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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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“Cognitive theories of anxiety posit preferential attention to threat-relevant signals is a core factor in the development andmaintenance of gSAD and other excessive forms of anxiety (Beck and Clark, 1997; Beck et al., 2005; Eysenck, 1992; MacLeod et al., 2002; Wells and Matthews, 1994; Williams et al., 1988).”
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“Using a modified version of this task, MacLeod et al. (2002) manipulated attention toward general anxiety words in individuals in the midrange of anxiety.”
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Social fearfulness in the human brain
Miskovic, V., & Schmidt, L. A. (2012) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.08.002 · Cited by 126
A three-phase model of the social emotional functioning in eating disorders
Treasure, J., Corfield, F., & Cardi, V. (2012) · European Eating Disorders Review · doi:10.1002/erv.2181 · Cited by 128
Fox, E., Zougkou, K., Ridgewell, A., & Garner, K. (2011) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.07.004 · Cited by 135
“(32) first demonstrated that selective biases in”
Linetzky, M., Pergamin‐Hight, L., Pine, D. S., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2017) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22690 · Cited by 130
Attentional bias modification in tobacco smokers
Field, M., Duka, T., Tyler, E., & Schoenmakers, T. M. (2009) · Nicotine & Tobacco Research · doi:10.1093/ntr/ntp067 · Cited by 126
Disner, S. G., Beevers, C. G., & Gonzalez-Lima, F. (2016) · Brain stimulation · doi:10.1016/j.brs.2016.05.009 · Cited by 127
“ABM attempts to shift negatively biased attention in favor of more adaptive patterns of attention [6], which is theorized to decrease the cognitive and affective symptoms associated with depression [7].”
Efficacy markers in depression
Harmer, C. J., Cowen, P. J., & Goodwin, G. M. (2011) · Journal of Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1177/0269881110367722 · Cited by 122
Godlewska, B. R., & Harmer, C. J. (2021) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-019-05448-0 · Cited by 123
Processing Mode Influences the Relationship Between Trait Rumination and Emotional Vulnerability
Moberly, N. J., & Watkins, E. R. (2006) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2006.02.003 · Cited by 135
“Training procedures that causally influence anxiety (MacLeod et al., 2002; Mathews & MacLeod, 2002) have been suggested as a potential means through which to develop innovative therapeutic interventions for anxiety disorders.”
BackgroundBeard, C., Weisberg, R. B., & Primack, J. (2012) · Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1017/s1352465811000671 · Cited by 124
“…date, CBM protocols 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 &…”
BackgroundZinbarg, R. E., Mineka, S., Bobova, L., Craske, M. G., Vrshek-Schallhorn, S., Griffith, J. W., Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Waters, A. M., Sumner, J. A., & Anand, D. (2016) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702615618162 · Cited by 123
Attentional bias modification encourages healthy eating
Kakoschke, N., Kemps, E., & Tiggemann, M. (2013) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2013.11.001 · Cited by 122
“Based on standard attentional bias modification procedures (MacLeod et al., 2002), the re-training task involved three phases: (1) pre-training assessment, (2) training, and (3) post-training assessment.”
MethodExperiencing Discrimination Increases Risk Taking
Jamieson, J. P., Koslov, K., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2012) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612448194 · Cited by 134
Current Status of Cognitive Remediation for Psychiatric Disorders: A Review
Kim, E. J., Bahk, Y.-C., 오현주, Lee, W.-H., Lee, J.-S., & Choi, K. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00461 · Cited by 136
“Although two meta-analyses on ABM targeting the modification of biased attention showed small effects on attention biases and anxious symptoms, it is promising that there is evidence indicating neural change mechanisms following ABM.”
BackgroundInfluentialSportel, B. E., de Hullu, E., de Jong, P. J., & Nauta, M. H. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0064355 · Cited by 119
“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
Personality across the life span
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511812736.005 · Cited by 120
Ameliorating 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
Implementation of Approach Bias Re-Training in Alcoholism-How Many Sessions are Needed?
