Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety.
Abstract
Five experiments are reported showing that the interpretation of personally relevant emotional information can be modified by systematic exposure to congruent exemplars. Participants were induced to interpret ambiguous information in a relatively threatening or a benign way. Comparison with a baseline condition suggested that negative and positive induction had similar but opposing effects. Induction of an interpretative bias did not require active generation of personally relevant meanings, but such active processing was necessary before state anxiety changed in parallel with the induced interpretative bias. These findings provide evidence consistent with a causal link between the deployment of interpretative bias and anxiety and reveal something of the processes underlying this association.
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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 Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000
Reduction in attention and interpretation biases decreases psychopathological symptoms.
“Congruently, reduction in attention and interpretation biases is found to decrease psychopathological symptoms (e.g., Mackintosh et al. 2006; Mathews and Mackintosh 2000).”
From Mindfulness, Interpretation Bias, and Levels of Anxiety and Depression: Two Mediation Studies (2019) · cites this paper as Mathews and Mackintosh 2000
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Cognition and Depression: Current Status and Future Directions
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“Mathews & Mackintosh (2000), for example, used ambiguous scenarios to train individuals to make either positive (nonanxious) or negative (anxious) interpretations of ambiguous text.”
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Self-citationMental imagery in emotion and emotional disorders
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“There is actually a growing literature, using a training paradigm, that suggests a causal relationship between interpretive biases and anxiety (MacLeod, Campbell, Rutherford, & Wilson, 2004 ; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000 ; Yiend & Mackintosh, 2004 ).”
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Induced processing biases have causal effects on anxiety
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“EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY A second series of experiments (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000) extended these conclusions to the interpretation of texts describing realistic ambiguous social situations.”
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Holmes, E. A., & Mathews, A. (2005) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.4.489 · Cited by 612 · see citing works
“Finally, a new task, which was based on that used by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) to assess the interpretation of emotional ambiguity, was added to check whether the valenced experimental conditions resulted in a congruent interpretation bias for new material.”
MethodSelf-citationCognitive 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
“Mathews & Mackintosh (2000) found that participants who completed a single session of their CBM-I task in the interpret-positive training condition subsequently reported lower state anxiety levels than those who completed the task in the interpret-negative condition.”
BackgroundSelf-citationA review of current evidence for the causal impact of attentional bias on fear and anxiety
Van Bockstaele, B., Verschuere, B., Tibboel, H., De Houwer, J., Crombez, G., & Koster, E. H. W. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0034834 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Integrating Personality Structure, Personality Process, and Personality Development
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A cognitive model of pathological worry
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“2).”
Self-citationPositive emotion regulation in emotional disorders: A theoretical review
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Positive Interpretation Training: Effects of Mental Imagery Versus Verbal Training on Positive Mood
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Self-citationEmotion Regulation in Depression
Joormann, J., & Vanderlind, W. M. (2014) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702614536163 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
“Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) used ambiguous scenarios to train individuals to make either positive (nonanxious) or negative (anxious) interpretations of ambiguous text in a sample of anxious individuals.”
BackgroundResolving Ambiguity in Emotional Disorders: The Nature and Role of Interpretation Biases
Hirsch, C. R., Meeten, F., Krahé, C., & Reeder, C. (2016) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093436 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Imagery and interpretations in social phobia: support for the combined cognitive biases hypothesis.
Hirsch, C., Clark, D., & Mathews, A. (2006) · The Behavior Therapist · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.02.001 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Self-citationHolmes, E. A., Lang, T. J., & Shah, D. M. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0012590 · Cited by 400 · see citing works
“The original CBM-I paradigm using verbal scripts by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) used imagery instructions—“imagine yourself in the situation.””
