Cited by 739Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesPsychological Treatments and Assessments

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Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety.

Mathews, Andrew, Mackintosh, Bundy·2000·Journal of Abnormal Psychology

DOI 10.1037/0021-843x.109.4.602

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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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Background
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Method
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BackgroundMethodInfluential
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Method
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BackgroundMethod
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Method
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Background
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Background
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Method
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Liao, C., Li, L., Hoid, D., & Li, X. (2022) · International Conference on Information Technology in Medicine and Education · doi:10.1109/itme56794.2022.00033 · Cited by 3
Cognitive Bias Modification Training
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Don't Worry, Be Happy
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Method
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“The majority of items were obtained from previous work [13, 46, 47] and translated into German.”
Influential
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Background
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Zhang, W., Wang, L., Chen, Y., Li, J., & Gao, X. (2025) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113553 · Cited by 3
[Emotional processing in people with obsessive-compulsive symptomatology].
Casado, Y., Álvarez, P. C., Godoy, A., Farias, A., & Vila, J. (2011) · PubMed · Cited by 2
Cognitive Biases in Social Anxiety Disorder: Examining Interpretation and Attention Biases and Their Relation to Anxious Behavior
Mehta, N. (2016) · Digital Archive @ GSU · doi:10.57709/8489433 · Cited by 2
Brief time course of trait anxiety-related attentional bias to fear-conditioned stimuli: Evidence from the dual-RSVP task
Booth, R. W. (2016) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.06.007 · Cited by 2
“Indeed, Hallion and Ruscio (2011; see also Christea, Kok, & Cuijpers, 2015) suggested that attention-retraining therapies have a somewhat unreliable effect on anxiety, and are less effective than retraining of interpretive bias (see Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
Background
Greater specificity of activity memories in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: Implications for exercise-based treatment
Martin, M., & Alexeeva, I. (2017) · Mental health and physical activity · doi:10.1016/j.mhpa.2017.12.003 · Cited by 2
“…on the momentary experiences while engaging in physical activity and the later retrospective recall of physical activity could be investigated using already developed and validated methods utilized in depression research (Everaert, Tierens, Uzieblo, & Koster, 2013; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
Method
Attentional bias in social anxiety: Differential effect of threat-induced engagement, disengagement and avoidance
Koo, H.-J., & Kwon, J. (2015) · The Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.15842/kjcp.2015.34.3.007 · Cited by 2
A Randomized Test of Interpretation Bias Modification for Perfectionism Versus Guided Visualization Relaxation Among High Perfectionistic Undergraduate Students
Dodd, D. R., Clerkin, E. M., & Smith, A. R. (2022) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2022.01.003 · Cited by 6
Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of online interpretation bias intervention on stress reactivity in the children of parents with depression: the CoCo study
Frommelt, T., Bäumler, L., Rohleder, N., Schulte‐Körne, G., & Platt, B. (2023) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-023-04803-y · Cited by 3
“The paradigm used for the CBM-I training is an adapted version of the Ambiguous Scenarios Task [84].”
Method
Cognitive Training and Technology in the Treatment of Children and Adolescents
Lazarov, A., Segal, A., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190634841.013.47 · Cited by 2
The world dangerous it is—The scrambled sentences task in the context of posttraumatic stress symptoms
Würtz, F., Blackwell, S. E., Margraf, J., & Woud, M. L. (2022) · Journal of Experimental Psychopathology · doi:10.1177/20438087221124737 · Cited by 3
Aspectos etiopatogénicos actuales en la fobia social
Enguix, S. C., & Schlatter, J. (2003) · Psiquiatría Biológica · Cited by 2
Believing is Seeing: The causal role of interpretive bias in anxiety
Salemink, E. (2005) · Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) · Cited by 2
Emotion Regulation in Depression: Investigating Mechanisms Underlying Reappraisal
D’Avanzato, C. (2013) · Cited by 2
An investigation of the efficacy and cognitive mechanisms of two brief interventions for anxiety sensitivity
MacDonald, E. M. (2021) · doi:10.32920/ryerson.14656167.v1 · Cited by 2
Reaching New Heights: Comparing Interpretation Bias Modification to Exposure Therapy for Extreme Height Fear
Steinman, S. A. (2014) · doi:10.18130/v3dz6z · Cited by 2
Development and Testing of an Interpretational Bias Measure of Dental Anxiety
Heaton, L. J., Leroux, B. G., & Ramsay, D. S. (2022) · Frontiers in Dental Medicine · doi:10.3389/fdmed.2022.871039 · Cited by 2
“The therapeutic strategy known as Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM), is a way of “modifying bias in information processing” (34), and aims to change a person’s bias toward threatening situations, thereby reducing their anxiety.”
Background
Transitioning to college: Testing cognitive bias modification for interpretations as an inoculation tool for social anxiety in college first-years
Dreyer-Oren, S. E., Das, A., Geyer, R. B., Fite, R. E., Kiel, E. J., & Clerkin, E. M. (2024) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2024.101961 · Cited by 2
Identifying Predictors of Symptom and Cognitive Change Following a Single Session of Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations
Wang, Y.-L., Young, K. S., Lau, J. Y. F., Hughes, A. M., & Hirsch, C. R. (2025) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-025-10585-2 · Cited by 2
“Given the causal role of interpretation biases in worry, computerised training paradigms have been developed to promote benign interpretations (Grey & Mathews, 2000; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”
