Attentional Bias to Reminders of the Deceased as Compared With a Living Attachment in Grieving
Open accessAbstract
Background Grieving individuals demonstrate attentional bias toward reminders of the deceased versus neutral stimuli. We sought to assess bias toward reminders of the deceased versus a living attachment figure and to evaluate similarities and differences in the neural correlates of deceased- and living-related attention. We also sought to identify grief process variables associated with deceased-related attentional bias.Methods Twenty-five subjects grieving the death of a first-degree relative or partner within 14 months performed an emotional Stroop task, using words related to a deceased or a living attachment figure, and a standard Stroop task, to identify general selective attention, during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects rated word sadness, complicated grief symptoms, depression severity, attachment style, emotional pain, nonacceptance, yearning, and intrusions.Results We identified an attentional bias to deceased-related versus living-related words, independent of age, depression severity/history, loss type, word sadness, medication use, and time since loss. Attentional bias correlated with complicated grief severity and intrusive thinking. A conjunction analysis identified joint activation in the fusiform gyrus, posterior cingulate, and temporal parietal junction across living- and deceased-related attention versus general selective attention. Insecure-avoidant attachment style correlated with decreased engagement of this network in deceased-related attention.Conclusions We have demonstrated an attentional bias to reminders of the deceased versus a living attachment in grieving. Overlapping neural circuits related to living- and deceased-related attention suggest that the bereaved employ similar processes in attending to the deceased as they do in attending to the living. Deceased-related attentional bias appears to be linked primarily to intrusive thinking about the loss.
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Prolonged grief disorder involves both approach tendencies towards reminders of the deceased and avoidance of these reminders as a strategy to minimize associated emotional distress.
“It seems that prolonged grief disorder involves both approach tendencies towards reminders of the deceased and avoidance of these reminders as a strategy to minimize the associated emotional distress 108,109 .”
From Emerging experience with selected new categories in the <scp>ICD</scp>‐11: complex <scp>PTSD</scp>, prolonged grief disorder, gaming disorder, and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder (2022) · cites this paper as [109]
The Discussion reports an attentional bias toward reminders of the deceased that was associated with complicated-grief severity, supporting the approach-related part of the claim. It does not report avoidance of those reminders as a strategy for minimizing emotional distress; its finding about insecure-avoidant attachment style concerns neural activity, not that strategy. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA series of Stroop tasks demonstrated longer reaction times when color naming loss-related words and the deceased name for people with complicated grief versus people without complicated grief.
“A series of Stroop tasks demonstrated longer reaction times when color naming loss-related words (vs. non-loss words) and the deceased name (vs. name other attachment figures) for people with CG versus people without CG (Maccallum & Bryant, 2010a; O ' Connor & Arizmendi, 2013; Schneck et al., 2018: for a different result with a more complex task, see Mancini & Bonanno, 2012).”
From Emotion Regulatory Strategies in Complicated Grief: A Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Schneck et al., 2018
The Results (Attentional Bias and Grief Process Variables; page unavailable) report slower color-naming responses to deceased-related than living-related words, with a greater difference at higher complicated-grief severity. They do not report a comparison between people with and without complicated grief, or separate results for the deceased’s name versus other attachment figures’ names. (LLM, conf=0.89)
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- Authors
- Schneck, N., Tu, T., Michel, C. A., Bonanno, G. A., Sajda, P., & Mann, J. J.
- Affiliations
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schneck, Noam
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-02
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 107-115
- ISSN
- 2451-9022 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5851455
- OpenAlex
- W2767089596
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 2.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH020004, T32MH015144)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- attentional bias, grief, bereavement, death reminders, attachment figures, complicated grief, emotional Stroop task, fusiform gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction, insecure-avoidant attachment, neural correlates of attention, longing
- MeSH terms
- Attentional Bias, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Attention, Emotions, Female, Grief, Gyrus Cinguli, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Object Attachment, Young Adult, Stroop Test
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