Preferential attentional engagement drives attentional bias to snakes in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) and humans (Homo sapiens)

Attention bias modification for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Depression is a mental health disorder characterized by affective, somatic, and cognitive symptoms. Attention bias modification (ABM) has been widely used to treat depression. However, the results seem inconsistent. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of ABM for depression and to explore the optimal protocol of ABM.

Methods

Seven databases were systematically searched from their inceptions to 5 October 2022 to include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of ABM for depression. Two independent reviewers selected the eligible articles, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias using version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (ROB 2.0) for randomized trials. The primary outcome was the evaluation of depressive symptoms using widely accepted and validated scales. The secondary outcomes included rumination and attentional control. Meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan (version 5.4) and Stata (version 12.0). Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were performed to identify the source of heterogeneity. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE).

Results

A total of 19 trials involving 20 datasets (1,262 participants) were included. The overall risk of bias in one study was rated as low risk of bias, three studies were considered as high, and the remaining studies were some concerns. Compared with attention control training (ACT), ABM had a greater effect in the improvement of depression (SMD = −0.48, 95% CI −0.80 to −0.17, I2 = 82%) and rumination (MD = −3.46, 95% CI −6.06 to −0.87, I2 = 0%). No significant differences were observed in the attentional control outcome between ABM and ACT (MD = 3.07, 95% CI −0.52 to 6.65, I2 = 0%). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that adults exhibited a greater decrease in depression scores than adolescents. ABM using the dot-probe task, training target stimulus presented by face, and training directions by left–right were associated with better antidepressant effects. ABM training delivered in the laboratory tended to yield a better effect than those conducted at home. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were robust. The certainty of the evidence for all outcomes was low or very low, and publication bias may exist.

Conclusion

Due to high heterogeneity and limited studies, not enough current evidence supported that ABM could be an effective intervention to relieve depressive symptoms. More rigorous RCTs are required to verify the benefits and to explore the optimal protocol of ABM training for depression.

Systematic Review Registration: [PROSPERO], identifier [No. CRD42021279163].

No Evidence for Biased Attention Towards Emotional Scenes in Bornean Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

Attention may be swiftly and automatically tuned to emotional expressions in social primates, as has been demonstrated in humans, bonobos, and macaques, and with mixed evidence in chimpanzees, where rapid detection of emotional expressions is thought to aid in navigating their social environment. Compared to the other great apes, orangutans are considered semi-solitary, but still form temporary social parties in which sensitivity to others' emotional expressions may be beneficial. The current study investigated whether implicit emotion-biased attention is also present in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus). We trained six orangutans on the dot-probe paradigm: an established paradigm used in comparative studies which measures reaction time in response to a probe replacing emotional and neutral stimuli. Emotional stimuli consisted of scenes depicting conspecifics having sex, playing, grooming, yawning, or displaying aggression. These scenes were contrasted with neutral scenes showing conspecifics with a neutral face and body posture. Using Bayesian mixed modeling, we found no evidence for an overall emotion bias in this species. When looking at emotion categories separately, we also did not find substantial biases. We discuss the absence of an implicit attention bias for emotional expressions in orangutans in relation to the existing primate literature, and the methodological limitations of the task. Furthermore, we reconsider the emotional stimuli used in this study and their biological relevance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00158-x.

Testing for the “Blues”: Using the Modified Emotional Stroop Task to Assess the Emotional Response of Gorillas

Simple Summary

We presented three adult male zoo-housed gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) with a modified emotional Stroop task on a computer touchscreen as a way to assess gorillas’ attentional shift for positively versus negatively valenced items. The gorillas learned to respond to a blue border and to withhold responding to a yellow border. Images of items assumed to have a positive or negative valence for the gorillas were placed within the borders. As predicted, gorillas touched the reinforced blue border more slowly when ‘negative’ images appeared within the blue border, compared to when ‘positive’ images appeared within the yellow border. However, gorillas’ accuracy did not vary as a function of which images appeared within the blue border, possibly because of the high levels of performance on all trials. These results validate the procedure to some degree for assessing the emotional valence of familiar stimuli.

