Koizumi Kohei, Tayama Jun, Ishioka Toshiyuki, Nakamura-Thomas Hiromi, Suzuki Makoto, Hara Motohiko, Makita Shigeru, Hamaguchi Toyohiro
Department of Occupational Therapy, Graduate School of Health Science, Saitama Prefectural University, Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan.
Department of Cardiac Rehabilitation, Saitama International Medical Center, Saitama Medical University, Hidaka, Saitama, Japan.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 5;13(2):e0192056. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192056. eCollection 2018.
Cancer patients with hematopoietic tumors exhibit particularly high rates of anxiety disorders and depression, and often develop negative affect. In addition, psychological problems experienced by cancer patients impair their quality of life. When cancer patients feel anxious, they tend to direct their attention toward stimuli associated with threat in the surrounding environment. If attentional bias occurs in patients with hematopoietic tumors, who are at particular risk of developing negative affect, resolution of the bias could be useful in alleviating their anxiety. The current study examined the association between attentional bias and negative affect in patients with hematopoietic tumors and tested the hypothesis that negative affect would be more severe in those who exhibited greater attentional bias. Twenty-seven patients with hematopoietic tumors participated in the study. Reaction time (RT) was measured as the time between the presentation of the threatening and neutral images, and the subject's button press to indicate choice (neutral expressions). Eight combinations of "threatening" expressions with high emotional valence and "neutral" expressions with low emotional valence were presented. The images used to measure attentional bias were taken from the Japanese Female Facial Expression Database and had been rated as expressive of anger, sadness, or neutrality, with predetermined emotional valence. Psychological testing was performed with the Profile of Mood States (POMS). To examine the association between attentional bias and negative affect, we calculated Spearman's rank correlation coefficients for RTs and POMS. Subjects' mean RT was 882.9 (SD = 100.9) ms, and 19 of the 27 subjects exhibited slower RTs relative to healthy individuals. RT was significantly positively correlated with Tension-Anxiety (r = .679, p < .01) and Fatigue (r = .585, p < .01) subscale scores. The results of the study suggested that attentional bias toward threatening expressions could be positively correlated with the mental intensity of anxiety and fatigue in patients with hematopoietic tumors.
患有造血系统肿瘤的癌症患者焦虑症和抑郁症的发病率特别高，且常常产生负面影响。此外，癌症患者经历的心理问题会损害他们的生活质量。当癌症患者感到焦虑时，他们往往会将注意力导向周围环境中与威胁相关的刺激。如果造血系统肿瘤患者出现注意偏向，而这些患者又特别容易产生负面影响，那么消除这种偏向可能有助于缓解他们的焦虑。本研究调查了造血系统肿瘤患者的注意偏向与负面影响之间的关联，并检验了以下假设：注意偏向越大的患者，其负面影响会越严重。27名造血系统肿瘤患者参与了该研究。反应时间（RT）被测量为呈现威胁性和中性图像之间的时间，以及受试者按下按钮以表明选择（中性表情）的时间。呈现了八种具有高情绪效价的“威胁性”表情与低情绪效价的“中性”表情的组合。用于测量注意偏向的图像取自日本女性面部表情数据库，并且已经被评定为表达愤怒、悲伤或中性，具有预先确定的情绪效价。使用情绪状态剖面图（POMS）进行心理测试。为了研究注意偏向与负面影响之间的关联，我们计算了反应时间和POMS的斯皮尔曼等级相关系数。受试者的平均反应时间为882.9（标准差=100.9）毫秒，27名受试者中有19名相对于健康个体表现出较慢的反应时间。反应时间与紧张焦虑（r = 0.679，p < 0.01）和疲劳（r = 0.585，p < 0.01）分量表得分显著正相关。研究结果表明，对威胁性表情的注意偏向可能与造血系统肿瘤患者焦虑和疲劳的心理强度呈正相关。
