensity) x 3 (emotional pairing) x 2 (PTSS group) mixed-model factorial design. Participants for the study were 89 undergraduates recruited from psychology courses at Western Kentucky University. Participants completed the Traumatic Stress Schedule to assess for prior exposure to traumatic events. A median split was used to divide the sample into two groups (i.e., low and high PTSS). Additionally, participants also completed a demographics questionnaire, the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales to assess for possible covariates. Then, participants completed the discrimination of facial expressions task and the dot probe position task. Results indicate that individuals experiencing high levels of PTSS have difficulty discriminating between threatening and non-threatening facial expressions of emotions; additionally, these individuals’ difficulty is exacerbated by comorbid levels of anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, results suggests these individuals focus attention on threatening facial expressions while avoiding expressions that may activate memories associated with the prior trauma. These findings have significant clinical implications, as clinicians could focus treatment on correcting these difficulties which should help promote more beneficial social interactions for these individuals experiencing high levels of PTSS. Additionally, these behavioral measures could be used to assess the effectiveness of treatment. Effective treatment should help alleviate these difficulties, which could be measured by improved performance on the discrimination of facial expressions task and the dot probe position task from baseline to post-treatment.

Alcohol research has shown that alcohol-related stimuli can disrupt behavioral control and attract more attention in alcohol drinkers. Stimuli typically used in tasks assessing these mechanisms are likely representative of an individual's history. Responses to visual stimuli that no longer closely resemble an individual's history may help shed light on whether these behaviors are due to classical conditioning or processes such as semantic priming. Hypotheses were tested using typical visual stimuli and modified, abstract versions in these tasks. 41 participants were exposed to these stimuli types while using a visual dot probe task. The difference in degree of attentional bias between real and modified stimuli was determined using gaze time. Individuals participated in two versions of the attentional bias-behavioral activation (ABBA) task. Proportion of inhibitory failure differences between versions was examined for the effects of stimuli modification on behavioral control. Results demonstrated that the sample did not exhibit an attentional bias to alcohol. Visual probe results yielded no differences between real and modified stimuli on attentional bias. ABBA performance indicated no differences as a result of image abstraction or stimuli type. Reasons for these findings and comparisons to similar research inquiries using the tasks the current thesis utilized were explored.

Despite the large volume of research on tobacco withdrawal, the vast majority of studies have focused on the onset and remission of symptoms over the course of several days and weeks, with the earliest assessment periods occurring the day after cessation. To date, there has been no systematic study of the very early time course of the tobacco withdrawal syndrome, despite its obvious relevance to the maintenance of both smoking and postcessation abstinence. The published literature contains a range of estimates about the early appearance of withdrawal symptoms, but without reference to empirical data. The main objective of the current study was to conduct a comprehensive, multimodal assessment of the early time course of the symptoms associated with smoking withdrawal among cigarette smokers. Participants were 50 smokers randomly assigned to either abstain or smoke at their own pace during four hours in the laboratory. Dependent measures included a physiological measure (resting heart rate); sustained attention (the Rapid Visual Information Processing task; RVIP); selective attention to smoking stimuli (an emotional Stroop task); and self-report (the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scales; WSWS). After baseline assessment, participants were assigned to the two conditions and the dependent measures were collected every 30 minutes. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEEs) revealed that abstinent participants displayed greater withdrawal than continuing smokers on all measures with the exception of the Stroop task. Statistically significant differences in withdrawal were found within 60 minutes on heart rate, within 30 minutes on the RVIP, and between 30 minutes and 180 minutes postcessation on the various subscales of the WSWS. These findings provide the first evidence of the early time course of tobacco withdrawal symptoms, although further research is needed to distinguish withdrawal effects from drug offset effects. Implications for the understandi ng the maintenance of daily smoking and for the treatment of tobacco dependence are discussed.

The current study sought to test the existence of a phenomenon known as sensory-specific satiety, in which attentional bias for food cues is specifically diminished for a consumed food, and the role of gender in such biases. In order to do so, the experiment used a version of the Flanker Task in which participants were shown image groups containing a target image and congruent or incongruent distracting flanker images. Participants (17 males, 22 females) were randomly assigned to consume one of two foods depicted in the flanker task (Ritz Bitz sandwiches or miniature Golden Oreos). Results did not support the idea of sensory-specific satiety, as we found a general reduction in reaction time rather than interactions in target/flanker congruency, suggesting that task performance was not driven by attentional bias to the food cues. However, there was an interesting interaction effect for session, consumption, and gender, such that women were faster than men for the consumed food post-satiety. Results may be explained by differences in motivation potentially caused by dissimilarities in dopamine levels. Additionally, results of the current experiment in combination with previous research could provide insight on gender differences in obesity.

