{"title":"The effect of chronic academic stress on attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli.","authors":"Zhaoxiang Song, Heming Gao, Mingming Qi","doi":"10.1177/17470218241297862","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Individuals typically exhibit attentional bias towards stimuli that are considered valuable. This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic academic stress on attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli. Both the stress group (preparation for a critical academic examination) and the control group performed a modified dot-probe task. Two-colour stimuli were presented simultaneously, one of which was associated with high or low monetary rewards through the value-associated training. The participants were then instructed to respond to the location of a probe dot which was presented either congruent or incongruent towards the value-associated stimuli. In the neutral condition, both stimuli were not value-associated ones. The results showed that (1) in the value-associated training task, shorter reaction times (RTs) and higher accuracies were observed for the high-value trials compared with the low-value trials in both groups, suggesting a successful association between neutral stimuli and value; (2) in the dot-probe task, the RTs were shorter for the high-/low-value congruent conditions compared with the high-/low-value incongruent conditions in both groups, suggesting an attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli; (3) compared to the control group, the stress group showed an increased disengagement (RT<sub>incongruent</sub> - RT<sub>neutral</sub>) effect but a similar orienting (RT<sub>neutral</sub> - RT<sub>congruent</sub>) effect. These results suggested that chronic academic stress may promote attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli by impairing attentional disengagement.</p>","PeriodicalId":20869,"journal":{"name":"Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"17470218241297862"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218241297862","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PHYSIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Individuals typically exhibit attentional bias towards stimuli that are considered valuable. This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic academic stress on attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli. Both the stress group (preparation for a critical academic examination) and the control group performed a modified dot-probe task. Two-colour stimuli were presented simultaneously, one of which was associated with high or low monetary rewards through the value-associated training. The participants were then instructed to respond to the location of a probe dot which was presented either congruent or incongruent towards the value-associated stimuli. In the neutral condition, both stimuli were not value-associated ones. The results showed that (1) in the value-associated training task, shorter reaction times (RTs) and higher accuracies were observed for the high-value trials compared with the low-value trials in both groups, suggesting a successful association between neutral stimuli and value; (2) in the dot-probe task, the RTs were shorter for the high-/low-value congruent conditions compared with the high-/low-value incongruent conditions in both groups, suggesting an attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli; (3) compared to the control group, the stress group showed an increased disengagement (RTincongruent - RTneutral) effect but a similar orienting (RTneutral - RTcongruent) effect. These results suggested that chronic academic stress may promote attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli by impairing attentional disengagement.
期刊介绍:
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