Effects of positive interpretive bias modification in highly anxious individuals
Abstract
Over the past 20 years evidence has accumulated that individuals suffering from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous information as threatening. Considering the causal role of this interpretive bias in anxiety, it was recently established that modifying interpretive biases influences anxiety. This suggests that anxiety can be clinically treated by directly targeting this interpretive bias. The present study was designed to modify a negative interpretive bias in highly anxious individuals, and subsequently assess the hypothesized beneficial effects on clinical measures. High trait-anxious participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a positive interpretational Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) or a control condition (n=2 x 17). The program was offered online for eight consecutive days. Upon completing the program, participants who had followed positive CBM-I were less state and trait-anxious compared to the control group. Additionally, positively trained participants scored lower on a measure of general psychopathology (SCL-90). No effects were observed on social anxiety and stress vulnerability. The mixed pattern of findings renders them rather inconclusive, leaving interpretations of the potential therapeutic merits of CBM-I open for future research.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
IBM can lead to a subsequent shift in social anxiety levels.
“which can lead to a subsequent shift in social anxiety levels (Bowler et al., 2012; Murphy et al., 2007; Salemink et al., 2009).”
From Acceptability and Co-Development of an Online Cognitive Bias Modification Intervention for Emerging Adults With Hazardous Alcohol Use and Social Anxiety: A Mixed Methods Study (2020) · cites this paper as Salemink et al., 2009
For the beta version, social scenarios were translated versions of those used in previous research, adapted to be more suitable for the developmental context of the target age range (18 to 25 years) and the Australian context.
“For the beta version, social scenarios were translated versions of those used in previous research (Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2014; Salemink et al., 2009), adapted to be made more suitable for the developmental context of the study's target age range (18 to 25 years; e.g., changing a scenario that suggested a person had children) and the Australian context (e.g., changing the”
From Acceptability and Co-Development of an Online Cognitive Bias Modification Intervention for Emerging Adults With Hazardous Alcohol Use and Social Anxiety: A Mixed Methods Study (2020) · cites this paper as Salemink et al., 2009
Watching stressful videos, trying to solve an unsolvable anagram task under time pressure, or giving a speech should be stressful for most individuals.
“For example, watching stressful videos [39], trying to solve an unsolvable anagram task under time pressure ‘knowing’ that ‘most people have no problems solving it in time’, e.g., see [9] or giving a speech, e.g. see [55] should be stressful for most individuals.”
From How to boost positive interpretations? A Meta-Analysis of the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification for interpretation (2014) · cites this paper as [9]
Cites
(1970) · Cited by 24,983 · see citing works
Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety.
Watson, D., & Friend, R. (1969) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0027806 · Cited by 3,467 · see citing works
An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models.
Chang, P. C., & Dobson, A. J. (1991) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.2307/2290548 · Cited by 2,543 · see citing works
MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L. (2002) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.111.1.107 · Cited by 1,334 · cited 1× · see citing works
“The other scale assessed depression and was labeled at opposite ends with happy and depressed (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundTechnology in mental health care delivery systems
Sidowski, J. B., Johnson, J. H., & Williams, T. A. (1980) · Ablex Pub. Corp. eBooks · Cited by 977 · see citing works
Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety.
Mathews, A., & Mackintosh, B. (2000) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.109.4.602 · Cited by 739 · cited 4× · see citing works
“While results from the Mathews et al. study (2007) are encouraging, several issues demand clarification.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialBias in interpretation of ambiguous sentences related to threat in anxiety
Eysenck, M. W., Mogg, K., May, J., Richards, A., & Mathews, A. (1991) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.100.2.144 · Cited by 516 · see citing works
Social phobia and interpretation of social events
Stopa, L. L., & Clark, D. M. (2000) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00043-1 · Cited by 505 · see citing works
Negative interpretation bias in social phobia
Amin, N., Foa, E. B., & Coles, M. E. (1998) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00060-6 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Individual Differences in Autonomic Response: Conditioned Association or Conditioned Fear?
Hodes, R. L., Cook, E. W., & Lang, P. J. (1985) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.1985.tb01649.x · Cited by 355 · see citing works
An Introduction to Generalized Linear Models
Ziegel, E. R. (2002) · Technometrics · doi:10.1198/tech.2002.s91 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguity: A text comprehension study.
