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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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In the citing paper
“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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Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: a meta-analytic study.
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“Using this approach, MacLeod et al. (2002) first established that attentional biases could be modified by working with participants who scored in the middle third of the distribution on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger et al. 1971).”
BackgroundCognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders
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“Studies have shown that training attention to be biased towards threat increases anxiety (MacLeod et al., 2002), and that training attention away from threat can actually reduce symptoms of social phobia (Amir et al.”
BackgroundPain catastrophizing: a critical review.
Quartana, P. J., Campbell, C. M., & Edwards, R. R. (2009) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1586/ern.09.34 · Cited by 1,405
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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