Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent behavior among young people maintained by complex transdiagnostic processes. This study sought to investigate whether NSSI attentional bias—the preferential allocation of attentional resources to environmental NSSI cues—is one such transdiagnostic process experienced by young adults with histories of NSSI. Participants were 39 young adults who completed a dot probe task designed to measure attentional bias to NSSI cues and negatively-valenced cues. Participants also provided NSSI urge and affect ratings during the task. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to determine if participants exhibited a significant attentional bias to NSSI cues and negatively-valenced cues compared to neutral cues, and to test whether NSSI urge ratings following the dot probe task increased from baseline levels. Participants exhibited a significant attentional bias to NSSI cues presented for 200 ms and a significant attentional bias to negative cues presented for 200 ms. The urge to engage in NSSI was elicited by NSSI cues, but not by negative cues. These findings indicate exposure to NSSI cues elicits both attentional bias and NSSI urge, a unique process that differs from a mere generalized attentional bias to negative affective stimuli known to be exhibited by individuals with other forms of psychopathology, such as anxiety or depressive disorders. These results provide preliminary evidence for possible avenues of intervention as it relates to the role of exposure to NSSI cues in the maintenance of NSSI, including managing cue-elicited urge and tolerating changes in affective states.

非自杀性自伤 (NSSI) 是年轻人中的一种普遍行为，这些行为由复杂的跨诊断过程维持。本研究试图调查 NSSI 注意力偏差——将注意力资源优先分配给环境 NSSI 线索——是否是有 NSSI 病史的年轻人所经历的这种跨诊断过程。参与者是 39 名年轻人，他们完成了一项点探测任务，旨在测量对 NSSI 线索和负价线索的注意偏差。参与者还在任务期间提供 NSSI 敦促和影响评级。配对样本t进行测试以确定参与者是否对 NSSI 线索和负价线索表现出显着的注意力偏差，与中性线索相比，并测试在点探测任务后 NSSI 敦促评级是否从基线水平增加。参与者对呈现 200 ms 的 NSSI 线索表现出显着的注意偏见，对呈现 200 ms 的负面线索表现出显着的注意偏见。参与 NSSI 的冲动是由 NSSI 线索引起的，但不是由消极线索引起的。这些发现表明，暴露于 NSSI 线索会引起注意偏见和 NSSI 冲动，这是一个独特的过程，不同于对已知具有其他形式的精神病理学（例如焦虑或抑郁症）的个体所表现出的负面情感刺激的普遍注意偏见。