MacLeod, C., & Cohen, I. L. (1993) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037//0021-843x.102.2.238 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguity: A text comprehension study.
MacLeod, C., & Cohen, I. L. (1993) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.102.2.238 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Inducing a benign interpretational bias reduces trait anxiety
Mathews, A., Ridgeway, V., Cook, E., & Yiend, J. (2007) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.011 · Cited by 171 · cited 3× · see citing works
“In the present study, participantswere trained for eight days insteadof onlyone (inoriginalCBM-I studies) or fourdays (Mathews et al., 2007).”
MethodResultMackintosh, B., Mathews, A., Yiend, J., Ridgeway, V., & Cook, E. (2006) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.03.001 · Cited by 143 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Robust effects of modified interpretive bias have been foundwhen assessed by reaction times and scores on a recognition task (Mackintosh et al., 2006; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Mathews et al., 2007; Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2007a, 2007b; Yiend et al., 2005).”
BackgroundMethodEnduring consequences of experimentally induced biases in interpretation
Yiend, J., Mackintosh, B., & Mathews, A. (2005) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2004.06.007 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Trained interpretive bias and anxiety
Salemink, E., van den Hout, M., & Kindt, M. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.03.011 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Self-citationTrained interpretive bias: Validity and effects on anxiety
Salemink, E., van den Hout, M., & Kindt, M. (2007) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.010 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Self-citationGeneralisation of modified interpretive bias across tasks and domains
Salemink, E., van den Hout, M., & Kindt, M. (2010) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930802692053 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A meta-analysis of the effect of cognitive bias modification on anxiety and depression
Hallion, L. S., & Ruscio, A. M. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0024355 · Cited by 891 · see citing works
The impact of anxiety upon cognition: perspectives from human threat of shock studies
Robinson, O. J., Vytal, K., Cornwell, B. R., & Grillon, C. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00203 · Cited by 613 · see citing works
“Similarly, it is unclear whether biases associated with the dot-probe are related to disengagement difficulties or to initial orienting (Salemink et al., 2009; Clarke et al., 2013).”
BackgroundCognitive Bias Modification Approaches to Anxiety
MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (2012) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143052 · Cited by 601 · see citing works
“…confirmed and extended this finding, showing that a session of such CBMI delivered in the interpret-positive condition, rather than the interpret-negative condition, led to significant decline not only in state anxiety but in trait anxiety questionnaire scores also (Salemink et al. 2007a, 2009).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialEfficacy of cognitive bias modification interventions in anxiety and depression: Meta-analysis
Cristea, I. A., Kok, R. N., & Cuijpers, P. (2015) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.114.146761 · Cited by 553 · see citing works
“…(2007)48 Murphy et al (2007)49 C1 Murphy et al (2007)49 C2 Najmi & Amir (2010)50 Neubauer et al (2013)51 Rapee et al (2013)52 Salemink et al (2007)53 Salemink et al (2009)54 Salemink et al (2007)55 Schmidt et al (2009)56 Schoorl et al (2013)57 Sharpe et al (2012)58 S2 Steel et al (2010)59 Steinman…”
Menne-Lothmann, C., Viechtbauer, W., Höhn, P., Kasanova, Z., Haller, S. P., Drukker, M., van Os, J., Wichers, M., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0100925 · Cited by 235 · see citing works
“Those included overall stressful videos [8,39,43,45,63], unsolvable anagram tasks [9,52], worry intrusions or negative mood inductions [10,37,40,50], symptom provoking tasks [35,58], speech anticipation [55], and exposure to emotional faces combined with ‘incorrect’ feedback [61].”
BackgroundCognitive bias modification for anxiety: current evidence and future directions
Beard, C. (2011) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1586/ern.10.194 · Cited by 222 · see citing works
Carlbring, P., Apelstrand, M., Sehlin, H., Amir, N., Rousseau, A., Hofmann, S. G., & Andersson, G. (2012) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-12-66 · Cited by 215 · see citing works
Foland-Ross, L. C., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00489 · Cited by 197 · see citing works
“Further, positive CBM-I has been found to be effective in reducing negative interpretative biases in individuals who report high levels of anxiety (Mathews et al., 2007; Murphy et al., 2007; Salemink et al., 2009).”
