Background and objectives

Intrusive re-experiencing of negative events represents a key vulnerability factor for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Thus, delineating attentional mechanisms that might contribute to key facets of intrusive re-experiencing would be highly advantageous. The present study sought to evaluate the novel hypothesis that biased attentional engagement and disengagement differentially contribute to two central facets of intrusive re-experiencing, frequency and controllability, respectively.

Methods

One hundred undergraduates were exposed to an acutely negative event, followed by completion of an attentional task that permitted the discrete assessment of biased attentional engagement with, and biased attentional disengagement from, negative vs. non-negative information. Intrusions concerning this negative event were assessed daily, for the subsequent seven days, by means of an electronic diary.

Results

Results revealed that enhanced attentional engagement with negative vs. non-negative information predicted unique variance in intrusion frequency, whereas impaired attentional disengagement from negative vs. non-negative information predicted unique variance in intrusion controllability. These intrusion-linked patterns of attentional selectivity were evident at shorter (500 ms) stimulus exposure durations only, and not at longer (1000 ms) stimulus exposure durations.

Limitations

The current study did not assess attentional selectivity prior to the negative event. Additionally, a time-based approach, rather than an event-based approach, was employed in the assessment of intrusions.

Conclusions

The current findings suggest that engagement bias and disengagement bias may underpin differing facets of intrusive re-experiencing, raising the possibility that therapeutically targeting each type of attentional bias may attenuate a distinctive aspect of intrusive re-experiencing.

中文翻译：

---

在消极事件的侵入性重新体验中，注意力参与和脱离消极信息的独立作用

背景和目标

消极事件的侵入性重新体验是创伤后应激障碍的关键脆弱性因素。因此，描述可能有助于侵入性重新体验的关键方面的注意机制将是非常有利的。本研究试图评估新的假设，即有偏见的注意力参与和脱离对侵入性再体验的两个核心方面有不同的贡献，分别是频率和可控性。

方法

一百名本科生暴露于一个严重的负面事件，随后完成了一项注意力任务，该任务允许对负面与非负面信息的偏向注意力参与和偏向注意力脱离进行离散评估。在接下来的 7 天里，每天都通过电子日记对有关此负面事件的入侵进行评估。

结果

结果表明，对负面与非负面信息的增强注意力参与预测了入侵频率的独特差异，而对负面与非负面信息的注意力分离受损则预测了入侵可控性的独特差异。这些与入侵相关的注意力选择性模式仅在较短（500 ms）的刺激暴露持续时间下很明显，而不是在较长（1000 ms）的刺激暴露持续时间下。

限制

目前的研究没有评估负面事件之前的注意力选择性。此外，在入侵评估中采用了基于时间的方法，而不是基于事件的方法。

结论

目前的研究结果表明，参与偏见和脱离偏见可能支持侵入性重新体验的不同方面，提高了针对每种类型的注意力偏见的治疗可能会减弱侵入性重新体验的一个独特方面的可能性。