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Fixation time is a sensitive measure of cocaine cue attentional bias
Author(s) -
Marks Katherine R.,
Roberts Walter,
Stoops William W.,
Pike Erika,
Fillmore Mark T.,
Rush Craig R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.12635
Subject(s) - attentional bias , stroop effect , psychology , audiology , visual attention , fixation (population genetics) , stimulus (psychology) , eye tracking , attentional control , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , neuroscience , medicine , population , physics , optics , environmental health
Background and Aims Attentional bias has been demonstrated to a variety of substances. Evidence suggests that fixation time is a more direct measure of attentional bias than response time. The aims of this experiment were to demonstrate that fixation time during the visual probe task is a sensitive and stable measure of cocaine cue attentional bias in cocaine‐using adults compared to controls. Design A between‐subject, repeated‐measures experiment. Setting An out‐patient research unit. Participants Fifteen cocaine using and 15 non‐cocaine‐using adults recruited from the community. Measurements Participants completed a visual probe task with eye tracking and a modified Stroop during two experimental sessions. Findings A significant interaction between cue type and group ( F = 13.5; P < 0.05) indicated that cocaine users, but not controls, displayed an attentional bias to cocaine‐related images as measured by fixation time. There were no changes in the magnitude of attentional bias across sessions ( F = 3.4; P > 0.05) and attentional bias correlated with self‐reported life‐time cocaine use ( r = 0.64, P < 0.05). Response time on the visual probe ( F = 1.1; P > 0.05) as well as on the modified Stroop ( F = 0.1; P > 0.05) failed to detect an attentional bias. Conclusions Fixation time on cocaine‐related stimuli (propensity to remain focused on the stimulus) is a sensitive and stable measure of cocaine cue attentional bias in cocaine‐using adults.