Attentional Bias Modification and the neurocognitive processing of negative emotional faces in social-anxious individuals

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Roman Osinsky
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology ; General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 252143833

Final Report Abstract

A preferential allocation of attention toward threatening visual stimuli has repeatedly been linked to the development and maintenance of increased anxiety. Accordingly, MacLeod et al. (2002) demonstrated that a reduction in such attentional biases leads to a reduced stress reaction. For this purpose, they used a computer-based training procedure in which a reduction in attentional bias is trained via visual-spatial contingencies between affective-neutral stimulus pairs and a following target stimulus. The funded project aimed to shed light on the neurocognitive basis of this Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) approach using electroencephalogram (EEG). Specifically, the aim was to investigate to what extent ABM can achieve a change in specific electrocortical correlates of attentional biases for angry faces. In the first funding period it was shown that the so-called N2pc component in the EEG is a reliable index of the attentional bias for angry faces and is related to individual differences in self-reported social anxiety. However, no specific effect of a multiple-session ABM training program on the N2pc effect could be found. In a second funding period, it was therefore examined whether the effectiveness of ABM training can be increased through the principle of reward-driven attention. Indeed, an initial study showed a reduction in the N2pc-indexed attentional bias for angry faces, but only if the connection between spatial stimulus constellations and reward values was explicitly mentioned in the training instructions. In a larger main study, the effect of a multi-week, reward-based ABM training program on N2pc should also be examined. However, due to the Corona pandemic, the training sessions in this main study could not be carried out in the University facilities as planned, but were instead administered via a specially programmed app on the test participants' private smartphones. The effects of this reward-based mobile ABM training on the N2pc were highly dependent on the experimental behavioural task used to measure the N2pc. Overall, the project results do not show a consistent picture with regard to the effectiveness of the ABM approach on the N2pcindexed attentional bias for angry faces. Rather, possible ABM effects appear to be small at best and dependent on specific task characteristics. The project findings thus fit into a broader picture of a growing scepticism regarding the effectiveness of the ABM approach within the scientific community.

Publications

• The N2pc component reliably captures attentional bias in social anxiety. Posterbeitrag zur 56. Tagung der Society for Psychophysiological Research, Minneapolis, USA
  Reutter, M., Hewig, J., Wieser, M.J., & Osinsky, R.
  
• The N2pc component reliably captures attentional bias in social anxiety. Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, Berlin
  Reutter, M., Hewig, J., Wieser, M.J. & Osinsky, R.
  
• Attentional bias modification in social anxiety: effects on the N2pc component. Posterbeitrag auf der 57. Tagung der Society for Psychophysiological Research, Wien, Österreich
  Reutter, M., Hewig, J., Lesch, K.-P., Wieser, M.J. & Osinsky, R.
  
• The N2pc component reliably captures attentional bias in social anxiety. Psychophysiology, 54(4), 519-527.
  Reutter, Mario; Hewig, Johannes; Wieser, Matthias J. & Osinsky, Roman
  
• Attentional Bias Modification in Social Anxiety: Effects on the N2pc Component. Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, Gießen
  Reutter, M., Hewig, J., Wieser, M.J. & Osinsky, R.
  
• Attentional bias modification in social anxiety: Effects on the N2pc component. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 120(2019, 9), 103404.
  Reutter, Mario; Hewig, Johannes; Wieser, Matthias J. & Osinsky, Roman
  
• The Elephant in the Room: Hemispheric Influences on and Reliability Issues with the N2pc component. Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, Dresden
  Reutter, M., Hewig, J., Wieser, M.J. & Osinsky, R.
  
• Can attentional bias towards threat be modified by reward contingencies? Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, online Konferenz
  Kang, S. & Osinsky, R.
  
• Reward-based multi-session attentional bias modification: A longitudinal EEG study. Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, Freiburg
  Kang, S. & Osinsky, R.
  
• Outcome of reward-based multi-session attentional bias modification is contingent on task but not on condition. Posterbeitrag zur Fachgruppentagung Psychologie und Gehirn, Tübingen
  Kang, S. & Osinsky, R.
  
• The influence of single-session reward-based attentional bias modification on attentional biases towards threat as measured by the N2pc component. Frontiers in Psychology, 14(2023, 11, 20).
  Kang, Susan & Osinsky, Roman