City Research Online

Top-down and bottom-up attentional biases for smoking-related stimuli: comparing dependent and non-dependent smokers.

Wilcockson, T., Pothos, E. M. ORCID: 0000-0003-1919-387X, Osborne, A. & Crawford, T. (2021). Top-down and bottom-up attentional biases for smoking-related stimuli: comparing dependent and non-dependent smokers.. Addictive Behaviors, 118, article number 106886. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106886

Abstract

Introduction: Substance use causes attentional biases for substance-related stimuli. Both bottom-up (preferential processing) and top-down (inhibitory control) processes are involved in attentional biases. We explored these aspects of attentional bias by using dependent and non-dependent cigarette smokers in order to see whether these two groups would differ in terms of general inhibitory control, bottom-up attentional bias, and top-down attentional biases. This enables us to see whether consumption behaviour would affect these cognitive responses to smoking-related stimuli. Methods: Smokers were categorised as either dependent (N=26) or non-dependent (N=34) smokers. A further group of non-smokers (N=32) were recruited to act as controls. Participants then completed a behavioural inhibition task with general stimuli, a smoking-related eye tracking version of the dot-probe task, and an eye-tracking inhibition task with smoking-related stimuli. Results: Results indicated that dependent smokers had decreased inhibition and increased attentional bias for smoking-related stimuli (and not control stimuli). By contrast, a decreased inhibition for smoking-related stimuli (in comparison to control stimuli) was not observed for non-dependent smokers. Conclusions: Preferential processing of substance-related stimuli may indicate usage of a substance, whereas poor inhibitory control for substance-related stimuli may only emerge if dependence develops. The results suggest that how people engage with substance abuse is important for top-down attentional biases.

Publication Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords: attentional bias; incentive salience; automaticity; smoking; inhibition; current concerns
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Departments: School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Psychology
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of MS_vResubmit_vLimitations2_clean.pdf]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.

Download (312kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login