Eberl, C., Wiers, R. W., Pawelczack, S., Rinck, M., Becker, E. S., & Lindenmeyer, J. (2014) · Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.12281 · Cited by 118
Moderation and mediation of the effect of attention training in social anxiety disorder
Kuckertz, J. M., Gildebrant, E., Liliequist, B., Karlström, P., Väppling, C., Bodlund, O., Stenlund, T., Hofmann, S. G., Andersson, G., Amir, N., et al. (2014) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.12.003 · Cited by 117
What we fear most: A developmental advantage for threat-relevant stimuli
LoBue, V., & Rakison, D. H. (2013) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2013.07.005 · Cited by 125
Caution: Fragile! Regulating the interpersonal security of chronically insecure partners.
Lemay, E. P., & Dudley, K. L. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021655 · Cited by 115
Wiers, R. W., Boffo, M., & Field, M. (2018) · Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs · doi:10.15288/jsad.2018.79.333 · Cited by 115
“All student studies manipulating alcohol AtB used varieties of the visual probe task, based on the original study in anxiety by MacLeod et al. (2002), in which participants’ attention was trained away from alcohol in the experimental condition, whereas in the control condition(s) it was not trained…”
MethodPreconscious processing biases predict emotional reactivity to stress
Fox, E., Cahill, S., & Zougkou, K. (2010) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.11.018 · Cited by 112
Visual search attentional bias modification reduced social phobia in adolescents
De Voogd, E. L., Wiers, R. W., Prins, P. J. M., & Salemink, E. (2014) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2013.11.006 · Cited by 111
“While most studies on ABM used the dot-probe paradigm developed by MacLeod et al. (2002), other paradigms have also been used.”
Emotional attention set-shifting and its relationship to anxiety and emotion regulation.
Johnson, D. R. (2009) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0017095 · Cited by 122
Affective primes suppress attention bias to threat in socially anxious individuals
Helfinstein, S. M., White, L. K., Bar‐Haim, Y., & Fox, N. A. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.03.011 · Cited by 127
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
“[11], involves exposing participants to pairs of words or images that each include one emotionally negative and one neutral item, and requiring them to respond to small visual probes that appear in the locus of either stimulus.”
BackgroundSelf-citationBoettcher, J., Leek, L., Matson, L., Holmes, E. A., Browning, M., MacLeod, C., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071760 · Cited by 109
“Recently, investigators have sought to systematically manipulate biased attentional responding to threat using newly developed ‘‘training’’ variants of the probe task, designed with the intention of directly modifying such attentional selectivity [32].”
BackgroundBiased attentional processing of food cues and modification in obese individuals.
Kemps, E., Tiggemann, M., & Hollitt, S. (2014) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000069 · Cited by 110
“Following standard attentional bias modification protocols (MacLeod et al., 2002), the modified dot probe procedure consisted of three phases: (1) a pre-training baseline assessment of participants’ attentional bias for food (pre-test), (2) a training phase in which”
MethodSelective Attention and Anxiety: A Perspective on Developmental Issues and the Causal Status
Kindt, M., & van den Hout, M. (2001) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1023/a:1010921405496 · Cited by 115
Schartau, P., Dalgleish, T., & Dunn, B. D. (2009) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0012906 · Cited by 108
Panic Disorder, Phobias, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Craske, M. G., & Waters, A. M. (2005) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143857 · Cited by 106
“MacLeod and colleagues (MacLeod et al. 2002, Mathews & MacLeod 2002) demonstrated stronger negative reactivity to a stressor following training of attentional bias in a negative direction in mid-range trait-anxious adults.”
