Spider vs. guns: expectancy and attention biases to phylogenetic threat do not extend to ontogenetic threat.

INTRODUCTION Attention bias plays an important role in specific fears and phobias. Previous studies revealed that a-priori expectancies affect attention toward neutral stimuli but not threatening stimuli. The aim of the current study was to test whether this selective influence of expectancies on attention is specific to phylogenetic threat (i.e., spiders) or whether it can be generalized to ontogenetic threat (i.e., guns). Correspondingly, we directly compared expectancy effects on attentional allocation to phylogenetically vs. ontogenetically threatening stimuli. METHOD Expectancies were manipulated by presenting a cue indicating the likelihood of the appearance of a deviant picture in a visual search array. The array included eight distractors and one neutral (phone/bird) or threatening (gun/spider) deviant picture. In a comprehensive design, we examined the effects of stimulus type (phylogenetic/ontogenetic) and visual background (white and sterile/complex and ecological). Individual differences such as intolerance of uncertainty and spider fear were also measured. RESULTS Results showed that attention bias toward spiders does not extend to threatening ontogenetic stimuli (i.e., guns). Our previous findings on attention bias toward spiders were replicated and a small to medium positive correlation was found between reaction time to bird targets and pre-existing fear of spider levels. Cues were used to detect threatening as well as neutral targets on both background types, except for spider targets on a complex background, replicating previous results. A small to medium positive correlation was also found between fear of spiders and intolerance of uncertainty. DISCUSSION Together, these results suggest that expectancy and attentional processes may differ between ontogenetic and phylogenetic threat. Importantly, the effects of expectancy on attentional allocation depend on an interaction between the type of threat (ontogenetic/phylogenetic), visual factors, and individual differences

Cognitive biases in blood-injection-injury phobia: A review

Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia can lead to avoidance of crucial medical procedures and to detrimental health consequences, even among health workers. Yet unlike other specific phobias, BII phobia has been understudied. Specifically, while cognitive biases have been extensively investigated in other anxiety disorders, little is known about the same biases in BII phobia. The current article reviews cognitive biases in BII phobia and suggest future directions for further study and treatment. The reviewed biases include attention, expectancy, memory, perception, and interpretation biases. The investigation of these biases is highly relevant, as cognitive biases have been found to interact with anxiety symptoms. Results showed that attention, expectancy, and memory biases are involved in BII phobia, while no studies were found on interpretation nor perception biases. Mixed results were found for attention bias, as different studies found different components of attention bias, while others found no attention bias at all. Similarly, some studies found a-priori/a-posteriori expectancy biases, while other studies found only one type of bias. A better understanding of the cognitive particularities of BII phobia may lead to better treatments and ultimately reduce avoidance of needles and blood-related situations, thereby enabling individuals with BII phobia to undergo potentially life-saving medical procedures

The Missing Pieces of the Puzzle: A Review on the Interactive Nature of A-Priori Expectancies and Attention Bias toward Threat

The role of attention bias toward threat in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety has been studied extensively over decades. Attention bias reflects maladaptation in executive functions, as perceived threatening stimuli receive prioritized processing even when they are task-irrelevant or factually unthreatening. Recently, there has been some interest in the role of a-priori expectancies in attention bias toward threat. The current perspective article will present recent studies as examples that emphasize the need for more comprehensive research about the interactive effects of various factors that affect the relationship between expectancies and attention bias toward negative stimuli in anxiety. The current perspective article suggests a holistic view, which advocates for more integrative research, as a dynamic network could underlie changes in attention bias. The study of the interaction between such factors, with a focus on expectancy, can lead to more ecological and clinically important results, and thus to more informed and fine-tuned attention bias modification methods and cognitive trainings that are based on manipulation of expectancies. Such methods, in turn, can also help in shedding light on the research of attention bias, in a mutual relationship between research and therapy

Expectancy and attention bias to spiders: Dissecting anticipation and allocation processes using ERPs.

