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Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: Assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias.
Abstract
Although it is well-established that vulnerability to negative emotion is associated with attentional bias toward aversive information, the causal basis of this association remains undetermined. Two studies addressed this issue by experimentally inducing differential attentional responses to emotional stimuli using a modified dot probe task, and then examining the impact of such attentional manipulation on subsequent emotional vulnerability. The results supported the hypothesis that the induction of attentional bias should serve to modify emotional vulnerability, as revealed by participants' emotional reactions to a final standardized stress task. These findings provide a sound empirical basis for the previously speculative proposal that attentional bias can causally mediate emotional vulnerability, and they suggest the possibility that cognitive-experimental procedures designed to modify selective information processing may have potential therapeutic value.
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“An initial study found that subliminal ABM training did not induce attentional changes to threatening stimuli (MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, 2002).”
From Advancing the treatment of anxiety disorders in transition‐age youth: a review of the therapeutic effects of unconscious exposure. (2025) · cites this paper as MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, 2002
In the citing paper
“Also, training attentional bias towards negative stimuli increases self-reported distress to a laboratory stressor (MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002)”
From Attentional bias and emotional reactivity as predictors and moderators of behavioral treatment for social phobia (2013) · cites this paper as MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002
In the citing paper
“Selective biases in attention can be modified by a simple computerized technique; the Attention Bias Modification task (ABM), pioneered by Colin MacLeod et al. [19]”
In the citing paper
“These simple, computer-based training tasks have been found to alter processing biases (eg, in attention) in both non-clinical (Browning et al, 2010b; MacLeod et al, 2002) and clinical groups (Amir et al, 2009)”
From Using an Experimental Medicine Model to Explore Combination Effects of Pharmacological and Cognitive Interventions for Depression and Anxiety (2011) · cites this paper as MacLeod et al, 2002
In the citing paper
“In line with previous work, both citalopram (Harmer et al, 2004; Murphy et al, 2009) and positive cognitive bias training (Browning et al, 2010b; MacLeod et al, 2002) on their own produced relatively positive changes in emotional bias, consistent with the idea that this may be a common process in treatments of emotional disorders (Harmer, 2008).”
From Using an Experimental Medicine Model to Explore Combination Effects of Pharmacological and Cognitive Interventions for Depression and Anxiety (2011) · cites this paper as MacLeod et al, 2002
In the citing paper
“After promising preclinical studies (MacLeod et al., 2002), first successful clinical applications have been reported in targeted prevention (See et al., 2009) and in clinically anxious patient groups (Amir et al., 2009;Schmidt et al., 2009), and targeted prevention (See et al., 2009) with maintenance of clinical improvement reported four months after the training (Schmidt et al., 2009).”
From Addiction, adolescence, and the integration of control and motivation (2011) · cites this paper as MacLeod et al., 2002
In the citing paper
“inducing a negative attentional bias in healthy participants increases anxiety (4)”
From Lateral prefrontal cortex mediates the cognitive modification of attentional bias (2010) · cites this paper as [4]
In the citing paper
“Thus, not only is exposure ineffective for those who are negatively biased, training attention toward threat in non-avoidant populations has also been found to increase rather than decrease anxiety in both adults and children [41,43,44].”
From Can mindfulness be too much of a good thing? The value of a middle way (2019) · cites this paper as [43]
In the citing paper
“One such potential intervention is attention bias modification (ABM), a computer-delivered treatment for anxiety that emerged from research in experimental psychopathology (MacLeod & Mathews, 2012;MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002).”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as MacLeod et al., 2002
In the citing paper
“These differing views point to a potential limitation of ABM-threat-avoidance training which focuses on modifying an automatic bias in initial orienting to threat (MacLeod et al., 2002), rather than other attention mechanisms such as top-down attention control which may support emotion regulation and resilience to anxiety (e.g., Derryberry & Rothbart, 1997).”
From Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification (2016) · cites this paper as MacLeod et al., 2002
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Attentional disengagement predicts stress recovery in depression: An eye-tracking study.