BackgroundMethodInfluentialCognitive Bias Modification: Past Perspectives, Current Findings, and Future Applications
Hertel, P. T., & Mathews, A. (2011) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691611421205 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
“One experiment trained interpretation biases with the procedures established by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) and found that recall of new ambiguous scenarios presented after training contained distortions that reflected the type of interpretations practiced during training (Tran, Hertel, &…”
MethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationThe combined cognitive bias hypothesis in depression
Everaert, J., Koster, E. H. W., & Derakshan, N. (2012) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.04.003 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
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Information processing in social phobia
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The role of peer rejection in adolescent depression
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“[76, 105] In the most common paradigm, Ambiguous Situations (AS),[104] participants read or hear a variety of social scenarios that are ambiguous (e.”
COGNITIVE PROCESSES AND EMOTION REGULATION IN DEPRESSION: Review: Cognitive Processes in Depression
Joormann, J., & Quinn, M. E. (2014) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22264 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
“Mathews and Mackintosh[63] used ambiguous scenarios to train individuals to make either positive (nonanxious) or negative (anxious) interpretations of ambiguous text in a sample of anxious individuals.”
BackgroundWatkins, E. R., Moberly, N. J., & Moulds, M. L. (2008) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.3.364 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
“Whereas Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) induced positive versus negative interpretations, we induced interpretations consistent with high-level construals (DR mode) or with low-level construals (A-DR mode).”
BackgroundCognitive vulnerability to anxiety: A review and an integrative model
Ouimet, A. J., Gawronski, B., & Dozois, D. J. A. (2009) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.05.004 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Introduction to the special section on cognitive bias modification in emotional disorders
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“This procedure has proven successful in inducing the desired interpretation bias, which then generalizes to new ambiguous scenarios (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000) and persists across several days (Yiend, Mackintosh, & Mathews, 2005).”
MethodThe causal role of interpretive bias in anxiety reactivity
Wilson, E. J., MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Rutherford, E. M. (2006) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.115.1.103 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Emotion regulation in depression: Examining the role of cognitive processes
Joormann, J., & D’Avanzato, C. (2010) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931003784939 · Cited by 260 · see citing works
“Mathews and Mackintosh ( 2000 ) used ambiguous scenarios to train individuals to make either positive (non-anxious) or negative (anxious) interpretations of ambiguous text.”
BackgroundWhither cognitive bias modification research? Commentary on the special section articles.
MacLeod, C., Koster, E. H. W., & Fox, E. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014878 · Cited by 239 · see citing works
“Thus, for example, MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, and Holker (2002) employed undergraduate students with midrange levels of trait anxiety, whereas Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) and Grey and Mathews (2000) used community volunteers unselected for any symptoms of dysfunction.”
BackgroundWatkins, E., Baeyens, C., & Read, R. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013642 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
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
“In total, five included only one training condition and therefore had no random assignment to training group (see also table 1): Blackwell and Holmes [33] trained seven individuals to adopt benign interpretations, Grey and Mathews [5] administered neutral interpretation bias training to 20 individuals, Holmes and coll…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialCognitive 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
Blackwell, S. E., Browning, M. D., Mathews, A., Pictet, A., Welch, J., Davies, J., Watson, P., Geddes, J. R., & Holmes, E. A. (2015) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702614560746 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
“The paradigm emerged from the experimental literature on modification of negative interpretive biases (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000), and in its development for depression, there has been increasing emphasis on the mental imagery component (Holmes, Lang, & Deeprose, 2009).”
Self-citationDisgust: the disease-avoidance emotion and its dysfunctions
Davey, G. C. L. (2011) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0039 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Combining Imagination and Reason in the Treatment of Depression
Williams, A. D., Blackwell, S., Mackenzie, A., Holmes, E., & Andrews, G. (2013) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0033247 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
“…are repeatedly presented with ambiguous scenarios that are consistently resolved in a positive manner, thus training an automatic bias to positively interpret novel ambiguous information in their day-to-day lives (Holmes, Mathews, Dalgleish, & Mackintosh, 2006; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
BackgroundIs disgust associated with psychopathology? Emerging research in the anxiety disorders
Olatunji, B. O., Cisler, J. M., McKay, D., & Phillips, M. L. (2009) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2009.04.007 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
“Provided that interpretation biases have been shown to causally increase anxiety (Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000), Davey and colleagues argued that disgustmay cause anxiety through the induction of negative interpretation biases.”
