Abstract
Objectives
Threat-related cues and contexts facilitate perceptual decision-making, yet it is unclear whether this threat-driven tuning of perceptual decision-making is modifiable by top-down attentional control. Since state and dispositional mindfulness are linked to improved attentional control, we examined whether these factors assist the use of prior knowledge to detect threatening stimuli.
Methods
Participants were randomly assigned to a brief mindfulness-based intervention (N = 32) or a physics lecture audio recording (N = 31) and then asked to perform a task in which they used threatening and neutral cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral faces.
Results
Results showed that threatening cues led to faster and more sensitive perceptual decision-making, specifically for threatening faces. Furthermore, higher levels of dispositional mindfulness were associated with improved ability to use cues to discriminate between threatening and neutral stimuli in the group that underwent a brief mindfulness induction but not in the control group.
Conclusions
Our findings highlight how top-down attention-related dispositions and strategies can influence our ability to detect threats in our environment.
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The authors would like to thank the research assistance team and the National Institute of Health.
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This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health grant R21MH111999-01A1.
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SI designed the study, analyzed the data, and collaborated in the writing of the paper. MAM collaborated in the writing of the paper and figure/table creation. GI collected data and collaborated in editing of the final manuscript. TJS designed the threshold and cued discrimination task and collaborated in the editing of the final manuscript. AM collaborated in the writing of the paper and the editing of the final manuscript.
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Im, S., Marder, M.A., Imbriano, G. et al. Effects of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Attentional Intervention on Threat-Related Perceptual Decision-Making. Mindfulness 12, 959–969 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01562-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01562-9