BackgroundBeevers, C. G., Lee, H.-J., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J., & Telch, M. J. (2011) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10091309 · Cited by 106
Modifying automatic approach action tendencies in individuals with elevated social anxiety symptoms
Taylor, C. T., & Amir, N. (2012) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.05.004 · Cited by 99
Heeren, A., Billieux, J., Philippot, P., Raedt, R. D., Baeken, C., de Timary, P., Maurage, P., & Vanderhasselt, M. (2016) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsw119 · Cited by 111
“Likewise, transiently fostering AB promotes anxiety proneness among non-anxious controls ( MacLeod et al., 2002; Heeren et al., 2012a).”
BackgroundJohnson, D. R. (2008) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2008.09.006 · Cited by 104
Kruijt, A., Parsons, S. D., & Fox, E. (2019) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000406 · Cited by 113
“Two quotes from the seminal article on ABM (MacLeod et al., 2002) may serve to illustrate this.”
BackgroundResultModifying 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
“Results have demonstrated that it is possible to modify attentional biases, which in turn may reduce emotional vulnerability (MacLeod et al., 2002) and even pathological anxiety symptoms (Amir, Beard, Burns, & Bomyea, 2009; Amir, Weber, Beard, Bomyea, & Taylor, 2008).”
BackgroundThe role of extinction and reinstatement in attentional bias to threat: A conditioning approach
Damme, S. V., Crombez, G., Hermans, D., Koster, E. H. W., & Eccleston, C. (2005) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.11.008 · Cited by 111
The Search for New Ways to Change Implicit Alcohol‐Related Cognitions in Heavy Drinkers
Wiers, R. W. H. J., Cox, W. M., Field, M., Fadardi, J. S., Palfai, T. P., Schoenmakers, T. M., & Stacy, A. W. (2006) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00037.x · Cited by 100
“MacLeod et al. (2002) used 48 different pairs of stimuli and repeated them 12 times in their retraining.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialCognitive Function as a Transdiagnostic Treatment Target in Stimulant Use Disorders
Sofuoglu, M., DeVito, E. E., Waters, A. J., & Carroll, K. M. (2016) · Journal of Dual Diagnosis · doi:10.1080/15504263.2016.1146383 · Cited by 105
Cognitive Bias Modification for adolescents with substance use problems – Can serious games help?
Boendermaker, W. J., Prins, P. J. M., & Wiers, R. W. H. J. (2015) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2015.03.008 · Cited by 103
White, 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
“As well, the current study used face stimuli in the dot-probe while MacLeod et al. (2002) used word stimuli and the current study also included a second type of stress task (the block design task).”
InfluentialImplicit approach–avoidance associations for craved food cues.
Kemps, E., Tiggemann, M., Martin, R. C. B., & Elliott, M. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied · doi:10.1037/a0031626 · Cited by 100
Vanderhasselt, M., & Raedt, R. D. (2009) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.03.009 · Cited by 112
“All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.03.009 embodies the ability to organize incoming stimuli and inhibit a dominant response to perform a subdominant response (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
InfluentialAttentional bias modification in reducing test anxiety vulnerability: a randomized controlled trial
Cai, W., Pan, Y., Chai, H., Cui, Y., Jin, Y., Wei, D., & Deng, G. (2018) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-017-1517-6 · Cited by 100
“Studies in non-anxious populations indicate that systematic training to attend to threats can increase susceptibility to stress [4, 5].”
BackgroundHeeren, A., Lievens, L., & Philippot, P. (2011) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.08.001 · Cited by 107
Klumpp, H., & Amir, N. (2009) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-009-9251-0 · Cited by 107
“Although the number of attention training trials may have contributed to our results, it may not fully explain our findings as a study that used a similar number of trials as MacLeod et al. (2002) also failed to find speeded detection for neutral faces after attention training toward neutral faces (Eldar et al. 2008).”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialMaric, M., Wiers, R. W., & Prins, P. J. M. (2012) · Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10567-012-0114-y · Cited by 97
“For example, the seminal study by MacLeod et al. (2002) reported that an attentional bias for threat-related stimuli can influence subsequent emotional vulnerability, in either direction: participants with medium anxiety levels who were trained toward threat stimuli were more easily stressed, while…”
BackgroundRudaizky, D., Basanovic, J., & MacLeod, C. (2013) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2013.815154 · Cited by 109
Self-citationAttention bias modification for reducing speech anxiety
McNally, R. J., Enock, P. M., Tsai, C., & Tousian, M. (2013) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.10.001 · Cited by 95
Attentional biases and the persistence of sad mood in major depressive disorder.
