Attention Bias Modification for Anxiety: A Biobehavioral Study

描述（由申请人提供）：焦虑的特征是对威胁的注意偏向;也就是说，焦虑的个体会优先注意威胁性信息而不是非威胁性信息。最近的研究表明，通过注意力偏差修正（ABM）来减少这种偏差，可以减少焦虑症状和注意力的变化。虽然这些影响是有希望的替代干预焦虑的发展，鲜为人知的过程ABM的影响。拟议的研究将使用行为和神经生理学的措施相结合，以确定生物标志物的威胁偏见，并探讨注意力的过程改变ABM。申请人在过去四年中作为研究生接受过神经生理学测量（脑电图; EEG）方面的培训。在此期间，申请人接受了各种事件相关电位（ERP）的培训，这些电位跟踪相对自动和更受控制的注意力过程。这架F-31将加强申请人在ERP分析和与焦虑的参与者样本一起工作方面的培训。申请人的短期目标是识别威胁偏差的ERP生物标志物，并使用ERP跟踪ABM后对威胁的注意力变化。本研究的目的是探讨是否早期和相对自动的注意或更晚和更多的控制性注意的威胁是牵连的威胁偏见或调制ABM。长期目标包括使用相同的方法来研究在家中长时间执行ABM任务的效果，而不是在实验室进行有限的训练。拟议研究的结果将被用作试验数据，以准备F-32赠款来解决这个问题。拟议的研究培训计划对于申请人的研究计划的发展和成为独立研究人员的能力至关重要。拟议的研究将在主要赞助商和一名顾问所在的亨特学院进行;另一个赞助商在特拉维夫大学。两位顾问都是主要赞助商的合作者，这将使申请人能够与焦虑干预和ABM领域的领先研究人员进行互动。从拟议的研究结果有可能告知个人识别焦虑，并有助于未来的研究评估ABM作为一个可行的治疗替代方案的疗效。 公共卫生相关性：威胁偏见，或优先注意威胁与非威胁性信息，可能在焦虑的发展和维持中发挥因果作用。威胁偏见可以使用注意力偏见修正（ABM）任务进行修正;一些研究表明，训练注意力远离威胁可以减少威胁偏见和焦虑症状。然而，很少有研究探讨了这些影响背后的过程。本研究的目的是利用事件相关电位的多方法测量威胁偏向，并跟踪威胁注意力的变化。该建议有可能确定威胁偏见的生物标志物，并为未来研究ABM作为焦虑症可行的治疗替代方案的疗效奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Anxiety is characterized by an attention bias toward threat; that is, anxious individuals will preferentially attend to threatening versus non-threatenig information. Recent research has demonstrated that reducing this bias, through attention bias modification (ABM), leads to reductions in anxious symptoms and changes in attention. Although these effects are promising for the development of an alternative intervention for anxiety, little is known about the processes underlying ABM effects. The proposed research will use a combination of behavioral and neurophysiological measures to identify biomarkers for the threat bias and to explore the attentional processes altered by ABM. The applicant has had training in neurophysiological measures (electroencephalography; EEG) over the past four years as a graduate student. During this time the applicant has been trained on a variety of event-related potentials (ERPs) that track relatively automatic and more controlled attentional processes. This F-31 will enhance the applicant's training in both ERP analysis and working with anxious samples of participants. The applicant's short term goals are to identify ERP biomarkers for the threat bias and to track changes in attention to threat following ABM using ERPs. The aims of the proposed research will explore whether early and relatively automatic attention or later and more controlled attention to threat are implicated in the threat bias or modulated by ABM. Long-term goals include using this same methodology to investigate the effects of administering the ABM task at home over an extended period of time, rather than in the laboratory for a limited amount of training. The results of the proposed research will be used as pilot data to prepare an F-32 grant to address this question. The proposed research training plan is critical for the development of the applicant's program of research and ability to become an independent researcher. The proposed research will be conducted at Hunter College where the primary sponsor and one consultant are located; an additional sponsor is at Tel-Aviv University. Both consultants are collaborators of the primary sponsor, which will allow the applicant to interact with leading researchers in the field of anxiety interventions and ABM. Findings from the proposed research have the potential to inform identification of individuals with anxiety and to contribute to future studies assessing the efficacy of ABM as a viable treatment alternative. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The threat bias, or preferential attention to threatening versus non-threatening information, may play a causal role in the development and maintenance of anxiety. The threat bias can be modified using the attention bias modification (ABM) task; several studies have shown that training attention away from threat reduces both the threat bias and symptoms of anxiety. However, few studies have examined the processes underlying these effects. The proposed research aims to use a multi-method approach using event-related potentials to measure the threat bias and to track changes in attention to threat. This proposal has the potential to identify biomarkers for the threat bias and to lay the groundwork for future studies of the efficacy of ABM as a viable treatment alternative for anxiety.