[Truncated abstract] It has consistently been found that individuals who are more highly vulnerable to anxious mood selectively attend to emotionally negative stimuli as compared to those lower in anxiety vulnerability, suggesting that such anxiety-prone individuals possess an attentional bias favouring negative information. Two of the most consistent tasks used to reveal this bias have been the attentional probe and emotional Stroop tasks. It has been noted, however, that these tasks have not been capable of differentiating the relative role of attentional engagement with, and attentional disengagement from emotionally valenced stimuli, suggesting that either of these attentional processes could account for the attentional bias observed in individuals with high levels of anxiety vulnerability on the attentional probe and emotional Stroop tasks. A number of resent studies have claimed support for the operation of biased attentional disengagement in anxiety using a modified attentional cueing paradigm, concluding that individuals more vulnerable to anxious mood have a selective difficulty disengaging attention from emotionally negative stimuli. The current thesis highlights the possibility, however, that the structure of the modified cueing paradigm could allow individual differences in initial attentional engagement with differentially valenced stimuli to be interpreted as a selective disengagement bias. ... The modified emotional Stroop task employed in the current research measured participant's ability to engage with the emotional content of differentially valenced stimuli having initially processed non-emotional information (stimulus colour), and measured their relative ability to disengage attention from such emotional content to process non-emotional stimulus information. Results using this modified Stroop task suggested that those with high vulnerability to anxious mood were disproportionately fast to engage with the content of negative as compared to non-negative stimuli whereas those with low vulnerability to anxious mood did not display this pattern. The results provided no support for presence of an anxiety-linked bias in attentional disengagement from the content of differentially valenced stimuli. Results derived from the modified emotional Stroop task therefore provided support for the presence of an anxiety-linked bias in attentional engagement with the content of emotionally negative stimuli, but no support for a bias in attentional disengagement from the content of such material. The final study in the present series of experiments was designed to address the novel possibility that a bias in attentional disengagement could result in ongoing semantic activation of negatively valenced stimuli which would not necessarily be indexed by previous tasks assessing biased attentional disengagement. The results of this final study, however, provided no evidence to suggest the presence of anxiety-linked differences in ongoing semantic activation of differentially valenced stimuli. The present series of studies therefore provide support for the presence of an anxiety-linked bias in attentional engagement with the content of emotionally negative stimuli, while providing no support for the presence of an anxiety-linked bias in attentional disengagement from negative stimuli.

Os vieses atencional e avaliativo para imagens relacionadas ao cigarro foram mensurados após a exposição a imagens relacionadas ao álcool (IA) ou controle (IC) através de uma tarefa de atenção visual. Participaram 40 universitários de 19 a 30 anos (M=23 anos) bebedores fumantes designados aleatoriamente para a condição IA ou IC. Além dos vieses, foram avaliados: beber problemático (através do Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test), e severidade da dependência de nicotina (Questionário de Tolerância e Fagerstron). Os fumantes apresentaram viés atencional e avaliativo para as imagens relacionadas ao fumar. A exposição prévia a pistas associadas ao beber elevou o viés avaliativo (mas não o atencional) para imagens relacionadas ao cigarro. Observou-se alta freqüência de bebedores problemáticos, porém, baixo grau de dependência em nicotina. As implicações destes resultados para a prevenção ao fumo e ao beber abusivo entre universitários foram discutidas. / This study applied a visual attentional task to evaluated the attentional and evaluative biases for smoking-related images after exposure to alcohol (IA) or control (IC) images. Subjects were 40 college drinker and smokers (19 to 30 years old, mean 23 yrs), randomly assigned for IA or IC conditions. Also problem drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and severity of nicotine dependence (Questionário de Tolerância de Fagerströn) were assessed. Smokers showed attentional and evaluative biases for smoking-related images. Previous exposure to drinking cues increased the evaluative but not the attentional bias for smokingrelated images. There was a high frequency of problem drinkers, but a low degree of nicotine dependence in this sample. The implications of these findings for prevention of smoking and abusive drinking among college students were discussed.