Clasen, P. C., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J., & Beevers, C. G. (2013) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0029211 · Cited by 93
“These findings are in line with experimental evidence demonstrating that inducing a general negative bias (using both sad and fear stimuli) leads to higher levels of sad mood following a laboratory stress manipulation (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundResultThe effects of trait and state anxiety on attention to emotional images: An eye-tracking study
Quigley, L., Nelson, A. L., Carriere, J. S. A., Smilek, D., & Purdon, C. L. (2012) · Cognition & Emotion · doi:10.1080/02699931.2012.662892 · Cited by 95
“Along this line, some researchers have postulated that an attentional bias to threat is an aetiological factor in anxiety, and that anxiety may be reduced by eliminating the bias (MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
BackgroundExamination of vigilance and disengagement of threat in social anxiety with a probe detection task
Klumpp, H., & Amir, N. (2009) · Anxiety Stress & Coping · doi:10.1080/10615800802449602 · Cited by 106
“Consistent with this application, MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, and Holker ( 2002 ) demonstrated that moderately trait anxious individuals exhibit a reduction in anxiety in response to stress after completing a probe detection task in which such individuals’ attention was primarily directed toward neutral…”
Plasticity for Affective Neurocircuitry: How the Environment Affects Gene Expression
Fox, N. A., Hane, A. A., & Pine, D. S. (2007) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00464.x · Cited by 94
“Moreover, studies using experimental approaches, at least in adults, suggest that these attention biases are causally implicated in the genesis of anxiety following exposure to stress (MacLeod et al., 2002).”
BackgroundHeeren, A., Baeken, C., Vanderhasselt, M., Philippot, P., & Raedt, R. D. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124182 · Cited by 90
“Because the standard ABM procedure relies on a modified version of the dot-probe discrimination task (see below), we used a detection version of the task to prevent potential practice effect when assessing AB throughout the experiment [32,33].”
MethodKeeping Your Eyes on the Prize
Ford, B. Q., Tamir, M., Brunyé, T. T., Shirer, W. R., Mahoney, C. R., & Taylor, H. A. (2010) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797610375450 · Cited by 93
“1999; MacLeod, Rutherfold, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
Williams, P. (2004) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1023/b:cotr.0000045569.25096.44 · Cited by 92
“For example, there is preliminary evidence that attentional bias to threat can be altered using an information-processing approach (Hazen, Vasey, & Schmidt, 2001; MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker, 2002 ).”
BackgroundCapturing dynamics of biased attention: are new attention variability measures the way forward
Kruijt, A.-W., Field, A. P., & Fox, E. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166600 · Cited by 91
Rapee, R. M., MacLeod, C., Carpenter, L., Gaston, J. E., Frei, J., Peters, L., & Baillie, A. J. (2013) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2013.01.005 · Cited by 92
Self-citationCognitive bias modification: Induced interpretive biases affect memory.