Abstract

We adapted the emotional Stroop task developed for primates to test whether gorillas would show response slowing for images of ‘negative’ compared to images of ‘positive’ items placed within previously reinforced borders. Three zoo-housed male gorillas participated in six phases of an emotional Stroop paradigm. In Phase One, they learned to select blue borders over yellow borders in a forced choice task presented on the touchscreen. In Phase Two, neutral yellow or blue two-dimensional shapes were placed within the borders. On congruent trials, blue images were presented within both blue and yellow borders. On incongruent trials, yellow images were placed within both blue and yellow borders. We continued to use these trials as control trials in subsequent phases. We predicted that response latencies would be slower and accuracy would be lower on incongruent trials. Although the gorillas responded more quickly to incongruent trials, in contrast to predictions, they were more accurate on congruent trials, consistent with predictions. Therefore, we proceeded with Phase Three in which photographs of images assumed to have positive and negative valences for the gorillas were placed within the borders. On test trials, the same positive or negative image was placed within both borders. In Phase Four, a positive image was paired with a negative image on each trial and the positive image appeared in either the blue (congruent trials) or yellow border (incongruent trials). Phases Five and Six replicated Phases Three and Four with images of novel positive and negative items. The gorillas responded more quickly on congruent trials compared to incongruent trials on test trials but not on control trials throughout Phases 3–6. These findings provide some validation for the emotional Stroop task to test attentional shift with emotionally valenced items.

Effects of visual search task on attentional bias and stress response under pressure

BACKGROUND

it has always been a problem for athletes that their performance is out of order due to pressure in major competitions. The change of attention pattern and the emergence of stress response (SR) caused by negative affect (NA) are the direct reasons for the greater impact on the performance of athletes. It is a hot topic to explore how to improve attention bias (AB) and SR of athletes in stressful situations.

OBJECTIVE

the study aimed to analyze the improvement effect of visual search task (VST) training on AB and SR of athletes under pressure situations.

METHODS

62 male basketball players with national level 2 or above of Shenyang sports institute were divided into experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). Visual search task training program was used in the EG (happy, sad, disgusted, neutral faces) and sham training program was used in the CG (all faces with neutral expression) for two months. Under the stress situation, attention behavior of all subjects before and after training was tested. Physiological coherence and autonomic balance system were used to record heart rate variability synchronously. Parallel frequency domain analysis was divided into very low frequency band (VLF), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF) and total spectrum (TP). The normalized treatment obtained indexes such as HFnorm, LFnorm, and LF/HF. The e-prime 2.0 software was adopted to obtain the attention bias score. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the self-rating stress scale were adopted for evaluation before and after training.

RESULTS

the self-rating pressure in the two groups was lower than that before the training, and the pressure in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). After training, the positive emotion of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, and the EG was lower than that of the CG (P < 0.05). After training, the score of attention bias of happy and neutral faces in the EG was higher than that of theCG, while the score of attention bias of sad and disgusted faces was lower than that of the CG (P < 0.05). After training, LF/HF and LFnorm in the EG were lower than those in the CG, and HFnorm was higher than those in the CG (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

the training of visual search task can effectively improve the athletes' PA and AB of positive information, reduce the attention bias of negative information and psychological pressure, and relieve theSR.

Effects of cognitive load and type of object on the visual looming bias

According to the behavioral urgency hypothesis, organisms have evolved various mechanisms that facilitate their survival by focusing attention and resources on approaching danger. One example of such mechanisms is the looming bias-the tendency for an individual to judge an approaching object's distance as being closer or time-to-collision as being sooner than receding or stationary objects. To date, most research on the looming bias has explored the ways in which human factors and object characteristics influence the strength and direction of the bias. The current study expanded on this field of research in two novels ways by exploring (a) whether cognitive vulnerabilities may influence the strength of the looming bias in the visual domain, and (b) whether the combination of human factors (i.e., cognitive load) and object characteristics (i.e., object threat) interact to create an additive effect on looming bias strength. Findings appear to only partially support the hypotheses that cognitive vulnerabilities can influence looming bias strength in the visual domain, and that factors related to both the individual and the looming object may interact to create a stronger looming bias. These findings help to highlight possible evolutionary advantages of the looming bias and its presence across modalities, as well as add some strength to the claims that the margin of safety theory can be generalized to include psychological factors.

Snakes elicit specific neural responses in the human infant brain

Detecting predators is essential for survival. Given that snakes are the first of primates' major predators, natural selection may have fostered efficient snake detection mechanisms to allow for optimal defensive behavior. Here, we provide electrophysiological evidence for a brain-anchored evolved predisposition to rapidly detect snakes in humans, which does not depend on previous exposure or knowledge about snakes. To do so, we recorded scalp electrical brain activity in 7- to 10-month-old infants watching sequences of flickering animal pictures. All animals were presented in their natural background. We showed that glancing at snakes generates specific neural responses in the infant brain, that are higher in amplitude than those generated by frogs or caterpillars, especially in the occipital region of the brain. The temporal dynamics of these neural responses support that infants devote increased attention to snakes than to non-snake stimuli. These results therefore demonstrate that a single fixation at snakes is sufficient to generate a prompt and large selective response in the infant brain. They argue for the existence in humans of an inborn, brain-anchored mechanism to swiftly detect snakes based on their characteristic visual features.