BackgroundLooking at or through rose-tinted glasses? Imagery perspective and positive mood.
Holmes, E. A., Coughtrey, A. E., & Connor, A. (2008) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0013617 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
Enhanced neural reactivity and selective attention to threat in anxiety
Eldar, S., Yankelevitch-Yahav, R., Lamy, D., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2010) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.07.010 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
Field, A. P., & Lester, K. J. (2010) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-010-0078-8 · Cited by 188 · see citing works
Everaert, J., Bronstein, M. V., Cannon, T. D., & Joormann, J. (2018) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702617747968 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Cools, R., Robinson, O. J., & Sahakian, B. (2008) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1301598 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
“…Blier and de Montigny, 1999) that are characterized by enhanced anticipation of, and sensitivity to threat-related stimuli, punishment, and negative feedback (Beats et al , 1996; Elliott et al , 1997; Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000; Steffens et al , 2001; Richards et al , 2002; Murphy et al , 2003).”
Looking on the bright side: Accessing benign meanings reduces worry
Hirsch, C. R., Hayes, S., & Mathews, A. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013473 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
“The materials and methods used here were originally developed to manipulate interpretive biases (Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
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
“The paradigm targeted this interpretation bias via positive mental imagery and originated in the work by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000).”
BackgroundInterpretation of Ambiguous Information in Girls at Risk for Depression
Dearing, K. F., & Gotlib, I. H. (2008) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/s10802-008-9259-z · Cited by 171 · see citing works
“Ambiguous Stories In the second task, derived from procedures used by Mathews and his colleagues (Hirsch and Mathews 1997; Mathews and Mackintosh 2000), daughters were presented with short stories in which the emotional valence of the story remained ambiguous until the final word was presented, resolving the ambiguity.”
A Cognitive Model of Psychological Resilience
Parsons, S. D., Kruijt, A., & Fox, E. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.5127/jep.053415 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
“Experimental methods known collectively as “cognitive bias modification” (CBM) procedures have been developed to selectively modify automatic biases in attention (CBMa: MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002) and interpretation of ambiguity (CBMi: Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
MethodA review of cognitive biases in youth depression: attention, interpretation and memory
Platt, B., Waters, A. M., Schulte-Koerne, G., Engelmann, L., & Salemink, E. (2016) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2015.1127215 · Cited by 170 · see citing works
“Perhaps the most predominant measure of interpretation bias in youth depression is the ambiguous scenarios (AS) task (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
BackgroundHitchcock, C., Werner-Seidler, A., Blackwell, S. E., & Dalgleish, T. (2017) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2016.12.003 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Distorted cognition and pathological anxiety in children and adolescents
Muris, P., & Field, A. P. (2008) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930701843450 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
“For example, Mathews and colleagues (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000 ; Mathews & MacLeod, 2002 ) have described an experimental paradigm to demonstrate that interpretation bias can be learned by training.”
BackgroundThe effects of modifying interpretation bias on worry in generalized anxiety disorder
Hayes, S., Hirsch, C. R., Krebs, G., & Mathews, A. (2010) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.10.006 · Cited by 167 · see citing works
Self-citationPsychological interventions to foster resilience in healthcare students
Kunzler, A. M., Helmreich, I., König, J., Chmitorz, A., Wessa, M., Binder, H., & Lieb, K. (2020) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd013684 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
Training forgetting of negative material in depression.
Joormann, J., Hertel, P. T., LeMoult, J., & Gotlib, I. H. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0013794 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
“…biases play a causal role in maintaining emotional disorders and that training sessions designed to modify these biases reduce stress reactivity and state anxiety in high-traitanxious participants (e.g., MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
BackgroundInfluentialBowler, 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
“On the basis of Mathews and Mackintosh (2000), each scenario had the final word missing and was emotionally ambiguous up to this point (e.g., “As you are walking down a crowded street in Norwich, you see your new flatmate on the other side.”