Sánchez-López, Á., Vázquez, C., Marker, C. D., LeMoult, J., & Joormann, J. (2013) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0031529 · Cited by 250
The Latest Neuroimaging Findings in Borderline Personality Disorder
Krause-Utz, A., Winter, D., Niedtfeld, I., & Schmahl, C. (2014) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-014-0438-z · Cited by 235
Wells, T. T., & Beevers, C. G. (2010) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930802652388 · Cited by 228
“Though this is not an optimal procedure, MacLeod et al. (2002) found that their attention training produced no significantly different posttraining effects on new stimuli compared to stimuli on which the participant had been trained.”
BackgroundThe Happy Spotlight: Positive Mood and Selective Attention to Rewarding Information
Tamir, M., & Robinson, M. D. (2007) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167207301030 · Cited by 258
Cognitive 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
Serotonin and emotional processing: does it help explain antidepressant drug action?
Harmer, C. J. (2008) · Neuropharmacology · doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2008.06.036 · Cited by 219
Coifman, K. G., Bonanno, G. A., Ray, R. D., & Gross, J. J. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.4.745 · Cited by 222
“For example, experimentally increasing participants’ vigilance to threat cues in the laboratory leads to increased stress and later emotional vulnerability (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundLooking on the bright side: biased attention and the human serotonin transporter gene
Fox, E., Ridgewell, A., & Ashwin, C. (2009) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1788 · Cited by 220
“A better endophenotype might be biased attention, which has been found to be reliably associated with increased stress reactivity in a wide range of studies using different methodologies (MacLeod et al. 2002; Bar-Haim et al. 2007).”
BackgroundGardner, T. W., Dishion, T. J., & Connell, A. M. (2008) · Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/s10802-007-9176-6 · Cited by 306
“Given evidence of attention biases in depressive and anxiety disorders (e.g., MacLeod et al. 2002; Williams et al. 1996; but for evidence of lack of attention biases in youth depression see small-sample studies reported by Neshat-Doost et al. 2000; Taghavi et al. 1999) it may be reasonable to predict that individual d…”
BackgroundEmotion Regulation and Anxiety Disorders
Cisler, J. M., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-012-0262-2 · Cited by 261
Dolcos, F., Katsumi, Y., Moore, M., Berggren, N., de Gelder, B., Derakshan, N., Hamm, A. O., Koster, E. H. W., Ladouceur, C. D., Okon‐Singer, H., et al. (2019) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.08.017 · Cited by 247
Cousijn, J., Goudriaan, A. E., & Wiers, R. W. (2011) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03475.x · Cited by 216
“As in previous AAT publications, median RTs were used because they are less sensitive to outliers than means [9,29,30,44].”
MethodAttention bias modification treatment for pediatric anxiety disorders: A randomized controlled trial
Eldar, S., Apter, A., Lotan, D., Edgar, K. P., Naim, R., Fox, N. A., Pine, D. S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2012) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.11060886 · Cited by 220
“(15) found that nonanxious children’s responses were similar to those of nonanxious adults (16) in attention training.”
BackgroundWhen the going gets tough: Grit predicts costly perseverance
Lucas, G., Gratch, J. S., Cheng, L., & Marsella, S. (2015) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2015.08.004 · Cited by 219
“Twenty one of the anagrams were highly dif-ficult: they only had one correct solution and were chosen from among the most difficult for college-age samples to solve (Aspinwall & Richter, 1999; MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundCarlbring, 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
“Based on these preliminary findings, MacLeod and colleagues [12] reported the first study to train attention and examine its effect on anxiety.”
BackgroundMogg, K., Waters, A. M., & Bradley, B. P. (2017) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702617696359 · Cited by 215
“…visual-probe task (described later), which is designed to reduce AB in orienting toward threat cues (e.g., Amir, Beard, Burns, & Bomyea, 2009; Amir, Beard, Taylor et al., 2009; Heeren, Mogoase, McNally, Schmitz, & Philippot, 2015; MacLeod et al., 2002; McNally, Enock, Tsai, & Tousian, 2013).”
