ABSTRACT Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological c... more ABSTRACT Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological consumption of people who do not, and dependents who are more likely to fall in consumption. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test, designed to evaluate attention biases for alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients. The sample was composed by 173 participants divided into 2 groups: 1) “Patients” (n = 88) meeting criteria for alcohol dependence; and 2) “Control” (n = 85) having a low risk for alcohol consumption, that completed the Stroop color naming Task (Classic Stroop), the Neutral Stroop test and the alcohol Stroop test. Statistically significant differences were found in the interference effects calculated for the Classic and Alcohol Stroop tests. Patients compared to control participants showed a higher interference effect for alcohol-related stimuli than for neutral stimuli. These effects were accounted by an attention bias for alcohol-related information in patients. ROC curves were calculated for the three interference effects, showing an area under the curve statistically significant in the Classic Stroop interference and the Alcohol Stroop interference. This study provides the validation of the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test that allows to evaluate attention biases for alcohol stimuli in individuals with both pathologic alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence.
Previous research has made significant progress elucidating the nature of cognitive biases in emo... more Previous research has made significant progress elucidating the nature of cognitive biases in emotional disorders. However, less work has focused on the relation among cognitive biases and emotional responding in clinical samples. This study uses eye-tracking to examine difficulties disengaging attention from emotional material in depressed participants and to test its relation with mood reactivity and recovery during and after a stress induction. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and never-disordered control participants (CTL) completed a novel eye-tracking paradigm in which participants had to disengage their attention from emotional material to attend to a neutral stimulus. Time to disengage attention was computed using a direct recording of eye movements. Participants then completed a stress induction and mood reactivity and recovery were assessed. MDD compared with CTL participants took significantly longer to disengage from depression-related stimuli (i.e., sad faces). Individual differences in disengagement predicted lower recovery from sad mood in response to the stress induction in the MDD group. These results suggest that difficulties in attentional disengagement may contribute to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive disorders.
ABSTRACT Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological c... more ABSTRACT Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological consumption of people who do not, and dependents who are more likely to fall in consumption. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test, designed to evaluate attention biases for alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients. The sample was composed by 173 participants divided into 2 groups: 1) “Patients” (n = 88) meeting criteria for alcohol dependence; and 2) “Control” (n = 85) having a low risk for alcohol consumption, that completed the Stroop color naming Task (Classic Stroop), the Neutral Stroop test and the alcohol Stroop test. Statistically significant differences were found in the interference effects calculated for the Classic and Alcohol Stroop tests. Patients compared to control participants showed a higher interference effect for alcohol-related stimuli than for neutral stimuli. These effects were accounted by an attention bias for alcohol-related information in patients. ROC curves were calculated for the three interference effects, showing an area under the curve statistically significant in the Classic Stroop interference and the Alcohol Stroop interference. This study provides the validation of the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test that allows to evaluate attention biases for alcohol stimuli in individuals with both pathologic alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence.
Previous research has made significant progress elucidating the nature of cognitive biases in emo... more Previous research has made significant progress elucidating the nature of cognitive biases in emotional disorders. However, less work has focused on the relation among cognitive biases and emotional responding in clinical samples. This study uses eye-tracking to examine difficulties disengaging attention from emotional material in depressed participants and to test its relation with mood reactivity and recovery during and after a stress induction. Participants diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and never-disordered control participants (CTL) completed a novel eye-tracking paradigm in which participants had to disengage their attention from emotional material to attend to a neutral stimulus. Time to disengage attention was computed using a direct recording of eye movements. Participants then completed a stress induction and mood reactivity and recovery were assessed. MDD compared with CTL participants took significantly longer to disengage from depression-related stimuli (i.e., sad faces). Individual differences in disengagement predicted lower recovery from sad mood in response to the stress induction in the MDD group. These results suggest that difficulties in attentional disengagement may contribute to the sustained negative affect that characterizes depressive disorders.
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Papers by Alvaro Sanchez