MethodResultSelf-citationAttentional bias to pictures of fear-relevant animals in a dot probe task.
Lipp, O. V., & Derakshan, N. (2005) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.5.3.365 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
“The notion that processing biases may be apparent for some stimuli (e.g., phylogenetically prepared stimuli) but not for others (e.g., general threat stimuli) is not novel and has been discussed in some recent cognitive theories of anxiety ( Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000 ).”
BackgroundFacilitating a benign interpretation bias in a high socially anxious population
Murphy, R., Hirsch, C. R., Mathews, A., Smith, K., & Clark, D. M. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.01.007 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
“Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) were also able to train both positive and threatening interpretation biases in a community population.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationPotential Applications of Social Robots in Robot-Assisted Interventions for Social Anxiety
Rasouli, S., Gupta, G., Nilsen, E. S., & Dautenhahn, K. (2022) · International Journal of Social Robotics · doi:10.1007/s12369-021-00851-0 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
“For example, in the scenario paradigm by Mathews and Mackintosh [69], patients are presented with a short scenario that is ambiguous until the final word, which is a fragmented word that disambiguates in a positive or negativemanner [62,67].”
MethodExpectancy biases in fear and anxiety and their link to biases in attention
Aue, T., & Okon‐Singer, H. (2015) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2015.08.005 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
“Furthermore, interpretation bias (e.g., Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; see also overview in Mathews & MacLeod, 2002) may be a precedent or a consequence of biases in attention, expectancies, and memory.”
BackgroundBrosan, 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
Self-citationMackintosh, B., Mathews, A., Yiend, J., Ridgeway, V., & Cook, E. (2006) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.03.001 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“In the study reported by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000), a distinction was made between training in which participants were required to actively generate, rather than be passively exposed to, the emotional meaning of ambiguous scripts.”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citationEffects of positive interpretive bias modification in highly anxious individuals
Salemink, E., van den Hout, M., & Kindt, M. (2009) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.02.006 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“While results from the Mathews et al. study (2007) are encouraging, several issues demand clarification.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialThreat-Related Attentional Bias in Anxious Youth: A Review
Puliafico, A. C., & Kendall, P. C. (2006) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-006-0009-x · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Baumert, A., & Schmitt, M. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_9 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Amir, N., Bomyea, J., & Beard, C. (2009) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.10.005 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“Prior research has demonstrated that interpretation bias is one form of information processing that is malleable (Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
BackgroundPearson, R. M., Lightman, S. L., & Evans, J. (2009) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2009.09.013 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
“Training healthy individuals to attend to threat increases their anxiety levels (Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000; Mathews and MacLeod, 2005).”