MethodReliability, validity and sensitivity of a computerized visual analog scale measuring state anxiety
Abend, R., Dan, O., Maoz, K., Raz, S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2014) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.06.004 · Cited by 217
“Consistent with common VAS presentations, the scale was a 100-mm horizontal line (Ahearn, 1997; Wewers & Lowe, 1990) divided into 30 equal-sized partitions (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundMethodThe Metaphorical Representation of Affect
Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2005) · Metaphor and Symbol · doi:10.1207/s15327868ms2004_1 · Cited by 214
“, proposition three), Meier and Robinson (2004) conducted two studies. In the first study, participants evaluated the same 100 positive and negative words used in the studies by Meier et al. (2004). The words were presented one at a time in a randomly chosen vertical position either higher (top) or lower (bottom) on a…”
BackgroundInfluentialSee, J., MacLeod, C., & Bridle, R. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0014377 · Cited by 215
Self-citationAttentional bias training and cue reactivity in cigarette smokers
Attwood, A. S., O’Sullivan, H. L., Leonards, U., Mackintosh, B., & Munafo, M. R. (2008) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.02335.x · Cited by 215
“It may be possible to ‘train’ attention away from relevant stimuli using a modified visual probe task [14,15].”
Anxiety and Threat-Related Attention: Cognitive-Motivational Framework and Treatment
Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2018) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.001 · Cited by 210
“Component processes include goal-directed Turning Point in ABM Training Research The most widely used method, ABM threat-avoidance training, typically employs a modified visual probe task to train anxious individuals to direct attention away from threat [4].”
BackgroundMethodRinck, M., Wiers, R. W. H. J., Becker, E. S., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2018) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000321 · Cited by 218
Jones, A., Hardman, C. A., Lawrence, N., & Field, M. (2017) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.05.032 · Cited by 214
Using Attentional Bias Modification as a Cognitive Vaccine Against Depression
Browning, M., Holmes, E. A., Charles, M., Cowen, P. J., & Harmer, C. J. (2012) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.04.014 · Cited by 197
“Did the Effects of ABM Depend on Whether Participants Became Aware of the Training Contingency? The ABM task was originally designed as a method for implicitly modifying attentional bias (24).”
Frewen, P., Dozois, D. J. A., Joanisse, M. F., & Neufeld, R. W. J. (2007) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2007.05.006 · Cited by 230
“In two studies using the probedetection task (Harris & Menzies, 1998; MacLeod et al., 2002), researchers observed that attentional biases could be induced on subsequent test trials after training average-level anxious individuals either to orient toward or away from threat.”
MethodNeural plasticity in response to attention training in anxiety
Eldar, S., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2009) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291709990766 · Cited by 212
“Behavioral studies applying this strategy have proved to have important theoretical implications (e.g. MacLeod et al. 2002 ; Eldar et al. 2008).”
BackgroundMethodAttentional re‐training decreases attentional bias in heavy drinkers without generalization
Schoenmakers, T. M., Wiers, R. W. H. J., Jones, B. T., Bruce, G., & Jansen, A. T. M. (2007) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01718.x · Cited by 206
“’s pioneering work in anxiety research [16,18].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialElectrophysiological evidence of attentional biases in social anxiety disorder
Mueller, E. M., Hofmann, S. G., Santesso, D. L., Meuret, A. E., Bitran, S., & Pizzagalli, D. A. (2008) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291708004820 · Cited by 206
“Such hypervigilance might lead to increased threat detection, probably exacerbating anxiety, and increased vulnerability to negative emotions (Eysenck, 1992 ; MacLeod et al. 2002 ; Mathews & MacLeod, 2002).”
BackgroundFoland-Ross, L. C., & Gotlib, I. H. (2012) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00489 · Cited by 197
“This attentional training procedure has been found to reduce subsequent emotional reactivity to induced or to real-life stressors in undiagnosed participants (MacLeod et al., 2002; Dandeneau and Baldwin, 2004; Dandeneau et al., 2007).”
BackgroundUrry, H. L., van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., & Davidson, R. J. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.05.069 · Cited by 196
“, 2009) and subjective mood states (See et al., 2009; MacLeod et al., 2002).”