Tran, T. B., Hertel, P. T., & Joormann, J. (2011) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0021754 · Cited by 102
Optimism, self‐efficacy and information processing of threat‐ and well‐being‐related stimuli
Karademas, E. C., Kafetsios, K. G., & Sideridis, G. D. (2007) · Stress and Health · doi:10.1002/smi.1147 · Cited by 98
Joormann, J., & Siemer, M. (2011) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00335.x · Cited by 96
White, L. K., Degnan, K. A., Henderson, H. A., Pérez‐Edgar, K. E., Walker, O. L., Shechner, T., Leibenluft, E., Bar‐Haim, Y., Pine, D. S., & Fox, N. A. (2017) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/cdev.12696 · Cited by 99
MacLeod, C., & Grafton, B. (2016) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2016.07.005 · Cited by 90
Effects of cognitive bias modification on social anxiety: A meta-analysis
Liu, H., Li, X., Han, B., & Liu, X. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0175107 · Cited by 106
“A typical CBM paradigm is the modified dot probe task [20], which is Effects of cognitive bias modification on social anxiety: A meta-analysis”
MethodMalleability of attentional bias for positive emotional information and anxiety vulnerability.
Taylor, C. T., Bomyea, J. A., & Amir, N. (2011) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0021301 · Cited by 96
“Adapting the attentional training paradigm described above (e.g., MacLeod et al., 2002), Wadlinger and Isaacowitz (2008) trained healthy undergraduate participants to selectively attend to either positive or neutral information.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialMurphy, S. E., Yiend, J., Lester, K. J., Cowen, P. J., & Harmer, C. J. (2009) · The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology · doi:10.1017/s1461145708009164 · Cited by 90
Getting a grip on problem gambling: what can neuroscience tell us?
Goudriaan, A. E., Yücel, M., & van Holst, R. J. (2014) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00141 · Cited by 94
“As a potential non-pharmacological intervention, changes in the motivational system in PG could be targeted by “attentional retraining” (MacLeod et al., 2002; Wiers et al., 2006).”
BackgroundGaze-fixation to happy faces predicts mood repair after a negative mood induction.
Sánchez-López, Á., Vázquez, C., Gómez, D., & Joormann, J. (2013) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0034500 · Cited by 102
Prefrontal GABA and glutathione imbalance in posttraumatic stress disorder: Preliminary findings
Michels, L., Schulte-Vels, T., Schick, M., Tuura, R., Zeffiro, T. A., Hasler, G., & Mueller‐Pfeiffer, C. (2014) · Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.09.007 · Cited by 88
“It has been argued that two main processing systems affected in PTSD are attention (MacLeod et al., 2002) and memory (Amir et al.”
BackgroundTrained 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
Training Implicit Social Anxiety Associations: An Experimental Intervention
Clerkin, E. M., & Teachman, B. (2010) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.01.001 · Cited by 94
Losing Ourselves: Active Inference, Depersonalization, and Meditation
Deane, G., Miller, M., & Wilkinson, S. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.539726 · Cited by 87
“In other, low-avoidance personality types, anxiety and dissociative disorders can be produced and exacerbated by facilitating an attentional bias toward threat (MacLeod et al., 2002; Eldar et al., 2008).”
BackgroundWaechter, S., & Stolz, J. A. (2015) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-015-9670-z · Cited by 87
Cognitive Vulnerability-Stress Models of Psychopathology: A Developmental Perspective
Gibb, B. E., & Coles, M. E. (2005) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781452231655.n5 · Cited by 83
Heeren, A., Peschard, V., & Philippot, P. (2012) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9394-7 · Cited by 84
“Second, the anagram task used by MacLeod et al. (2002) was a very explicit stressor.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialBlackwell, S., Woud, M., & MacLeod, C. (2017) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2017.41 · Cited by 73
“The contrasting of two opposing CBM conditions, used in early interpretation CBM studies (induction of negative versus benign interpretations; Mathews & Mackintosh, 2000) and in early attentional CBM studies (attend to threat versus avoid threat; MacLeod et al., 2002), continued to be widely used in experimental studi…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationAlcohol increases cognitive biases for smoking cues in smokers
Field, M., Mogg, K., & Bradley, B. P. (2005) · Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1007/s00213-005-2251-1 · Cited by 84
Relationships between negative emotionality and attentional control in effortful control
Moriya, J., & Tanno, Y. (2008) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.12.003 · Cited by 84
Waters, A. M., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Craske, M. G., Pine, D. S., Bradley, B. P., & Mogg, K. (2015) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2015.08.005 · Cited by 80
de Voogd, E. L., Wiers, R. W., Prins, P. J. M., de Jong, P. J., Boendermaker, W. J., Zwitser, R. J., & Salemink, E. (2016) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2016.08.018 · Cited by 83
Attention Allocation and Incidental Recognition of Emotional Information in Dysphoria
Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G., & Wells, T. T. (2010) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-010-9305-3 · Cited by 83
“Notably, non-depressed individuals can be trained to allocate their attention toward emotionally valenced stimuli, which in turn increases vulnerability to experience negative emotion ( MacLeod et al. 2002 ).”