BackgroundBlackwell, S. E., & Holmes, E. A. (2010) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.1680 · Cited by 196 · see citing works
“We aimed to deliver the CBM-I at one session per day over 7 days (following Salemink et al., 2009), with the addition that the first session was guided by the experimenter.”
MethodLang, T. J., Blackwell, S. E., Harmer, C. J., Davison, P., & Holmes, E. A. (2012) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.855 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
“Each daily session of the intervention comprised 64 stimuli in total, arranged into eight blocks of eight after Salemink et al. (2009).”
MethodResultBowler, J. O., Mackintosh, B., Dunn, B. D., Mathews, A., Dalgleish, T., & Hoppitt, L. (2012) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0029932 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
“Mathews, Ridgeway, Cook, and Yiend (2007) showed that four sessions of CBM-I can reduce trait anxiety in a high-anxious population; similarly, Salemink, van den Hout, and Kindt (2009) demonstrated reductions in trait anxiety, state anxiety, and general psychopathology through multiple CBM-I…”
BackgroundGrafton, B., MacLeod, C., Rudaizky, D., Holmes, E. A., Salemink, E., Fox, E., & Notebaert, L. (2017) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.115.176123 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Self-citationBrosan, L., Hoppitt, L., Shelfer, L., Sillence, A., & Mackintosh, B. (2011) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.12.006 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Amir, N., & Taylor, C. T. (2012) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0026928 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“…procedure is bolstered by extending earlier findings in analogue samples of socially anxious (Beard & Amir, 2008) and generally trait anxious individuals (Mathews et al., 2007; Salemink et al., 2009) to clinical samples presenting with greater severity of symptoms and functional interference.”
BackgroundCognitive bias modification training in adolescents: effects on interpretation biases and mood.
Lothmann, C., Holmes, E., Chan, S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2011) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02286.x · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Cognitive bias modification procedures in the management of mental disorders
MacLeod, C. (2012) · Current Opinion in Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/yco.0b013e32834fda4a · Cited by 104 · see citing works
“[38] delivered eight consecutive daily sessions of CBM-I to 34 participants recruited on the basis of their high trait anxiety scores.”
BackgroundCognitive bias modification: Induced interpretive biases affect memory.
Tran, T. B., Hertel, P. T., & Joormann, J. (2011) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0021754 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Mobini, S., Reynolds, S., & Mackintosh, B. (2013) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-012-9445-8 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
“In another study, Salemink et al. (2009) found that high trait-anxious participants who completed positive CBM-I program online for eight consecutive days were less state and trait-anxious compared to the control group.”
ResultBlackwell, S., Woud, M., & MacLeod, C. (2017) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2017.41 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. W. (2014) · Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1037/a0032806 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Self-citationState rumination: Associations with emotional stress reactivity and attention biases
LeMoult, J., Arditte, K. A., D'Avanzato, C., & Joormann, J. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.029112 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Modifying Threat-related Interpretive Bias in Adolescents
Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. (2011) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9523-5 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
“In adults, it has been shown that training individuals with high levels of anxiety to interpret ambiguous information in a positive way using CBM-I reduced their negative interpretive bias and associated self-reported anxious feelings (Mathews et al. 2007; Murphy et al. 2007; Salemink et al. 2009).”
Self-citationSalemink, E., Kindt, M., Rienties, H., & van den Hout, M. (2013) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.10.005 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Self-citationOglesby, M. E., Allan, N. P., & Schmidt, N. B. (2017) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2017.05.007 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Cognitive bias modification of interpretations: A viable treatment for child and adolescent anxiety?
Lau, J. Y. F. (2013) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.07.001 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2011) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.10.006 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
“This recognition task has been shown to discriminate between high and low anxious individuals (Salemink & van den Hout, 2010) and has been used successfully as a manipulation check in previous CBM-I studies (Lothmann et al., 2010; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2009; Salemink & Wiers, 2011).”
MethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationSchoth, D. E., & Liossi, C. (2016) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000342 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Yiend, J., Lee, J.-S., Tekes, S., Atkins, L., Mathews, A., Vrinten, M., Ferragamo, C., & Shergill, S. (2014) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-013-9571-y · Cited by 73 · see citing works
“These have typically ranged from a session a day over eight consecutive days (Salemink et al. 2009) to four”
BackgroundModifying cognitive errors promotes cognitive well being: a new approach to bias modification.
