Xia Xue, Wang Dandan, Li Yansong, Zhu Xiaoyun, Tan Xiaoying, Wu Yin
School of Social Development and Health Management, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2024 Apr-Jun;24(2):100468. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100468. Epub 2024 May 17.
A relatively new computational approach called trial-level bias score (TL-BS) has shown that attentional bias to smoking-related stimuli in smokers fluctuates temporally, trial by trial, during attention tasks. Here, we investigated the reliability of using TL-BS values to assess attentional bias and the electrophysiology mechanisms undergirding fluctuations in attentional bias among smokers.
In total, 26 male smokers and 26 male non-smokers performed a dot-probe task in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, an additional 23 male smokers and 23 male non-smokers performed the same task while undergoing single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, which was used to investigate corticospinal excitability.
It showed that assessing TL-BS parameters for reaction time (RT) was more reliable than calculating the traditional mean attentional bias score; however, this superior reliability was no longer apparent after controlling for general RT variability. There was a significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in TL-BS parameters calculated for both RT and motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude. However, TL-BS parameters for RT and MEP amplitude were strongly correlated with general RT variability and general MEP variability, respectively.
Our findings indicated that TL-BS parameters may not be ideal for measuring attentional bias at either the behavioral or electrophysiology level; however, larger general RT and MEP amplitude variabilities in non-smokers may indicate dysregulation of cognitive processing in smokers.
一种相对较新的计算方法，即试验水平偏差分数（TL-BS），已表明吸烟者对吸烟相关刺激的注意偏向在注意力任务期间逐次试验地随时间波动。在此，我们研究了使用TL-BS值评估注意偏向的可靠性以及吸烟者注意偏向波动背后的电生理机制。
在实验1中，共有26名男性吸烟者和26名男性非吸烟者进行了点探测任务。在实验2中，另外23名男性吸烟者和23名男性非吸烟者在接受单脉冲经颅磁刺激时进行了相同的任务，该刺激用于研究皮质脊髓兴奋性。
结果表明，评估反应时间（RT）的TL-BS参数比计算传统的平均注意偏向分数更可靠；然而，在控制了一般RT变异性后，这种更高的可靠性不再明显。吸烟者和非吸烟者在为RT和运动诱发电位（MEP）幅度计算的TL-BS参数上存在显著差异。然而，RT和MEP幅度的TL-BS参数分别与一般RT变异性和一般MEP变异性密切相关。
我们的研究结果表明，TL-BS参数在行为或电生理水平上可能都不是测量注意偏向的理想指标；然而，非吸烟者中较大的一般RT和MEP幅度变异性可能表明吸烟者的认知加工失调。