Attentional bias training in depression: Therapeutic effects depend on depression severity
Baert, S., De Raedt, R., Schacht, R., & Koster, E. H. W. (2010) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.02.004 · Cited by 198
Dennis, T. A., & O’Toole, L. J. (2014) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702614522228 · Cited by 197
A Triadic Neurocognitive Approach to Addiction for Clinical Interventions
Noël, X., Brevers, D., & Bechara, A. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2013.00179 · Cited by 210
“(146), one of the most widely used cognitive bias modification targets attention approach.”
BackgroundRinck, M., & Becker, E. S. (2005) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.114.1.62 · Cited by 195
Challenges in Developing Novel Treatments for Childhood Disorders: Lessons from Research on Anxiety
Pine, D. S., Helfinstein, S. M., Bar-Haim, Y., Nelson, E., & Fox, N. A. (2009) · Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1038/npp.2008.113 · Cited by 194
“In two studies, MacLeod and colleagues (MacLeod et al, 2002) were the first to causally implicate training-induced attention biases in stress reactivity.”
Crocker, L. D., Heller, W., Warren, S. L., O'Hare, A. J., Infantolino, Z. P., & Miller, G. A. (2013) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00261 · Cited by 193
Implicit cognition and depression: A meta-analysis
Phillips, W. J., Hine, D. W., & Thorsteinsson, E. B. (2010) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.05.002 · Cited by 182
Life-threatening danger and suppression of attention bias to threat
Bar-Haim, Y., Holoshitz, Y., Eldar, S., Frenkel, T. I., Muller, D., Charney, D. S., Pine, D. S., Fox, N. A., & Wald, I. (2010) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09070956 · Cited by 193
Experimental manipulation of attentional biases in heavy drinkers: do the effects generalise?
Field, M., Duka, T., Eastwood, B., Child, R. B., Santarcangelo, M., & Gayton, M. (2007) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-007-0760-9 · Cited by 193
“For example, MacLeod et al. (2002) used a modified visual probe task to train participants to direct their attention either towards, or away from, threat-related words.”
MethodBaer, R. A., Peters, J. R., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., Geiger, P. J., & Sauer-Zavala, S. E. (2012) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.03.002 · Cited by 210
Biases in visual orienting to negative and positive scenes in dysphoria: an eye movement study.
Caseras, X., Garner, M., Bradley, B. P., & Mogg, K. (2007) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.116.3.491 · Cited by 189
Clarke, P. J., Notebaert, L., & MacLeod, C. (2014) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-14-8 · Cited by 188
“It is scarcely a decade since MacLeod and colleagues [5] provided the first experimental demonstration that”
BackgroundSelf-citationLinetzky, M., Pergamin-Hight, L., Pine, D. S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2015) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22344 · Cited by 185
“ABMT is based on the notion that reduction in attention bias toward threat via training drives the reduction in anxiety symptoms.[36] Hence, attention bias change is expected to have a tight association with reduction in anxiety symptoms.”
BackgroundEnock, P. M., Hofmann, S. G., & McNally, R. J. (2014) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-014-9606-z · Cited by 201
“should diminish a person’s vulnerability to experience episodes of anxiety (MacLeod et al. 2002).”
BackgroundField, A. P., & Lester, K. J. (2010) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-010-0078-8 · Cited by 205
Attention Bias Variability and Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Iacoviello, B. M., Wu, G., Abend, R., Murrough, J. W., Feder, A., Fruchter, E., Levinstein, Y., Wald, I., Bailey, C. R., Pine, D. S., et al. (2014) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.21899 · Cited by 196
“Word pairs were matched for first letter, number of letters, and frequency of usage in the English language (MacLeod et al., 2002) and presented in random order using E-Prime 2.”
MethodInfluentialBeevers, C., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A., & McGeary, J. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0016198 · Cited by 187
“For instance, the ability to effectively regulate attention away from emotional stimuli has been associated with current depression (Koster et al., 2005), depression vulnerability (Beevers & Carver, 2003), and enhanced emotional reactivity ( MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
BackgroundNolte, T., Guiney, J., Fonagy, P., Mayes, L. C., & Luyten, P. (2011) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00055 · Cited by 210
“These processes include primary attachment behaviors such as separation distress and subsequent proximity seeking (Sbarra and Hazan, 2008).”