Lester, K., Mathews, A., Davison, P., Burgess, J., & Yiend, J. (2011) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.01.001 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Fu, X.-X., Du, Y.-S., Au, S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2013) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2012.11.003 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Button, K. S., Kounali, D., Stapinski, L. A., Rapee, R. M., Lewis, G., & Munafo, M. R. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119456 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“Evidence for modifying positive interpretation biases is preliminary [37] but our results suggest this as a possible avenue for treatment.”
ResultValidation of the "recognition task" used in the training of interpretation biases.
Salemink, E., & van den Hout, M. (2010) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2009.11.006 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Self-citationCougle, J., Summers, B. J., Allan, N. P., Dillon, K. H., Smith, H. L., Okey, S. A., & Harvey, A. M. (2017) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2017.09.004 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Lastly, controlled multi-session evaluations of IBM have typically compared it to waitlist (Salemink et al., 2009; Vassilopoulos, Banerjee, & Prantzalou, 2009) or a neutral/sham condition matched for task similarity (Amir & Taylor, 2012; Lang, Blackwell, Harmer, Davison, & Holmes, 2012; Micco,…”
MethodSalemink, E., Wolters, L., & de Haan, E. (2015) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.02.003 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Self-citationHoppitt, L., Illingworth, J. L., MacLeod, C., Hampshire, A., Dunn, B. D., & Mackintosh, B. (2013) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.10.008 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Nevertheless, some previous CBM-I studies have been successful in reducing scores on such trait measures (e.g., Mathews et al., 2007; Salemink et al., 2009).”
BackgroundInterpretation training influences memory for prior interpretations.
Salemink, E., Hertel, P. T., & Mackintosh, B. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0020232 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Self-citationSavulich, G., Shergill, S. S., & Yiend, J. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.016711 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Implicit interpretation biases affect emotional vulnerability: A training study
Tran, T. B., Siemer, M., & Joormann, J. (2011) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2010.532393 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Previous studies have reported similar effects of training on state anxiety in response to threat-related videos (Mackintosh et al., 2006; Salemink et al., 2009; Wilson et al., 2006), but our study is the first to use a clearly self-relevant stressor and to show effects on emotional responding other than anxiety.”
ResultTelman, M. D., Holmes, E., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2013) · Child Psychiatry and Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-013-0386-6 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Not all of these attempts have been successful [34, 41, 42], calling into question the ecological validity of many of these ‘stressors’.”
BackgroundEffects of modifying the interpretation of emotional ambiguity
Mathews, A. (2012) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2011.584527 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“On readministration of the trait anxiety measure 1 week after training was complete, trait anxiety scores were significantly reduced in positive-trained participants relative to an untrained control group (for a replication see Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2009 ).”
BackgroundResultMulti-session online interpretation bias training for anxiety in a community sample
Ji, J. L., Baee, S., Zhang, D., Calicho-Mamani, C., Meyer, M. J., Funk, D. H., Portnow, S., Barnes, L. E., & Teachman, B. A. (2021) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2021.103864 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Lester, K., Field, A., & Muris, P. (2011) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1080/15374416.2011.618449 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Recent work, primarily in the adult literature, has shown that multisession bias modification interventions can reduce threat interpretations, promote more benign interpretations, and reduce social and trait anxiety relative to a control condition (Beard & Amir, 2008 ; Mathews et al, 2007 ; Salemink, van den Hout, & K…”
BackgroundJones, E. B., & Sharpe, L. (2014) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2014.05.003 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) has had positive outcomes in laboratory studies of anxiety [6,26,35,42] and depression [23,24,31].”
Interpretation modification training reduces social anxiety in clinically anxious children
Klein, A. M., Rapee, R. M., Hudson, J. L., Schniering, C. A., Wuthrich, V. M., Kangas, M., Lyneham, H. J., Souren, P. M., & Rinck, M. (2015) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.10.006 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“Cognitive bias modification training To modify interpretation bias, children completed a daily training program for 14 days, preceded by a practice session (see also Salemink et al., 2009).”
MethodInfluentialThe Plasticity of Adolescent Cognitions: Data from a Novel Cognitive Bias Modification Training Task
Lau, J. Y. F., Molyneaux, E., Telman, M. D., & Belli, S. R. (2011) · Child Psychiatry and Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-011-0244-3 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“It is also not clear if mood effects occur because of the induced cognitive bias although more sophisticated mediation analysis suggests that this is plausible [27].”
