Trained interpretive bias and anxiety (original) (raw)
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Trained interpretive bias: Validity and effects on anxiety
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2007
. Induced emotional interpretation bias and anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 602-615] developed a clever training procedure that enables the investigation of a causal relationship between interpretive bias and anxiety. The present study examined the validity of this paradigm by testing (1) the effects of interpretation training on two other tasks (homograph EAST and open-ended questionnaire) that are less closely related to the interpretation training itself as in previous studies and (2) the robustness of the training effects on state and trait anxiety. Results indicated that while the two original dependent measures (i.e., a reaction time and recognition measure) showed that the training procedure was successful in changing interpretations, the two additional measures (i.e., EAST and questionnaire) did not. This might reflect a measurement artefact, but other explanations for the findings are also possible. Moreover, evidence was found for effects of biased interpretations on anxiety. This demonstrates the viability of the present paradigm, which has implications for clinical practice. r
Effects of positive interpretive bias modification in highly anxious individuals
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2009
Over the past 20 years evidence has accumulated that individuals suffering from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous information as threatening. Considering the causal role of this interpretive bias in anxiety, it was recently established that modifying interpretive biases influences anxiety. This suggests that anxiety can be clinically treated by directly targeting this interpretive bias. The present study was designed to modify a negative interpretive bias in highly anxious individuals, and subsequently assess the hypothesized beneficial effects on clinical measures. High trait-anxious participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a positive interpretational Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM-I) or a control condition (n = 2 Â 17). The program was offered online for eight consecutive days. Upon completing the program, participants who had followed positive CBM-I were less state and trait-anxious compared to the control group. Additionally, positively trained participants scored lower on a measure of general psychopathology . No effects were observed on social anxiety and stress vulnerability. The mixed pattern of findings renders them rather inconclusive, leaving interpretations of the potential therapeutic merits of CBM-I open for future research. ß
Inducing a benign interpretational bias reduces trait anxiety
Journal of behavior therapy …, 2007
If negative interpretational bias causes emotional vulnerability, reduction of this bias should reduce proneness to anxiety. High trait-anxious volunteers were trained over four sessions to resolve descriptions of ambiguous events in an increasingly positive manner. This group subsequently made more positive interpretations of novel descriptions than did those in a test-retest control condition. Furthermore, trait anxiety scores reduced more in the trained group than in untrained controls. These results confirm earlier findings that modifying interpretation biases produces congruent changes in emotional vulnerability, and suggest a possible role for similar training methods in controlling pathological anxiety. r
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 2012
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a psychological risk factor for anxiety disorders. Negative interpretation biases are a maladaptive form of information-processing also associated with anxiety disorders. The present study explored whether AS and negative interpretation biases make independent contributions to variance in panic and generalized anxiety symptoms and whether particular interpretation bias domains (e.g., of ambiguous arousal sensations) have specific associations with panic and/or generalized anxiety symptoms. Eighty-nine female undergraduates (44 low AS; 45 high AS) completed measures of AS, interpretation biases, and panic and generalized anxiety symptoms. Findings showed that AS and negative interpretation biases both significantly added to the prediction of anxiety symptoms. Negative interpretations of ambiguous arousal sensations were uniquely associated with panic symptoms, while negative interpretations of ambiguous general and social events were uniquely associated with generalized anxiety symptoms. Findings support the conceptual validity of AS and negative interpretation biases and their unique and shared contributions to anxiety symptoms.