Time course of attentional bias for fear-relevant pictures in spider-fearful individuals
Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2006) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.05.003 · Cited by 186
Brosschot, J. F., Verkuil, B., & Thayer, J. F. (2010) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2010.02.002 · Cited by 176
Lee, J. K., & Orsillo, S. M. (2014) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.10.008 · Cited by 171
Heeren, A., & McNally, R. J. (2016) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.06.009 · Cited by 170
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 188
“…attentional bias towards positive stimuli, relative to negative stimuli, (using a CBMa procedure) has been shown to be associated with improved physiological recovery from a stressor (Baert, Casier, & De Raedt, 2012) and reduced emotional reactions to a laboratory stressor (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
MethodDistorted cognition and pathological anxiety in children and adolescents
Muris, P., & Field, A. P. (2008) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699930701843450 · Cited by 207
“This finding is consistent with the above described work showing that attention biases can be trained (MacLeod et al., 2002); however, it did not require a long training phase on the dot-probe paradigm but merely a short burst of verbal threat information.”
MethodResultInfluentialTraining 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
“In one of the first studies to use this approach, MacLeod et al. (2002) experimentally induced differential attentional responses to emotional stimuli in college students and found that, compared with participants who were trained to focus on negative material, participants who were trained to avoid negative stimuli d…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialWatkins, E. R., Taylor, R. S., Byng, R., Baeyens, C., Read, R., Pearson, K., & Watson, L. (2012) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291711002480 · Cited by 160
“Although randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate that psychological treatments (e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy, CBT) are efficacious for depression, its high prevalence means that other approaches are required to supplement individual psychotherapy to reduce overall depression morbidity.”
BackgroundClarke, P., Browning, M. D., Hammond, G., Notebaert, L., & MacLeod, C. (2014) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.03.003 · Cited by 181
“Biological Psychiatry, 76(12), 946-952.”
Self-citationAdaptive attentional attunement: evidence for mating-related perceptual bias
Maner, J. K., Gailliot, M. T., & DeWall, C. N. (2006) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.05.006 · Cited by 169
“Such biases in attentional disengagement bring particular stimuli to the forefront of the perceptual field and, in turn, promote adaptive goal-consistent evaluations and actions (e.g., MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
BackgroundMansell, W., Harvey, A., Watkins, E. R., & Shafran, R. (2008) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1521/ijct.2008.1.3.181 · Cited by 193
Plasticity in attention: implications for stress response in children
Eldar, S., Ricon, T., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.01.012 · Cited by 159
“As in the case of MacLeod et al. (2002) in adults, our analog anxiety and depression scales data indicate that increased attentional bias toward threat following ARTICLE IN PRESS 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Train to Neutral Anxiety Score”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialGrafton, 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
Self-citationHeeren, A., Reese, H. E., McNally, R. J., & Philippot, P. (2012) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2011.10.005 · Cited by 198
Hadwin, J. A., Garner, M. J., & Perez‐Olivas, G. (2006) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2005.09.004 · Cited by 168
Training anxious children to disengage attention from threat: a randomized controlled trial
Bar‐Haim, Y., Morag, I., & Glickman, S. (2011) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02368.x · Cited by 173
“Changes in negative mood state before and after stress induction were assessed using two analog mood scales (MacLeod et al., 2002 ).”
MethodReduced risk-taking behavior as a trait feature of anxiety.
Giorgetta, C., Grecucci, A., Zuanon, S., Perini, L., Balestrieri, M., Bonini, N., Sanfey, A. G., & Brambilla, P. (2012) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0029119 · Cited by 164
Information processing biases in eating disorders
Lee, M., & Shafran, R. (2004) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2003.10.004 · Cited by 171
Attentional Bias and Mood Persistence as Prospective Predictors of Dysphoria
Beevers, C. G., & Carver, C. S. (2003) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1023/a:1026347610928 · Cited by 161
“This finding is also consistent with recent work completed by MacLoed and colleagues ( MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
ResultHankin, B. L., Snyder, H. R., Gulley, L. D., Schweizer, T. H., Bijttebier, P., Nelis, S., Toh, G. Y., & Vasey, M. W. (2016) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579416000663 · Cited by 172
Seeing, thinking, and feeling: Emotion-regulating effects of gaze-directed cognitive reappraisal.
