Thompson Catherine, Ong Elsie Li Chen
School of Health Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom.
Division of Information and Technology Studies, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Front Psychiatry. 2018 Mar 14;9:79. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00079. eCollection 2018.
It can be difficult to identify those at risk of suicide because suicidal thoughts are often internalized and not shared with others. Yet to prevent suicide attempts it is crucial to identify suicidal thoughts and actions at an early stage. Past studies have suggested that deficits in attentional control are associated with suicide, with the argument that individuals are unable to inhibit negative thoughts and direct resources away from negative information. The current study aimed to investigate the association of suicidal behavior with neurological and behavioral markers, measuring attentional bias and inhibition in two Stroop tasks. Fifty-four participants responded to the color of color words in a standard Stroop task and the color of positive, negative, and neutral words in an emotional Stroop task. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded from frontal areas during each task and at resting. Participants were separated into a and group according to their self-reported suicidal behavior. Participants in the high-risk group showed slower response times in the color Stroop and reduced accuracy to incongruent trials, but faster response times in the emotional Stroop task. Response times to the word "suicide" were significantly slower for the high-risk group. This indicates an attentional bias toward specific negative stimuli and difficulties inhibiting information for those with high levels of suicidal behavior. In the emotional Stroop task the high-risk group showed reduced activity in leftward frontal areas, suggesting limitations in the ability to regulate emotional processing via the left frontal regions. The findings support the argument that deficits in attentional control are related to suicidal behavior. The research also suggests that under certain conditions frontal asymmetry may be associated with suicidal behavior.
识别有自杀风险的人可能很困难，因为自杀念头往往是内化的，不会与他人分享。然而，为了防止自杀企图，在早期阶段识别出自杀念头和行为至关重要。过去的研究表明，注意力控制缺陷与自杀有关，其观点是个体无法抑制负面想法并将资源从负面信息上转移开。当前的研究旨在调查自杀行为与神经和行为标志物之间的关联，在两项斯特鲁普任务中测量注意力偏向和抑制能力。54名参与者在标准斯特鲁普任务中对颜色词的颜色做出反应，并在情绪斯特鲁普任务中对积极、消极和中性词的颜色做出反应。在每项任务期间和休息时，从额叶区域记录脑电图（EEG）活动。根据参与者自我报告的自杀行为将其分为高危组和低危组。高危组在颜色斯特鲁普任务中的反应时间较慢，对不一致试验的准确性较低，但在情绪斯特鲁普任务中的反应时间较快。高危组对“自杀”一词的反应时间明显较慢。这表明对特定负面刺激存在注意力偏向，且自杀行为水平高的人在抑制信息方面存在困难。在情绪斯特鲁普任务中，高危组左侧额叶区域的活动减少，这表明通过左侧额叶区域调节情绪处理的能力存在局限性。这些发现支持了注意力控制缺陷与自杀行为有关的观点。该研究还表明，在某些情况下，额叶不对称可能与自杀行为有关。
