Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, 28223, Madrid, Spain; Department of Experimental, Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium.
Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, 28223, Madrid, Spain.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2019 Dec;65:101499. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.101499. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
Difficulties to engage attention to positive stimuli and to disengage attention from negative stimuli are typically found in depression. Yet, most of the evidence supporting these attentional biases comes from experimental paradigms in which emotional information (e.g., happy or sad faces) is simultaneously presented with neutral information. Few studies have explored attentional biases when emotional stimuli of different valence are presented simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to assess visual scan patterns of non-dysphoric and dysphoric participants when emotional information is presented simultaneously.
Using an eye-tracker methodology, the gradient relation between attentional biases and depression scores as well as differences between groups in their attentional performance were assessed in non-dysphoric participants (N = 84) and dysphoric participants (N = 58). Three different pairs of faces were used: happy-neutral, neutral-sad, and happy-sad.
First, we found that simultaneous presentation of emotional information (i.e., happy vs. negative faces) reduces the magnitude of attentional biases towards positive information. Second, we also found a significant negative relation between attentional biases towards positive information and depression scores. Finally, compared to non-dysphoric participants, dysphoric individuals marginally spent less time attending positive information in both happy-neutral and happy-sad trials.
The cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to make inferences about causality. Further, only one type of simultaneous emotional faces presentation (i.e., happy-sad) was used.
These results support the need for further research on the processing of competing emotional stimuli in depression.
注意力难以集中于积极刺激，难以从消极刺激中转移出来，这是抑郁症的典型表现。然而，支持这些注意力偏差的大多数证据来自于实验范式，其中同时呈现情感信息（例如，快乐或悲伤的面孔）和中性信息。很少有研究探讨不同效价的情绪刺激同时呈现时的注意力偏差。本研究旨在评估非抑郁和抑郁参与者在呈现情绪信息时的视觉扫描模式。
使用眼动追踪方法，评估非抑郁参与者（N=84）和抑郁参与者（N=58）的注意力偏差与抑郁评分之间的梯度关系以及两组在注意力表现上的差异。使用三种不同的面孔对：快乐-中性、中性-悲伤和快乐-悲伤。
首先，我们发现同时呈现情绪信息（即快乐与负面面孔）会降低对正面信息的注意力偏差程度。其次，我们还发现注意力偏差与抑郁评分之间存在显著的负相关关系。最后，与非抑郁参与者相比，抑郁个体在快乐-中性和快乐-悲伤试验中，对正面信息的注意力时间明显减少。
我们研究的横断面性质不允许我们对因果关系做出推断。此外，仅使用了一种类型的同时呈现的情绪面孔（即快乐-悲伤）。
这些结果支持进一步研究抑郁症中对竞争情绪刺激的处理。
