TY - CONF

T1 - The attentional bias in blood phobia: An ERP study of task-switching

AU - Devigili, Andrea

AU - Sarlo, Michela

AU - Gallicchio, Germano

AU - Munafò, Marianna

N1 - Conference code: 50

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Previous behavioral and ERP studies demonstrated reliable attentional biases towardsfear-related cues in animal phobics, by showing facilitated attention and/or difficulty indisengagement from threat. In contrast, such effects have not been consistently reportedfor blood phobics. This study aimed at investigating the attentional bias in blood phobiaby overloading the executive system, thus creating competition between the processingof task-relevant and fear-related stimuli. Twenty-two blood phobics and 20 healthycontrols underwent a modified task-switch paradigm with an alternating runs procedure(AABB). In addition to the change of task (classification of letters vs. digits), there was achange of background, showing distracting emotional contents (mutilations, humanattacks, or neutral). Reaction times and accuracy were recorded for 600 successive trialsalong with ERPs to the onset of the background pictures. Results showed that phobicswere less accurate in the switch trials when the previous trial displayed a mutilationcompared to a neutral picture, suggesting a difficulty in disengagement from fear-relatedcontents. Both groups showed lower P3amplitudes in the switch trials when the previoustrial displayed a mutilation compared to a neutral picture, indicating lower attentionalresources allocated to the task. These data indicate that attentional bias can be reliablyshown in blood phobics when the executive control is overloaded. Moreover, as pre-viously shown, evidence is provided for the presence of a stimulus-specific bias towardsblood-related stimuli

AB - Previous behavioral and ERP studies demonstrated reliable attentional biases towardsfear-related cues in animal phobics, by showing facilitated attention and/or difficulty indisengagement from threat. In contrast, such effects have not been consistently reportedfor blood phobics. This study aimed at investigating the attentional bias in blood phobiaby overloading the executive system, thus creating competition between the processingof task-relevant and fear-related stimuli. Twenty-two blood phobics and 20 healthycontrols underwent a modified task-switch paradigm with an alternating runs procedure(AABB). In addition to the change of task (classification of letters vs. digits), there was achange of background, showing distracting emotional contents (mutilations, humanattacks, or neutral). Reaction times and accuracy were recorded for 600 successive trialsalong with ERPs to the onset of the background pictures. Results showed that phobicswere less accurate in the switch trials when the previous trial displayed a mutilationcompared to a neutral picture, suggesting a difficulty in disengagement from fear-relatedcontents. Both groups showed lower P3amplitudes in the switch trials when the previoustrial displayed a mutilation compared to a neutral picture, indicating lower attentionalresources allocated to the task. These data indicate that attentional bias can be reliablyshown in blood phobics when the executive control is overloaded. Moreover, as pre-viously shown, evidence is provided for the presence of a stimulus-specific bias towardsblood-related stimuli

KW - blood phobia

KW - attentional bias

KW - switch task

U2 - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01111.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01111.x

M3 - Paper

SP - S39

T2 - Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research

Y2 - 29 September 2010 through 3 October 2010

ER -