BackgroundOtkhmezuri, B., Boffo, M., Siriaraya, P., Matsangidou, M., Wiers, R. W. H. J., Mackintosh, B., Ang, C. S., & Salemink, E. (2018) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/11517 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Positive and negative interpretations were assessed with the Recognition Task before and after the training, a validated computerized task that has shown great sensitivity in capturing CBM-I training effects across both subclinical and clinical samples [4,12-14].”
MethodResultSelf-citationKlein, A. M., Salemink, E., de Hullu, E., Houtkamp, E., Papa, M., & van der Molen, M. (2018) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3579-9 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationPichon, S., Lombard, E., Eryilmaz, H., & Vuilleumier, P. O. (2014) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsu044 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Internet-based interpretation bias modification for social anxiety: A pilot study
Brettschneider, M., Neumann, P., Berger, T., Renneberg, B., & Boettcher, J. (2015) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.04.008 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Specificity Effects in the Modification of Interpretation Bias and Stress Reactivity
Mackintosh, B., Mathews, A., Eckstein, D., & Hoppitt, L. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.025711 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“It appears that induced biases in one domain can sometimes influence bias in a new domain (Salemink et al., 2009b) but without influencing emotional responses in the expected way in that new domain (Salemink et al., 2007, present Experiment 1 and 2).”
BackgroundSalemink, E., de Jong, S. R. C., Notebaert, L., MacLeod, C., & van Bockstaele, B. (2022) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101727 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Self-citationTrained interpretive bias survives mood change.
Salemink, E., & van den Hout, M. (2010) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.02.010 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationSiriaraya, P., Visch, V., Boffo, M., Spijkerman, R., Wiers, R. W. H. J., Korrelboom, K., Hendriks, V. M., Salemink, E., van Dooren, M. M. M., Bas, M., et al. (2021) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/27953 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
“The Één klein probleempje app is a narrative-based gamification of the cognitive bias modification of interpretations (CBM-I) training to address anxiety problems [56].”
BackgroundSelf-citationThoughts on Experimental Psychopathology
van den Hout, M., Engelhard, I. M., & McNally, R. J. (2016) · Psychopathology Review · doi:10.5127/pr.045115 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Is cognitive bias modification training truly beneficial for adolescents?
Chan, S., Lau, J., & Reynolds, S. (2015) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines · doi:10.1111/jcpp.12368 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Woud, M. L., Zhang, X. C., Becker, E. S., Zlomuzica, A., & Margraf, J. (2015) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.12.005 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“, in the context of social anxiety [46–48], analog posttraumatic stress [49,50] and depression [51–55].”
BackgroundThe influence of social comparison on cognitive bias modification and emotional vulnerability.
Standage, H., Harris, J. M., & Fox, E. (2013) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0034226 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Effects of interpretation bias modification on unregulated and regulated emotional reactivity
Bockstaele, B. V., Notebaert, L., Salemink, E., Clarke, P., MacLeod, C., Wiers, R. W. H. J., & Bögels, S. M. (2019) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.03.009 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“However, these effects on IB did not translate to effects in stress reactivity, as there were no group differences in anxiety or depression following a stress induction (e.g., see also Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2009).”
InfluentialSelf-citationWoud, M. L., Hutschemaekers, M. H. M., Rinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2015) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.03.001 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Training interpretation biases among individuals with body dysmorphic disorder symptoms.
Premo, J. E., Sarfan, L. D., & Clerkin, E. M. (2016) · Body image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.11.004 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Bowler, J. O., Hoppitt, L., Illingworth, J., Dalgleish, T., Ononaiye, M. S. P., Perez‐Olivas, G., & Mackintosh, B. (2016) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.08.011 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“This appears to be in contrast to previous studies that have shown successful use of CBM to reduce high anxiety in non-clinical populations (e.g., Beard & Amir, 2008; Murphy et al., 2007; Salemink et al., 2009).”
ResultBockstaele, B. V., Clarke, P., Notebaert, L., MacLeod, C., & Salemink, E. (2020) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101561 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Self-citationMaking the leap: From experimental psychopathology to clinical trials
Blackwell, S. E., & Woud, M. L. (2022) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.1177/20438087221080075 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“When we first tried a CBM intervention in the context of depression (Blackwell & Holmes, 2010), we took the approach previously used by Salemink et al. (2009) of one session every day over the course of 1 week.”
