The effects of priming on attentional bias
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate and clarify the effects that priming can have on attentional bias. Previous research has not considered the effects of contextual cues on the performance of participants. It is proposed that attentional bias could be the result of normal perceptual processes that are being influenced by contextual cues, rather than disordered processing that causes and maintains emotional disorders. In the present study, spider-fearful and non-fearful participants' performance on spider related emotional Stroop tasks. Half of the participants were placed in a room containing numerous spider related cues before being presented with the Stroop task. The other half of the participants were not presented with the spider related material. Contrary to predictions, it was found that both priming and an underlying fear were necessary to produce the large attentional bias effects that were observed in previous research. The results are suggestive of a central role for the effects of contextual priming in attentional bias; however, a present fear structure is also necessary for the effects of attentional bias to be observed. The results also suggest the necessity to control for extra-task characteristics in order to better investigate the phenomenon of attentional bias. In addition, the results shed further light on how attentional bias functions.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Conger, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Cognitive therapy
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.