The current registered report focused on the temporal dynamics of the relationship between expectancy and attention toward threat, to better understand the mechanisms underlying the prioritization of threat detection over expectancy. In the current event-related potentials experiment, a-priori expectancy was manipulated, and attention bias was measured, using a well-validated paradigm. A visual search array was presented, with one of two targets: spiders (threatening) or birds (neutral). A verbal cue stating the likelihood of encountering a target preceded the array, creating congruent and incongruent trials. Following cue presentation, preparatory processes were examined using the contingent negative variation (CNV) component. Following target presentation, two components were measured: early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP), reflecting early and late stages of natural selective attention toward emotional stimuli, respectively. Behaviorally, spiders were found faster than birds, and congruency effects emerged for both targets. For the CNV, a non-significant trend of more negative amplitudes following spider cues emerged. As expected, EPN and LPP amplitudes were larger for spider targets compared to bird targets. Data-driven, exploratory, topographical analyses revealed different patterns of activation for bird cues compared to spider cues. Furthermore, 400-500 ms post-target, a congruency effect was revealed only for bird targets. Together, these results demonstrate that while expectancy for spider appearance is evident in differential neural preparation, the actual appearance of spider target overrides this expectancy effect and only in later stages of processing does the cueing effect come again into play

Expectancy and attention bias to spiders: dissecting anticipation and allocation processes using ERPs

Studies suggest that there exists an interaction between a-priori expectancies and attention bias toward threat, as threat detection can override endogenous attention control driven by expectancy. Specifically, while expectancy influences the detection of neutral stimuli, it does not aid nor hinder the detection of spiders. The current study will focus on the temporal dynamics of the relationship between expectancy and attention toward threat, to better understand the mechanisms underlying the prioritization of threat detection. In the proposed event-related potentials (ERP) experiment we will manipulate a priori expectancy and measure attention bias, using a well-validated paradigm. To this aim, a visual search array will be presented, with one of two possible targets: spiders (threatening) or birds (neutral). A verbal cue stating the likelihood of encountering a target will precede the array, thus creating congruent and incongruent trials. Following cue presentation, preparatory processes will be examined using the contingent negative variation (CNV). Following target presentation, two components will be measured: early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP), as these components reflect early and late stages of natural selective attention toward emotional stimuli, respectively. Based on our previous findings, we expect these components to reveal differences between: (1) spider and bird cues; (2) spider and bird targets; (3) congruent and incongruent trials

Expectancy and attention bias in low and high injection fear: faster evidence accumulation in reliable attention bias toward injections

Blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia is often considered a unique phobia as its emotional and physical manifestations differ from those of other specific phobias. Nevertheless, cognitive biases have been highly understudied in BII phobia. In the current study, expectancy of encountering BII-relevant stimuli was manipulated, and attention bias was measured. To this end, participants with low and high levels of BII fear were informed of the likelihood of encountering a certain deviant picture in a subsequent search array. The deviant picture could be a picture of an injection syringe, or a pen placed among pictures of straws (distractors). The pictures were presented in a neutral context (i.e., on a white background). Replicating previous results, no group differences were found, and both fear groups exhibited attention bias toward injection syringes by detecting them faster than pens. These results were further confirmed using a linear ballistic accumulation model. Split-half reliability analysis further verified that this attention bias is reliable within-participants. Additionally, both groups responded faster on congruent trials than on incongruent trials. Importantly, among the high fear group, levels of BII fear were significantly reduced after the experiment. These results suggest two things: First, in line with previous studies, fear of certain stimuli may be inherent among all humans, as both groups of participants detected injection syringes faster than pens. Second, this fear can be reduced using exposure in a neutral experimental context and by adding certainty to the fearful situation (i.e., providing predictive cues). Clinical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed

Reducing attention bias in spider fear by manipulating expectancies

The present series of studies examines the causal interaction between expectancy and attention biases in spider fear. Previous studies found that a-priori expectancy does not affect attention bias toward spiders, as measured by detection of spider targets in a subsequent visual search array compared to detection of bird targets (i.e. neutral targets) that appeared equally often. In the present series of studies, target frequency was manipulated. Targets were preceded by a verbal cue stating the likelihood that a certain target would appear. The aim was to examine whether manipulation of expectancies toward either target affects attention bias. In Experiment 1, birds appeared more frequently than spiders. Among a representative sample of the student population, attention bias toward spiders was significantly reduced. Experiment 2 replicated these results with both low- and high-fearful participants. In Experiment 3, spiders appeared more frequently than birds. Attention bias was reduced among low- and high-fearful groups, but not as strongly as the reduction in Experiments 1 and 2. These results suggest that target salience plays a role in attention bias, in competition with expectancy. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that varying expectancy can reduce attention bias, most importantly in high fear