The current investigation examined the effects of a differential attentional training task on subsequent emotional reactivity in response to a task that was aimed to either induce positive or negative affectivity. Specifically, the study employed a dot-probe attentional training paradigm to train attention toward positive images (Attend-Positive condition), toward neutral images (Attend-Neutral condition), or to not train attention at all (Control condition). The hypothesis was that individuals whose attention was trained toward positive images would exhibit faster response times toward positive images (compared to the Attend-Neutral and Control conditions) at post assessment, individuals whose attention was trained toward neutral images would exhibit faster response times toward neutral images (compared to the Attend-Positive and Control conditions) at post assessment, and individuals in the Control condition would maintain similar response times from baseline to post assessment, aside from general practice effects. It was also hypothesized that those in the Attend-Positive condition would better regulate emotion, as measured by less negative affect in response to a stress task and more positive affect in response to a positive mood induction task, compared to individuals who have engaged in a control task involving no attentional bias training (Control condition). It was also hypothesized that those in the Attend-Neutral condition would better regulate emotion, as measured by less negative affect in response to a stress task and more positive affect in response to a positive mood induction task, compared to individuals who have engaged in a control task involving no attentional bias training (Control condition). Last, it was hypothesized that individuals in the Attend-Positive condition would report differentially less negative affect in response to the stress task (failure anagrams) than those in the Attend-Neutral condition, and that individuals in the Attend-Positive condition would report differentially more positive affect in response to the positive mood induction task (success anagrams) than those in the Attend-Neutral condition. In all conditions, the dot-probe attentional training did not effectively modify biases in the hypothesized directions. While there was differential affectivity change for individuals who underwent a Failure Anagram task versus a Success Anagram task, there is no way to definitively interpret the meaning of these changes given the failure of the attentional manipulation. The findings from the current investigation provide no evidence for single-session dot-probe attentional bias modification procedures to manipulate attentional bias toward positive stimuli or toward neutral stimuli. Possible explanations for these results, including lack of reliability of the dot-probe task, are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/560820 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Wiley-Hill, Autumn |
| Contributors | Kaszniak, Alfred, Sbarra, David, Borkovec, Thomas, O'Conner, Mary-Frances, Kaszniak, Alfred |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Dissertation |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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