Citation

Armstrong T, Olatunji BO, Sarawgi S, Simmons C. Behav. Res. Ther. 2010; 48(5): 402-408.

Affiliation

Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, 301 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37240, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.brat.2010.01.002

PMID

20138252

PMCID

PMC2862859

Abstract

The present study examines the extent to which attentional biases in contamination fear commonly observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are specific to disgust or fear cues, as well as the components of attention involved. Eye tracking was used to provide greater sensitivity and specificity than afforded by traditional reaction time measures of attention. Participants high (HCF; n = 23) and low (LCF; n = 25) in contamination fear were presented with disgusted, fearful, or happy faces paired with neutral faces for 3 s trials. Evidence of both vigilance and maintenance-based biases for threat was found. The high group oriented attention to fearful faces but not disgusted faces compared to the low group. However, the high group maintained attention on both disgusted and fearful expressions compared to the low group, a pattern consistent across the 3 s trials. The implications of these findings for conceptualizing emotional factors that moderate attentional biases in contamination-based OCD are discussed.

Language: en