BackgroundChanging the Conceptualization of Stress in Social Anxiety Disorder
Jamieson, J. P., Nock, M. K., & Mendes, W. B. (2013) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702613482119 · Cited by 88
Amir, N., & Taylor, C. T. (2012) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2010.12.008 · Cited by 76
Justice Sensitivity and the Processing of Justice–Related Information
Baumert, A., Gollwitzer, M., Staubach, M., & Schmitt, M. (2010) · European Journal of Personality · doi:10.1002/per.800 · Cited by 90
“Immediately after watching the movie clip, participants completed a visual probe task adapted from MacLeod et al. (2002). In each trial, white fixation crosses appeared on the dark computer screen for 500 milliseconds.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialThe effect of attentional bias toward shape‐ and weight‐related information on body dissatisfaction
Smith, E., & Rieger, E. (2006) · International Journal of Eating Disorders · doi:10.1002/eat.20291 · Cited by 81
Heitmann, J., Bennik, E. C., van Hemel-Ruiter, M. E., & de Jong, P. J. (2018) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-018-0822-6 · Cited by 90
Teachers’ use of fear appeals in the Mathematics classroom: Worrying or motivating students?
Putwain, D. W., & Symes, W. (2010) · British Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1348/2044-8279.002005 · Cited by 108
Facilitating a benign attentional bias reduces negative thought intrusions.
Hayes, S., Hirsch, C. R., & Mathews, A. (2010) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018264 · Cited by 79
Battlefield-like stress following simulated combat and suppression of attention bias to threat
Wald, I., Lubin, G., Holoshitz, Y., Müller, D. C., Fruchter, E., Pine, D. S., Charney, D. S., & Bar‐Haim, Y. (2010) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291710002308 · Cited by 82
“Threat-bias assessment : the dot-probe task Threat-attention bias was evaluated using a Hebrewadapted version of the classic word-based dot-probe task (MacLeod et al. 1986, 2002).”
MethodSylvester, C. M., Barch, D. M., Corbetta, M., Power, J. D., Schlaggar, B. L., & Luby, J. L. (2013) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2013.10.001 · Cited by 85
Attention training and the threat bias: An ERP study
O’Toole, L. J., & Dennis, T. A. (2011) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2011.10.007 · Cited by 81
“, 2008 ; MacLeod et al .”
BackgroundGrierson, A. B., Hickie, I. B., Naismith, S. L., & Scott, J. L. (2016) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291716001392 · Cited by 88
“Neglect or abuse in childhood may shape a child’s response to their environment, e.g. being vigilant to signs of threat and becoming passive to avoid aggravation in such situations, paying greater attention to negative stimuli, etc. (Macleod et al. 2002).”
BackgroundState 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
“The task was adapted from MacLeod, Rutherford, Campbell, Ebsworthy, & Holker (2002) and has been shown to induce stress in participants (e.g., Bushman, Bonacci, Pedersen, Vasquez, & Miller, 2005; MacLeod et al., 2002; Salemink, van den Hout, & Kindt, 2009).”
Method
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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