MethodWinter, S. D., Salemink, E., & Bosmans, G. (2017) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2017.12.004 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Self-citationPrior, K., Salemink, E., Wiers, R. W., Teachman, B. A., Piggott, M., Newton, N. C., Teesson, M., Baillie, A. J., Campbell, S., & Stapinski, L. A. (2020) · Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.14452 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
“1: For the beta version, social scenarios were translated versions of those used in previous research (Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2014; Salemink et al., 2009), adapted to be made more suitable for the developmental context of the study’s target age range (18 to 25 years; e.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationLau, J., & Pile, V. (2015) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702614549596 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Single-Session Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations Training in High-Anxious Adolescents
Fu, X., Du, Y., Au, S., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2015) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.29.3.253 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Salemink, E., Woud, M. L., Roos, M., Wiers, R. W. H. J., & Lindgren, K. P. (2018) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.07.023 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“Cognitive Bias Modification of alcohol-related interpretations The modification of alcohol-related interpretations was based on the well-established, anxiety-related scenario-based CBM-I training (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2009; Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2007).”
MethodSelf-citationImagery versus verbal interpretive cognitive bias modification for compulsive checking
Black, M. J., & Grisham, J. R. (2016) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2016.05.009 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Larrazabal, M. A., Eberle, J. W., Evia, Á. F. V. D. L. G., Boukhechba, M., Funk, D. H., Barnes, L. E., Boker, S. M., & Teachman, B. A. (2023) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2023.104463 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Cognitive Bias Modification: A New Frontier in Cognition and Emotion Research
MacLeod, C., & Clarke, P. (2013) · UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Nowakowski, M. E., Antony, M., & Koerner, N. (2015) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.04.004 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
A pilot study of interpretive cognitive bias modification for OCD
Black, M., & Grisham, J. R. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.1177/2043808718778969 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Cognitive Bias Modification Training in Adolescents: Persistence of Training Effects
Belli, S. R., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2014) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-014-9627-7 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Krans, J., Moulds, M. L., Grisham, J., Lang, T., & Denson, T. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.038613 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
van Duijvenbode, N., Didden, R., Korzilius, H. P. L. M., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2016) · Journal of Mental Health Research in Intellectual Disabilities · doi:10.1080/19315864.2016.1166303 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Neural correlates of cognitive bias modification for interpretation
Sakaki, K., Nozawa, T., Ikeda, S., & Kawashima, R. (2020) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsaa026 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Britton, G., & Bailey, H. J. (2018) · UWL Repository (University of West London) · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Targeting anxiety sensitivity as a prevention strategy
Schmidt, N. B., Allan, N. P., Knapp, A. A., & Capron, D. W. (2019) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-813495-5.00008-5 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Zahler, L., Meyers, M., Woud, M. L., Blackwell, S. E., Margraf, J., & Velten, J. (2021) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01897-3 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
“, by presenting participants a series of ambiguous scenarios which they are asked to complete either consistently in a functional or dysfunctional manner, depending on participants’ training condition (e.g., Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2009; Woud et al., 2018).”
BackgroundEdwards, C. B., Portnow, S., Namaky, N., & Teachman, B. (2018) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-018-9922-9 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Interpretive Bias Modification for Disgust
Whitton, A., Grisham, J., Henry, J., & Palada, H. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.030812 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Biased interpretation in paranoia and its modification.
Savulich, G., Edwards, A. R., Assadi, S., Guven, H., Leathers-Smith, E., Shergill, S., & Yiend, J. (2020) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101575 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Adamus, M., Chayinska, M., Šrol, J., Adam-Troian, J., Mikušková, E. B., & Teličák, P. (2025) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.70003 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“…, are more likely to develop and maintain persecutory delusions influencing the severity of psychological stress, anxiety, and depression over time (Clarke et al., 2018; Eysenck et al., 1991; Gagliardi, 2023; Lam et al., 2021; Mathews & MacLeod, 1985; Salemink et al., 2009; Trotta et al., 2021).”
Chen, R., Zheng, J., Li, T., Zhang, Q., Li, C., & Cui, L. (2020) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01094-4 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“…modifying interpretation biases and alleviating related symptoms for obsessive compulsive disorder (Salemink et al. 2015), dysphoria (Hindash and Rottenberg 2017), generalized anxiety disorder (Hirsch et al. 2018), social anxiety (Salemink et al. 2009) and posttraumatic stress (Woud et al. 2013).”