BackgroundAmir, N., & Taylor, C. T. (2012) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0026928 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Enduring 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
“Materials and apparatus Materials were taken from the experiments reported by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000). Training items comprised three sentences of text, with the last item of the last sentence being a”
MethodResultInfluentialSelf-citationCheng, C., & Cheung, M. W. L. (2005) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2004.00310.x · Cited by 130 · see citing works
“A number of studies (e.g., Calvo, Eysenck, & Castillo, 1997; Hadwin, Frost, French, & Richards, 1997; MacLeod & Cohen, 1993; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000) have provided support to this postulation by showing that individuals with heightened trait anxiety tend to endorse a threatening interpretation of an ambiguous situa…”
Haller, S. P., Kadosh, K. C., Scerif, G., & Lau, J. Y. F. (2015) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2015.02.002 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Vassilopoulos, S., Banerjee, R., & Prantzalou, C. (2009) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.07.018 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Current Paranoid Thinking in Patients With Delusions: The Presence of Cognitive-Affective Biases
Freeman, D. H., Dunn, G., Fowler, D. G., Bebbington, P., Kuipers, E., Emsley, R., Jolley, S., & Garety, P. A. (2012) · Schizophrenia Bulletin · doi:10.1093/schbul/sbs145 · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Attentional bias toward fear-related stimuli:
Waters, A. M., Lipp, O. V., & Spence, S. H. (2004) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2004.06.003 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
Beard, C., Weisberg, R. B., & Primack, J. (2012) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465811000671 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
“…have most often targeted attention bias, i.e., the tendency to selectively attend to threat-relevant information (CBM-A) (e.g., MacLeod et al., 2002), and interpretation bias, i.e., the tendency to interpret stimuli in a negative or threatening manner (CBM-I) (e.g., Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
BackgroundInterpretation of ambiguous emotional information in clinically anxious children and adolescents
Taghavi, M. R., Moradi, A., Doost, H. T. N., Yule, W., & Dalgleish, T. (2000) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930050156645 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Negative Interpretation Bias in Individuals with Depressive Symptoms
Hindash, A. C., & Amir, N. (2011) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9397-4 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
“…presented girls whose mothers had experienced at least one depressive episode during the child’s lifetime (high risk) and girls whose mothers had never had a psychological disorder (low risk) with a task modeled after a priming paradigm used in the anxiety literature (Mathews & Machintosh, 2000).”
MethodSportel, B. E., de Hullu, E., de Jong, P. J., & Nauta, M. H. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064355 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
“We combined some well established paradigms such as a word fragment task to modify interpretive bias [15] and a modified visual probe task to modify attentional bias [16] with less-often used paradigms, such as a conditioning paradigm to modify implicit social anxiety associations [17] and a classical conditioning tas…”
MethodInducing 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 · see citing works
“More convincing evidence of a causal link between the two has been provided by recent studies in which interpretational biases were experimentally manipulated (Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Yiend, Mackintosh, & Mathews, 2005; Wilson, MacLeod, Mathews, & Rutherford, 2006).”
BackgroundSelf-citationAmeliorating intrusive memories of distressing experiences using computerized reappraisal training
Woud, M. L., Holmes, E. A., Postma, P., Dalgleish, T., & Mackintosh, B. (2012) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0024992 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
“Induced bias was assessed following CBM-App training using a two-phase procedure involving an initial encoding stage, followed by a later surprise recognition stage (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
MethodSelf-citationCognitive 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
“Despite these findings, fundamental questions over cause and effect remain: do interpretation biases contribute to the development of anxiety and mood symptoms or are they merely mood-congruent effects on cognition? To address this question, Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) developed a cognitive bias modification (CBM) p…”
BackgroundDetected, selected, and sometimes neglected: cognitive processing of cues in addiction.
Ryan, F. (2002) · Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1037//1064-1297.10.2.67 · Cited by 113 · 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
Interpretation Bias in Social Anxiety: A Dimensional Perspective
Huppert, J. D., Foa, E. B., Furr, J. M., Filip, J. C., & Mathews, A. (2003) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1023/a:1026359105456 · Cited by 111 · see citing works
“We developed a measure for interpretation bias that included 10 social and 10 nonsocial items, on the basis of the measure used by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000). The procedure for presenting the measure is as follows: 1) presentation of ambiguous scenarios; 2) a 2-min filler task; 3) presentation of four interpretatio…”
MethodSelf-citationSchartau, P., Dalgleish, T., & Dunn, B. D. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0012906 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
“word in the event description (e.g. Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000 ).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialHirsch, C. R., Krahé, C., Whyte, J., Loizou, S., Bridge, L., Norton, S., & Mathews, A. (2018) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000310 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Self-citationSchoth, D. E., & Liossi, C. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00171 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
“Interpretation biases have been extensively studied in relation to psychopathology, where they are argued to have a role in the onset and maintenance of disorders such as anxiety and depression (e.g., Beck and Clarke, 1988; Mathews and Mackintosh, 2000; Clark, 2001; Hirsch and Mathews, 2012; Hirsch et al., 2016).”
