Introduction

Attentional bias (AB) is an individual difference risk factor that represents the extent to which cigarette cues capture one’s attention. AB is typically indexed by mean bias score (MBS), theoretically assuming that AB is static. However, poor reliability of MBS has threatened valid interpretation of the results on AB. Based on observed trial-by-trial temporal fluctuation and variability of attentional allocation, trial-level bias score (TLBS) has been introduced as an alternative index with evidence of better psychometric properties in various populations, as compared to MBS. However, such evidence is limited among daily smokers. The current study aimed to replicate and extend extant findings in a sample of daily smokers by hypothesizing that TLBS, as compared to MBS, would demonstrate superior reliability and external validity.

Methods

Forty-eight daily smokers completed self-reports, ad-libitum smoking, and a dot-probe task three times, which was comprised of 36 pairs of pictorial stimuli of cigarette and neutral cues, yielding 144 total trials.

Results

The TLBS demonstrated superior internal (range intra class correlation [ICC] = 0.79–0.95) and test-retest reliability (range ICC = 0.64–0.88) compared to MBS (range ICC = 0.31–0.40 and 0.06–0.16, respectively). However, few significant relations between either the MBS or TLBS and measures of biobehavioral and self-report indices of smoking reinforcement were observed.

Conclusions

The current findings demonstrate that TLBS, as compared to MBS, is a more reliable measure of AB among daily smokers, while evidence of its external validity is limited.

中文翻译：

---

试验水平偏倚评分与平均偏倚评分：在日常吸烟者中使用点探针任务比较可靠性和外部效度

 介绍

注意偏差（AB）是一种个体差异风险因素，代表香烟线索吸引某人注意力的程度。 AB 通常通过平均偏差分数 (MBS) 进行索引，理论上假设 AB 是静态的。然而，MBS 的可靠性较差，威胁到了 AB 结果的有效解释。基于观察到的逐个试验的时间波动和注意力分配的变异性，试验水平偏差评分 (TLBS) 已被引入作为替代指标，其证据表明与 MBS 相比，不同人群具有更好的心理测量特性。然而，此类证据在日常吸烟者中是有限的。当前的研究旨在通过假设 TLBS 与 MBS 相比将表现出卓越的可靠性和外部效度，在日常吸烟者样本中复制和扩展现有研究结果。

 方法

48 名每日吸烟者完成了 3 次自我报告、随意吸烟和点探针任务，该任务由 36 对香烟图片刺激和中性线索组成，总共产生 144 次试验。

 结果

与 MBS（范围ICC分别为 0.31-0.40 和 0.06-0.16）相比，TLBS 表现出优异的内部（类别内相关性范围[ICC] = 0.79-0.95）和重测可靠性（范围ICC = 0.64-0.88）。然而，MBS 或 TLBS 与吸烟强化的生物行为指标和自我报告指数之间几乎没有观察到显着关系。

 结论

目前的研究结果表明，与 MBS 相比，TLBS 是日常吸烟者中更可靠的 AB 测量方法，但其外部有效性的证据有限。