Do attentional and interpretive biases interact or work independently in vulnerability to emotional stress?

目前的心理学理论强调人们的思维方式在焦虑、抑郁和兴高采烈等常见心理疾病的发展过程中所起的作用。人们认为，焦虑或抑郁的人有偏见的思维方式，这意味着他们倾向于以与威胁有关的或消极的方式自动处理信息，而不是一般人。那些兴高采烈的人的反应与那些正常的人以及那些焦虑和抑郁的人不同。在情绪障碍中发现了两种有偏见的思维：注意力偏差，即注意力自动转移到与危险或不快乐相关的项目上；以及解释偏差，即个体自动从模糊的信息中感知情绪上厌恶的含义。旨在逆转这些偏见的基于计算机的干预措施(称为认知偏差修正(CBM))已被证明可以显著缓解焦虑和情绪低落，证明了偏见思维在精神疾病中的因果作用，同时为开发个人可以在自己的家庭电脑上访问的非专家干预提供了一个潜在的平台。然而，到目前为止，所有的研究都集中在一次单一的思维偏差上(要么是注意力，要么是解读)。此外，对参与者的测试往往是由高度社交焦虑的参与者或那些因焦虑而在日常生活中没有遇到困难的人组成的小组进行的。口译偏差修正计划通常训练个体以更积极的方式解读信息，并评估从培训前到培训后的口译偏差的影响，以及情绪的任何变化。同样，注意力偏差修正计划训练参与者注意远离令人不快的刺激，并测量前后注意力偏差之间的差异，以及情绪变化。很少有研究考虑一种偏见的减少是否也会导致另一种偏见的减少，以及不同的情绪状态如何与不同程度的偏见相互作用。为了在理解情绪问题的机制方面取得进一步的进展，需要做的工作是找出已识别的注意和解释过程是如何相互作用的，以及如何与不同程度的痛苦相互作用，从而在个体中诱导并随后维持不同水平的焦虑。这项拟议的研究的目的是首先找出这些偏见是共同作用的还是独立的。基于这些发现，第二个目标将是研究为焦虑和/或抑郁水平升高的个人以及精神旺盛的个人提供培训的最佳条件。这项研究的发现将为认知心理学中关于情感条件的现有理论的发展提供参考。随着对大脑产生偏见思维的条件的更好理解，可以开发更精确的认知偏差修正干预措施，针对焦虑、抑郁和兴高采烈的问题思维。

Current psychological theories emphasise the role that the way in which people think plays in the development of common psychological conditions like anxiety, depression and elation. It is thought that people with anxiety or depression have biased thinking styles which mean that they tend to automatically process information in a threat-related or negative way compared with the general population. Those with elation react differently from those that are normal and those with anxiety and depression. Two kinds of biased thinking have been identified in emotional disorders: attention bias, where attention is automatically diverted towards items associated with danger or unhappiness, and interpretation bias, where the individual automatically perceives emotionally aversive meanings in ambiguous information. Computer-based interventions which have been designed to reverse these biases (known as cognitive bias modification (CBM)) have been shown to significantly alleviate anxiety and low mood, demonstrating the causal role of biased thinking in mental ill health, whilst providing a potential platform for developing non-specialist interventions which individuals can access on their own home computer. All the research to date, has, however, focussed on a single thinking bias at a time (either attention or interpretation). In addition, testing of participants tends to be conducted with groups of either highly socially anxious participants, or those who experience no difficulty in their everyday living due to anxiety. Interpretation bias modification programs typically train individuals to interpret information in a more positive way, and the effect of interpretation bias from pre to post training is assessed, along with any changes in mood. Similarly, attention bias modification programs train participants to attend away from unpleasant stimuli and the difference between pre and post attention bias is measured, along with mood changes. Very little work has considered whether reduction in one bias also results in a reduction in the other bias and how different mood states might interact with different levels of bias. For further progress to be made in understanding the mechanisms underpinning emotional problems, work needs to be done to find out how the identified attentional and interpretive processes interact with one another and with different levels of distress to induce and subsequently maintain differing levels of anxiety in individuals. The aim of the proposed research is to find out first of all whether or not the biases operate conjointly or independently. Based on these findings, the second aim will be to examine the optimal conditions for training delivery for individuals with elevated anxiety and/or depression levels, and exuberant individuals. The findings from this research will inform the development of current theories of affective conditions in cognitive psychology. With improved understanding of the conditions in which the mind generates biased thinking more precise cognitive bias modification interventions can be developed to target problematic thinking in anxiety, depression and elation.