BackgroundHertel, P. T., & El-Messidi, L. (2006) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.01.003 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Developing a measure of interpretation bias for depressed mood: An ambiguous scenarios test
Berna, C., Lang, T. J., Goodwin, G. M., & Holmes, E. A. (2011) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.005 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
“The initial version of the AST used recognition ratings and required a somewhat complex computation of a bias score (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
Modifying interpretations among individuals high in anxiety sensitivity
Steinman, S. A., & Teachman, B. A. (2009) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.08.008 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
“A modified version of the CBM paradigm used by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) was used in which participants learned to ascribe positive or negative interpretations to ambiguous scenarios related to AS.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialWhite, L. K., Suway, J. G., Pine, D., Bar-Haim, Y., & Fox, N. (2011) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.01.004 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
“…suggest that increasing an attention bias to threat and negative interpretive bias enhances an individual’s vulnerability to stress (Eldar, Ricon, & Bar-Haim, 2008; MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Mathews, Ridgeway, Cook, & Yiend, 2007).”
Lang, T. J., Moulds, M. L., & Holmes, E. A. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.11.002 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
“The paradigm has predominantly been used to experimentally modify interpretations of ambiguous situations (Holmes, Lang, & Shah, in press; Holmes, Mathews, Dalgleish, & Mackintosh, 2006; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2007).”
MethodInfluentialBiases in interpretation and memory in generalized social phobia.
Hertel, P. T., Brozovich, F. A., Joormann, J., & Gotlib, I. (2008) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.117.2.278 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“Ten social and 10 nonsocial scenarios were created; some were adapted from Mathews and Mackintosh (2000), and others were developed by Faith Brozovich.”
MethodThe behavioral inhibition system and the verbal information pathway to children's fears.
Field, A. P. (2006) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.115.4.742 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Watch Out for the Beast: Fear Information and Attentional Bias in Children
Field, A. P. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp3503_8 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“Although Mathews and MacLeod (2002) and Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) showed that such biases can in- crease anxiety in previously nonanxious individuals, it is worth speculating what factors might determine whether a bias such as the one induced in this study leads to anxiety.”
BackgroundInterpretation Bias in Social Anxiety as Detected by Event-Related Brain Potentials
Moser, J., Hajcak, G., Huppert, J., Foa, E., & Simons, R. (2008) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0013173 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“Future ERP studies can begin to tease apart these issues by priming or “training” certain interpretations of ambiguous stimuli (Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Murphy et al., 2007), using imagery manipulations (e.g., Hirsch et al., 2003), and asking participants to rate the…”
Cognitive 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
“Though prior training studies have obtained effects of training for both positive and negative training groups (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink et al., 2007; Yiend et al., 2005), some of our measures (i.e., response latencies) indicate that the positive training may have had stronger effects…”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialJoormann, J., & Siemer, M. (2011) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00335.x · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation in Major Depression
Joormann, J., Waugh, C. E., & Gotlib, I. H. (2015) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702614560748 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
“The current findings replicate past research demonstrating effects of CBM-I (e.g., Mackintosh et al., 2006; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000; Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2007; Yiend et al., 2005).”
InfluentialLawrence, S. A., Troth, A. C., Jordan, P. J., & Collins, A. L. (2011) · Research in occupational stress and well being · doi:10.1108/s1479-3555(2011)0000009010 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Teachman, B. (2005) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-005-0627-5 · Cited by 81 · 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
“developed by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) with eight socially-anxious patients who had a diagnosis of psychosis.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citation
- Authors
- Mathews, A., & Mackintosh, B.
- Affiliations
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- ORCID
- Mackintosh, Bundy
- Venue
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology
- Published
- 2000-11
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 602-615
- ISSN
- 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1846
- OpenAlex
- W2029885631
- Cited by
- 739
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 47 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 49 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 31
- FWCI
- 5.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Keywords
- state anxiety, cognitive appraisal
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Attention, Emotions, Humans, Reaction Time, Mental Recall, Set, Psychology, Social Perception
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