Carlson Joshua M, Fang Lin, Andrzejewski Jeremy A
Department of Psychological Science, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI, USA.
Neuroimage Rep. 2021 Dec 2;1(4):100067. doi: 10.1016/j.ynirp.2021.100067. eCollection 2021 Dec.
Heightened attentional bias to threat and enhanced performance monitoring have been linked to higher levels of anxiety. Attentional bias modification (ABM) was developed to reduce attentional bias to threat and thus reduce anxiety. Previous studies have shown that ABM can change the activity in brain regions that are involved in cognitive control and threat detection, such as anterior cingulate cortex, which also plays a critical role in error monitoring and is the main source of the error-related negativity (ERN). While single session ABM has been shown to be effective in reducing attentional bias to threat and performance monitoring (i.e., ERN), the effect of multi-session ABM training on electrocortical measures of performance monitoring in high trait anxious individuals remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether multi-session ABM training would reduce the amplitude of the ERN. Individuals with high trait anxiety and attentional bias to threat were assigned in a counterbalanced order to an ABM training group ( = 26) or a control group ( = 25). Training lasted for 6 weeks with 36 training sessions delivered via cellphone. Before and after training, attentional bias was assessed with a visual dot-probe task and performance monitoring was measured with an arrow flanker task where the elicited ERN was collected. ABM training did not reduce ERN amplitudes. Bayesian analysis confirmed the null hypothesis of no changes in ERN amplitude following multi-session ABM. Therefore, our findings do not support the hypothesis that multi-session ABM training reduces performance monitoring processes in high trait anxious individuals. Our findings indicate that different methodological features of ABM training, such as the duration, location, and subject characteristics, may impact the efficacy of ABM on modulating performance monitoring. Identifying the ABM training parameters that impact performance monitoring processes should be further considered in future research.
对威胁的注意力偏向增强和绩效监测增强与更高水平的焦虑有关。注意力偏向修正（ABM）旨在减少对威胁的注意力偏向，从而减轻焦虑。先前的研究表明，ABM可以改变参与认知控制和威胁检测的脑区的活动，如前扣带回皮层，其在错误监测中也起着关键作用，并且是错误相关负波（ERN）的主要来源。虽然单次ABM已被证明在减少对威胁的注意力偏向和绩效监测（即ERN）方面有效，但多阶段ABM训练对高特质焦虑个体绩效监测的电皮层测量指标的影响仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们调查了多阶段ABM训练是否会降低ERN的幅度。将具有高特质焦虑和对威胁的注意力偏向的个体以平衡的顺序分配到ABM训练组（n = 26）或对照组（n = 25）。训练持续6周，通过手机进行36次训练。在训练前后，使用视觉点探测任务评估注意力偏向，并使用箭头侧翼任务测量绩效监测，同时收集诱发的ERN。ABM训练并未降低ERN的幅度。贝叶斯分析证实了多阶段ABM后ERN幅度无变化的零假设。因此，我们的研究结果不支持多阶段ABM训练会降低高特质焦虑个体绩效监测过程的假设。我们的研究结果表明，ABM训练的不同方法学特征，如持续时间、地点和受试者特征，可能会影响ABM对调节绩效监测的功效。未来的研究应进一步考虑确定影响绩效监测过程的ABM训练参数。