Urry, H. L. (2010) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0017434 · Cited by 151
“Attending to emotional versus neutral information has been shown in previous work to influence electrophysiological indices of emotional arousal (Dunning & Hajcak, 2009; Hajcak et al., 2009) and subjective mood states ( MacLeod et al., 2002; See, MacLeod, & Bridle, 2009).”
BackgroundAlcohol Cognitive Bias Modification training for problem drinkers over the web
Wiers, R. W., Houben, K., Fadardi, J. S., van Beek, P., Rhemtulla, M., & Cox, W. M. (2015) · Addictive Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2014.08.010 · Cited by 148
“Following the seminal study on attentional re-training in anxiety by MacLeod, Rutherford,Campbell, Ebsworthy,and Holker (2002), researchersin addiction began to investigate the effects of a single session of attentional re-training using similarly adapted visual probe tasks in heavy drinkers.”
MethodLooking happy: The experimental manipulation of a positive visual attention bias.
Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2008) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.8.1.121 · Cited by 157
“…and the Current Study Although attentional training methodologies have not yet been tested for positive emotions, attentional biases appear to be plastic, able to be trained and untrained, for negative emotions (Derryberry & Reed, 2002; Foa & McNally, 1986; MacLeod et al., 2002; Monk et al., 2004).”
BackgroundMethodRodman, A. M., Jenness, J. L., Weissman, D. G., Pine, D. S., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2019) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2019.04.033 · Cited by 152
“Attention bias modification therapy was designed to explicitly target the types of attentional biases toward threat that characterize anxiety disorders by training subjects to orient attention away from threatening cues (116,117).”
Attention to Threat in Anxiety-prone Individuals: Mechanisms Underlying Attentional Bias
Koster, E. H. W., Crombez, G., Verschuère, B., & Houwer, J. D. (2006) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-006-9042-9 · Cited by 147
“For instance, several studies provided evidence that attentional bias moderates the impact of negative life events on stress and anxiety (MacLeod & Hagan, 1992; MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
BackgroundAttentional retraining can reduce chocolate consumption.
Kemps, E., Tiggemann, M., Orr, J., & Grear, J. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/xap0000005 · Cited by 152
Boffo, M., Zerhouni, O., Gronau, Q. F., van Beek, R. J. J., Nikolaou, K., Marsman, M., & Wiers, R. W. (2019) · Neuropsychology Review · doi:10.1007/s11065-018-9386-4 · Cited by 146
Potential 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 159
“CBM targeting attention biases (CBM-A) typically entails a modified dot-probe task [61,63,68].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialPrice, R. B., Wallace, M., Kuckertz, J. M., Amir, N., Graur, S., Cummings, L., Popa, P., Carlbring, P., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2016) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2016.09.009 · Cited by 144
“All studies that ultimately contributed data used a training variant of the dot-probe as the ABM intervention (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
Clarke, P., MacLeod, C., & Guastella, A. (2013) · Anxiety, Stress, & Coping · doi:10.1080/10615806.2011.638054 · Cited by 148
“Mogg et al. (2008) revealed that, when participants were presented with threat stimuli within an already attended locus (where no spatial shift in attention was required), high trait anxious participants, but not low trait anxious participants, were significantly slowed in identifying probes.”
BackgroundSelf-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
Mackintosh, B., Mathews, A., Yiend, J., Ridgeway, V., & Cook, E. (2006) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.03.001 · Cited by 143
“Half of the participants received computerized training, as described by Mathews and Mackintosh (2000) and Yiend et al.”
