Attentional Bias
Date of MHRP final approval:
Date of SC final approval:
About the Measure
Domain:
Measure:
Definition:
Purpose:
PTSD
Attentional Bias
A computer-administered task to measure the respondent’s attention bias toward or
away from threat-related cues.
Individuals with anxious psychopathology (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder, social
phobia, posttraumatic stress disorder) preferentially direct attention toward threatrelated cues. This protocol is potentially relevant to Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)
aims.
About the Protocol
Description of
Protocol:
The Dot Probe Task is a computer-administered protocol in which a pair of face or
word stimuli (one either negative/threatening [e.g., angry] or positive [e.g., happy] and
one neutral) are briefly presented side-by-side on a computer screen. Both
faces/words are then removed, and a single dot (e.g., “*”; “.”; or “:”) is briefly presented
on either side of the computer screen, replacing either an emotional or a neutral
stimulus. Respondents indicate whether the dot was on the left-hand or right-hand
side of the screen. This is sometimes interspersed with trials involving two neutral
faces/words. Scores are generated by subtracting response times when probes
replace neutral stimuli from response times when probes replace emotional stimuli in
trials that include an emotional and neutral stimulus pair. Alternatively, if trials
involving a pair of neutral stimuli are included, subtraction can be made from this
baseline (i.e., dot on neutral stimulus in a neutral-emotional pair versus dot on neutral
stimulus in a neutral-neutral pair).
Selection
Rationale:
Specific
Instructions:
The Dot Probe Task is a brief, validated, and widely used measure of attentional bias.
Protocol Text:
The Dot-Probe Task stimuli often are threat related (e.g., DEAD) and neutral (e.g.,
DATA) words. Threat-related and neutral faces also can be used; they can be
obtained from the Center for Productive Aging (Minear and Park, 2004) and NimStim
(Tottenham et al., 2009) databases. The faces selected as stimuli for the Dot Probe
Task should reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the study population.
Summary of the Dot Probe Task:
Each dot probe trial begins with the presentation of a central fixation cross (e.g., “+”)
for 500 milliseconds. The fixation cross is then replaced with two stimuli (e.g., words
or faces) side by side on a computer screen. One of the stimuli is threat-related (e.g.,
the word “DEAD” or an angry face) and one is threat-neutral (e.g., the word “DATA” or
a blank face). After 1,000 milliseconds, both stimuli are removed and a probe (either
“.” or “:”) is shown in the location of one of the stimuli. Participants indicate as quickly
as possible which probe was shown. The participant’s response clears the screen and
the next trial begins 500 milliseconds later.
Participants are administered 152 trials. Incongruent trials are those in which the dot
replaces the threat-related stimulus. Congruent trials are those in which the dot
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Attentional Bias
Date of MHRP final approval:
Date of SC final approval:
replaces the threat-neutral stimulus. Neutral trials are those in which the participant is
presented with a neutral-neutral pair of stimuli.
Scoring:
Emotional bias scores can be calculated by subtracting response times to congruent
stimuli (when probes replace neutral stimuli) from response times to incongruent
stimuli (when probes replace threat-related stimuli). Emotion bias scores can be
further divided into threat and happy bias scores. A positive score indicates bias away
from that emotion, while a negative score indicates bias toward that emotion.
Alternatively, a condition with neutral-neutral stimulus pairs can be used as the
baseline. Doing so allows for disambiguation of attentional capture versus attentional
disengagement.
Participant:
Participants who respond more quickly on average when the probe replaces the
threat-related stimuli demonstrate an attention bias toward threat. Participants who
respond more quickly on average when the probe replaces the threat-neutral stimuli
demonstrate attention avoidance toward threat.
Adults, ages 18 and older
Source:
The Dot Probe Task can be obtained by contacting Yair Bar-Haim
(yair1@post.tau.ac.il) at Tel Aviv University.
Language of
Source:
English
Personnel and
Training Required:
Equipment Needs:
The Dot Probe Task can be administered by research assistants trained in the ethical
and competent use of behavioral tests.
Investigators will need a copy of E-Prime ® software
(http://www.pstnet.com/eprime.cfm) in order to open and invoke the Dot Probe Task.
Future implementations may be available for open source presentation platforms.
Computer-administered Task
Protocol Type:
Requirements:
Requirements category
Required (Yes/No)
Major equipment
No
Specialized training
No
Specialized requirements for biospecimen
collection
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an
unaffected individual
No
No
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Attentional Bias
Date of MHRP final approval:
Date of SC final approval:
Common Data
Elements:
General
References:
TBD by PhenX Staff
Bar-Haim, Y., Holoshitz, Y., Eldar, S., Frenkel, T. I,, Muller, D., Charney, D. S,, Pine,
D. S., Fox, N. A., & Wald, I. (2010). Life-threatening danger and suppression of
attention bias to threat. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(6), 694–698.
Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van Ijzendoorn
M. H. (2007).Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A
meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 1–24.
Eldar, S., Apter, A., Lotan, D., Edgar, K. P., Naim, R., Fox, N. A., Pine, D. S., BarHaim, Y. (2012). Attention bias modification treatment for pediatric anxiety disorders:
A randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169(2), 213–220.
Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1985). Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety
states. Behavior Research and Therapy, 23(5), 563–569.
Minear, M., & Park, D. C. (2004). A lifespan database of adult facial stimuli. Behavior
Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36(4), 630–633.
Tottenham, N., Tanaka, J. W., Leon, A. C., McCarry, T., Nurse, M., Hare, T. A.,
Marcus, D. J., Westerlund, A., Casey, B. J., & Nelson, C. (2009). The NimStim set of
facial expressions: Judgments from untrained research participants. Psychiatry
Research, 168(3), 242–249.
Wald, I., Degnan, K. A., Gorodetsky, E., Charney, D. S., Fox, N. A., Fruchter, E.,
Goldman, D., Lubin, G., Pine, D. S., & Bar-Haim, Y. (2013). Attention to threats and
combat-related posttraumatic stress symptoms: Prospective associations and
moderation by the serotonin transporter gene. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(4),401–408.
Additional Information About the Measure
Essential Data:
Related PhenX
Measures:
Derived Variables:
Current Age, Gender
Anxiety, Dimensional Mood and Anxiety
Keywords/Related
Concepts:
Threat, Attention, Attention bias, Anxiety, Dot Probe Task, Trauma, Fear, PTSD,
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
None
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