Emotion ensemble judgement: Cognitive training for a positive perspective.
Ngai, H. H. T., & Jin, J. (2025) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12784 · Cited by 1
Repetitive negative thinking in OCD: Evaluation of novel scenarios for cognitive bias modification training
Bowles, C., White, R., Hirsch, C. R., & Wahl, K. (2025) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2025.102037 · Cited by 1
Content-specificity of a single-session cognitive bias modification of interpretations for social anxiety
Daniel, E. K., Johnco, C. J., & Sicouri, G. (2025) · Journal of Affective Disorders Reports · doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2025.100937 · Cited by 1
Intergenerational Transmission of Valence Bias Is Moderated by Attachment
Humphries, A., Peckinpaugh, I., Kupka, G., Blair, R. J. R., Tottenham, N., & Neta, M. (2025) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/desc.70068 · Cited by 1
“Early research has shown that people can be influenced to interpret ambiguous stimuli in a positive or negative way depending on training, further indicating that these biases are modifiable (Mathews and Mackintosh 2000; Harp et al. 2022).”
Interpretation bias modification (CBM-I) for fatigue in long term health conditions – A feasibility study
Hughes, A. M., Tyson, G., Moss-Morris, R. E., McGuinness, S., Fawson, S., Chalder, T., & Hirsch, C. R. (2025) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2025.104917 · Cited by 1
Interpretation bias in emotional disorders: a selective review
Hirsch, C. R., & Mathews, A. (2025) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2025.104948 · Cited by 4
Self-citation
Generative artificial intelligence in mental health: A preliminary study on automating materials development for cognitive bias modification
Hsu, C.-W., Cochrane, M., & Bambarawana, S. (2026) · International Journal of Mental Health · doi:10.1080/00207411.2025.2611527 · Cited by 1
Emotional Bias in Childhood-Event Interpretation by Adults with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Marteau, F., Lassalle, A.-S., Vilette, B., Rusinek, S., & Servant, D. (2012) · Open Journal of Medical Psychology · doi:10.4236/ojmp.2012.13005 · Cited by 1
“tosh [45], who found a threat-confirming anxiety bias on tasks with ambiguous stimuli, especially when the stimuli were related to the self.”
Background
Interpretive Bias in the Context of Life Stress and Depression: An Examination of Stress Generation and Diathesis-Stress Models
Seeds, P. M. (2012) · Scholarship@Western (Western University) · Cited by 2
Vies is niet gevaarlijk : Werk in uitvoering
Wolters, L. H., Salemink, E., de Beek, V. O., & de Haan, E. (2016) · Kind & Adolescent Praktijk · doi:10.1007/s12454-016-0011-5 · Cited by 1
COGNITIVE BIAS MODIFICATION
Suway, J. G., & Fox, N. A. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195315455.003.0003 · Cited by 1
God’s plan? The role of emotional repression in forming and sustaining religious beliefs
Swan, T. B., & Halberstadt, J. B. (2021) · Religion Brain & Behavior · doi:10.1080/2153599x.2021.1980424 · Cited by 1
“Twenty training scenarios (selected from a set of eighty; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000), that have reliably produced implicit positive and negative interpretive biases (Menne-Lothmann et al., 2014) were presented in random order to participants.”
Background
Perfiles de ansiedad social y auto-atribuciones académicas en estudiantes de Educación Secundaria ¿De qué hablamos realmente? Precisiones teóricas metodológicas, metodológicas y estadísticas
Urbán, D. J. A., García-Fernández, J. M., Fernández‐Sogorb, A., & Inglés, C. J. (2022) · European Journal of Education and Psychology · doi:10.32457/ejep.v15i2.1970 · Cited by 1
Can mental imagery boost the effect of the positive cognitive bias modification of interpretation (CBM-I) on interpretation bias and memory bias?
Mao, N., Tuerxun, R., Xing, Y., Han, Z., Li, C., & Cui, L. (2023) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101838 · Cited by 1
Computerized Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I) among Japanese university students with social anxiety
Terashima, H., & Sensui, T. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04729-4 · Cited by 1
“For example, Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) presented 64 types of descriptions that could be interpreted ambigu-ously, followed by words representing either negative or positive consequences.”
Codesigned online cognitive bias modification of interpretations for anxiety and depression in children: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial
Sicouri, G., Daniel, E. K., Salemink, E., Mackinnon, A. J., Allsop, A., & Hudson, J. L. (2024) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078652 · Cited by 1
“CBM-I was initially established to evaluate causal mechanisms between interpretation bias and symptoms 18 and subsequently has shown promise as a clinical tool.”
Method
Intergenerational Transmission of Social Anxiety: The Role of Parents’ Fear of Negative Child Evaluation and Their Self-Referent and Child-Referent Interpretation Biases
Dülger, M., van Bockstaele, B., Majdandžić, M., & de Vente, W. (2024) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-024-10490-0
“The scenario completion task (Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000) is an online measure to measure interpretation bias using reaction times (RTs).”
Influential
A randomized controlled trial modifying insomnia-consistent interpretation bias in students
Duijzings, M., Todd, J., & Notebaert, L. (2024) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2024.104607 · Cited by 1
Examining State Affective and Cognitive Outcomes Following Brief Mobile Phone-Based Training Sessions to Reduce Anxious Interpretations
Petz, K. D., Toner, E. R., Rucker, M., Leventhal, E. L., Livermon, S., Davidson, B., Boukhechba, M., Barnes, L. E., & Teachman, B. A. (2025) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-025-10623-z · Cited by 1
“MASK is a new mobile application version of MASK, a web-based CBM-I program in which participants read descriptions of brief ambiguous situations, and the final word is only a fragment of a word or is missing (modeled off ambiguous scenarios training paradigms; see Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000).”

Authors: Mathews, A., & Mackintosh, B.
Affiliations: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
ORCID: Mackintosh, Bundy
Venue: Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 2000-11
Volume: 109
Issue: 4
Pages: 602-615
ISSN: 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
1939-1846
DOI: 10.1037/0021-843x.109.4.602
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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