MethodEffects 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
“The other scale assessed depression and was labeled at opposite ends with happy and depressed (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundThreat-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
Janssens, T., Verleden, G., De Peuter, S., Van Diest, I., & Van den Bergh, O. (2009) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.02.006 · Cited by 176
Attention and Emotional Responses to Sexual Stimuli and Their Relationship to Sexual Desire
Prause, N., Janssen, E., & Hetrick, W. P. (2007) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-007-9236-6 · Cited by 140
Attentional retraining: A randomized clinical trial for pathological worry
Hazen, R. A., Vasey, M. W., & Schmidt, N. B. (2008) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2008.07.004 · Cited by 140
Baumert, A., & Schmitt, M. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_9 · Cited by 147
The role of attention control in complex real-world tasks
Draheim, C., Pak, R., Draheim, A. A., & Engle, R. W. (2022) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-021-02052-2 · Cited by 172
Hofmann, S. G., Ellard, K. K., & Siegle, G. J. (2012) · Cognition and Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2011.579414 · Cited by 132
“This issue was examined by two experimental studies manipulating attentional allocation directly through a process of attention modification (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
MethodAttention training towards positive stimuli in clinically anxious children
Waters, A. M., Pittaway, M., Mogg, K., Bradley, B. P., & Pine, D. S. (2013) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2012.09.004 · Cited by 135
Heeren, A., Mogoaşe, C., McNally, R. J., Schmitz, A., & Philippot, P. (2015) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.10.007 · Cited by 134
Anxiety meets fear in perception of dynamic expressive gaze.
Putman, P., Hermans, E. J., & van Honk, J. (2006) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.1.94 · Cited by 136
“Also, selective attention to facial threat results in neuroendocrine responses and increased anxiety (van Honk et al., 2000; MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundSharpe, L., Ianiello, M., Dear, B. F., Perry, K. N., Refshauge, K., & Nicholas, M. K. (2012) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2011.12.014 · Cited by 136
Yang, W., Ding, Z., Dai, T., Fang, P., & Zhang, J. X. (2014) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2014.08.005 · Cited by 135
Amir, N., & Taylor, C. T. (2012) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0026928 · Cited by 136
“…that included the interpretation procedure used by Beard and Amir (2008) and an attentional training procedure (Amir, Beard, Taylor et al., 2009; MacLeod et al., 2002) resulted in significant reductions in anxiety symptoms in individuals diagnosed with GSAD (Beard et al., in press) or either…”
MethodPergamin‐Hight, L., Bakermans‐Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2011) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.10.030 · Cited by 144
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
“Not only do these induced biases appear to generalise to new material, but they also lead to increases in vulnerability to anxious mood, thereby providing the first direct evidence that cognitive biases have a causal role in anxiety disorders (MacLeod et al., 2002; Wilson, MacLeod, & Mathews, 2003).”
BackgroundMethodPutman, P. (2011) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.01.011 · Cited by 133
Continual training of attentional bias in social anxiety
Li, S., Tan, J., Qian, M., & Liu, X. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.04.005 · Cited by 133
A review of attention biases in women with eating disorders
Aspen, V., Darcy, A. M., & Lock, J. (2012) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2012.749777 · Cited by 146
A cognitive neuropsychological model of antidepressant drug action
Pringle, A., Browning, M., Cowen, P. J., & Harmer, C. J. (2011) · Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2010.07.022 · Cited by 130
Metadata
- Authors
- MacLeod, C., Rutherford, E., Campbell, L., Ebsworthy, G., & Holker, L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- ORCID
- MacLeod, Colin
- Venue
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology
- Published
- 2002-02
- Volume
- 111
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 107-123
- ISSN
- 0021-843X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1846
- OpenAlex
- W2122758649
- Cited by
- 1,334
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 73 · 2018: 65 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 80 · 2015: 96 · 2014: 84 · 2013: 96 · 2012: 83
- FWCI
- 32.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Abnormal Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- 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 › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- attentional bias, emotional vulnerability, selective attention, negative emotions, dot-probe task, stress reactivity, causal mediation analysis, cognitive bias modification
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Psychology, Adolescent, Adult, Affect, Attention, Female, Humans, Male
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