Facilitating a benign interpretation bias in a high socially anxious population
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2007
Previous research has shown that high socially anxious individuals lack the benign interpretation bias present in people without social anxiety. The tendency of high socially anxious people to generate more negative interpretations may lead to anticipated anxiety about future social situations. If so, developing a more benign interpretation bias could lead to a reduction in this anxiety. The current study showed that a benign interpretation bias could be facilitated (or 'trained') in a high socially anxious population. Participants in the benign training groups had repeated practice in accessing benign (positive or non-negative) interpretations of potentially threatening social scenarios. Participants in the control condition were presented with the same social scenarios but without their outcomes being specified. In a later recognition task, participants who received benign interpretation training generated more benign, and less negative, interpretations of new ambiguous social situations compared to the control group. Participants who received benign training also predicted that they would be significantly less anxious in a future social situation than those in the control group. Possible implications of the findings for therapeutic interventions in social phobia are discussed. r
Validation of the “recognition task” used in the training of interpretation biases
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2010
It was recently established that interpretive bias plays a causal role in anxiety. The vast majority of studies examining this causal relationship have used a social script interpretive bias training and have tested whether interpretations were indeed changed. Typically, a recognition task is used as the manipulation check. However, despite its widespread use, this task has not been validated. The aim of the present study was to examine the validity of the recognition task. It was hypothesised that the recognition task should reflect differences in interpretive bias between high and low levels of neuroticism, while it should not be affected by temporarily mood states that result from the interpretive bias modification. Participants scoring high (n ¼ 35) and low (n ¼ 54) on neuroticism followed either a positive or a negative mood induction procedure and subsequently completed the recognition task. Results showed that the recognition task differentiated between individuals scoring high and low on neuroticism. In addition, the task was insensitive to mood state. The data argue in favour of the validity of this measure of trained interpretive bias following the modification of that bias.
Depression and Anxiety, 2020
Background: Cognitive bias modification for interpretations (CBM-I) is a computerized intervention that has received increasing attention in the last decade as a potential experimental intervention for anxiety. Initial CBM-I trials with clinical populations suggest the potential utility of this approach. However, most CBM-I experiments have been conducted with unaffected samples, few (one or two) training sessions, and have not examined transfer effects to anxiety-related constructs such as stress reactivity. Method: This study compared a 12-session CBM-I intervention (n = 12) to an interpretation control condition (ICC; n = 12) in individuals (N = 24) with elevated trait anxiety on interpretation bias, anxiety symptom, and stress reactivity outcomes (electrodermal activity, heart rate, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia). Results: Compared to the ICC group, participants assigned to CBM-I experienced significantly greater improvements in interpretation bias and anxiety symptoms by post-intervention 4 weeks later, with impact on anxiety maintained at 1-month follow-up. While CBM-I and ICC groups did not differ in stress reactivity during an acute stressor at pre-intervention, the CBM-I group evidenced improved stress reactivity at post-intervention compared to ICC on two psychophysiological indices, electrodermal activity and heart rate. Conclusions: The results of this pilot study suggest that CBM-I may hold promise for reducing anxiety symptoms, as well as impact psychophysiological arousal during an acute stressor.
Cognition and Emotion, 2018
Two studies aimed to examine whether high socially anxious individuals are more likely to negatively interpret ambiguous social scenarios and facial expressions compared to low socially anxious individuals. We also examined whether interpretation bias serves as a mediator of the relationship between trait social anxiety and state anxiety responses, in particular current state anxiety, bodily sensations, and perceived probability and cost of negative evaluation pertaining to a speech task. Study 1 used ambiguous social scenarios and Study 2 used ambiguous facial expressions as stimuli to objectively assess interpretation bias. Undergraduate students with high and low social anxiety completed measures of state anxiety responses at three time points: baseline, after the interpretation bias task, and after the preparation for an impromptu speech. Results showed that high socially anxious individuals were more likely to endorse threat interpretations for ambiguous social scenarios and to interpret ambiguous faces as negative than low socially anxious individuals. Furthermore, negative interpretations mediated the relationship between trait social anxiety and perceived probability of negative evaluation pertaining to the speech task in Study 1 but not Study 2. The present studies provide new insight into the role of interpretation bias in social anxiety.
2009
The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential causal role of interpretive bias in cognitive vulnerability to generalized anxiety disorder and its primary symptom, worry. An interpretive bias induction paradigm developed by Mathews and Macintosh (2000) was used to modify participants' interpretations of ambiguous scenarios. Sixty-nine (69) individuals were randomly assigned to either the negative induction group ( n = 35) or the positive induction group ( n =34). Following training, participants completed two measures of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a cognitive vulnerability factor implicated in worry, and an interview related to processes involved in worry. Among the two measures of IU, one was a self-report questionnaire measuring explicit beliefs about uncertainty, while the other was a computerized task designed to assess automatic threat associations related to uncertainty. It was hypothesized that compared to the positive induction group, the negative in...