National Addiction Management Service, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore 539747, Singapore.
Family Medicine and Primary Care, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore 308232, Singapore.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Oct 26;17(21):7821. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17217821.
In recent years, advances in experimental psychology have led to a better understanding in automatic, unconscious processes, referred to as attentional and approach biases amongst individuals with substance use disorders. Attentional biases refer to the relatively automatic tendencies for attention to be preferentially allocated towards substance-related cues. Whereas, approach bias refers to the relatively automatic behavioral tendencies of individuals to reach out to substance-related cues in their natural environment. While, several reviews confirm the existence of these biases, and the effectiveness of bias modification, the conduct of cognitive bias modification amongst substance-using individuals is not without its challenges. One of these is that cognitive biases, both attentional and approach biases, are not universally present; and several individual differences factors modulate the magnitude of the biases. Another challenge that investigators faced in their conduct of cognitive bias modification relates to the selection of the appropriate task for bias assessment and modification. Other challenges intrinsic to cognitive bias modification intervention relates to that of participant attrition, much like conventional psychotherapies. Negative findings, of the absence of biases at baseline, or the lack of effectiveness of bias modification have been reported in studies of cognitive bias modification. All these challenges could have an impact on bias assessment and modification. In this perspective paper, we will explore the literature surrounding each of these challenges and discuss potential measures that could be undertaken to mitigate these clinical and research challenges.
近年来，实验心理学的进展使人们对注意力和接近倾向等个体物质使用障碍的自动、无意识过程有了更好的理解。注意力偏差是指注意力相对自动地偏向与物质相关的线索的倾向。而接近偏差是指个体在自然环境中接近与物质相关线索的相对自动的行为倾向。虽然有几项综述证实了这些偏差的存在以及偏差修正的有效性，但在物质使用个体中进行认知偏差修正并非没有挑战。其中之一是，注意力和接近偏差这两种认知偏差并非普遍存在；并且有几个个体差异因素调节了偏差的大小。研究人员在进行认知偏差修正时面临的另一个挑战是选择适当的任务进行偏差评估和修正。认知偏差修正干预内在的其他挑战与参与者流失有关，与传统心理疗法类似。在认知偏差修正研究中，已经报告了阴性结果，即在基线时不存在偏差，或者偏差修正没有效果。所有这些挑战都可能对偏差评估和修正产生影响。在这篇观点文章中，我们将探讨围绕这些挑战的文献，并讨论可以采取哪些措施来减轻这些临床和研究挑战。