BackgroundBlankers, M., Salemink, E., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2015) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20852-7_10 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationViana, A. G., Ebesutani, C. K., Young, J. N., Tull, M. T., & Gratz, K. L. (2011) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9414-7 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Recent work, for example, highlights the potential utility of interventions aimed at the modification of cognitive biases in adult anxiety disorder patients (Salemink et al. 2009).”
Modifying thought-action fusion via a single-session computerized interpretation training
Siwiec, S. G., Davine, T. P., Kresser, R. C., Rohde, M. M., & Lee, H.-J. (2017) · Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2016.11.005 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The influence of cognitive biases on psychophysiological vulnerability to stress
Randall, K. D. (2012) · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Investigating the therapeutic potential of cognitive bias modification for high anxiety sensitivity.
Macdonald, E. M., Koerner, N., Antony, M., Vickers, K., Mastorakos, T., & Kuo, J. R. (2019) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.101521 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Wang, J. (2021) · Psychology Health & Medicine · doi:10.1080/13548506.2021.2017471 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Recent research has highlighted that such biases are causally related to emotional vulnerability; thus, attribution bias-related interventions, such as those aiming at interpretation modification, may have therapeutic utility (Macleod, 2012; Salemink et al., 2009).”
BackgroundMethodPractice makes perfect: Training the interpretation of emotional ambiguity
Clifton, J., Hedley, S., Mountier, E. I., Tiszai, B., & Grimshaw, G. M. (2015) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1020768 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Cognitive bias modification of interpretation for social anxiety: A “bottom-up” intervention?
Liu, B.-Q., & Li, X. (2018) · Advances in Psychological Science · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2018.00859 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Williams, A. D., Pajak, R., O'Moore, K., Andrews, G., & Grisham, J. (2014) · Trials · doi:10.1186/1745-6215-15-193 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“CBM-I interventions have demonstrated efficacy in modifying the key cognitive biases implicated in various anxious populations, including high trait anxiety [5,6], generalized anxiety [7], spider fear [8] and social anxiety [9-13].”
Kruijt, A., & Carlbring, P. (2018) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/scqf3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Reports for several CBM studies describe how care is taken not to communicate the aim and/or the contingency to participants and it is not uncommon that post-training awareness interviews or questionnaires are taken as manipulation checks (for instance in: Chan et al., 2015; Kruijt, Putman, & Van der Does, 2013a; Sale…”
BackgroundEffects of positive and negative affect inductions on interpretive and response bias
Yarrington, J. S., & Craske, M. G. (2023) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2023.104460 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Prior, K., Salemink, E., Wiers, R., Teachman, B., Piggott, M., Newton, N., Teesson, M., Baillie, A., Manning, V., McLellan, L. F., et al. (2021) · JMIR Research Protocols · doi:10.2196/28667 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“The social scenarios are translated versions of those used in previous research [22,45,76], adapted for this study’s target age range of 18-30 years and the Australian context [51].”
MethodSelf-citationCognitive Bias Modification Training
Grafton, B., & MacLeod, C. (2014) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118775349.ch64 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Benoit, K. E. (2013) · VTechWorks (Virginia Tech) · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Adamus, M., Šrol, J., Mikušková, E. B., Adam‐Troian, J., & Chayinska, M. (2025) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjso.70036 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“…persecutory delusions may lead to elevated levels of anxiety, including the sense of economic anxiety (Adamus et al., 2025; Clarke et al., 2018; Eysenck et al., 1991; Gagliardi, 2023; Lam et al., 2021; Liekefett et al., 2023; Mathews & MacLeod, 1985; Salemink et al., 2009; Trotta et al., 2021).”
- Authors
- Salemink, E., van den Hout, M., & Kindt, M.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Salemink, Elske
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-06
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 676-683
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2169905320
- Cited by
- 143
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 15.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- cognitive bias modification, interpretation bias, trait anxiety, state anxiety, online intervention, psychopathology, social anxiety, stress vulnerability, threat interpretation
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Anxiety Disorders, Attitude, Cognition, Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted, Female, Humans, Male, Phobic Disorders, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reaction Time, Severity of Illness Index, Software, Bias, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
