Application of adaptive attentional bias modification training to reduce symptoms of anxiety and neural error signals

• Applicant: Dr. Julia Klawohn
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: Funded in 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 319982548

Overactive error monitoring has been a robust finding in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and with other anxiety disorders, such as generalized or social anxiety. In psychophysiological studies, the overactivity shows as increased amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) in the response-related EEG. Recent studies indicate that overactive error signals may qualify as a neurocognitive biomarker and risk indicator for OCD and anxiety disorders. Importantly, in agreement with current models it may further be assumed that reduction in this marker may as well lead to a decrease in symptoms of anxiety. The proposed research project aims to investigate this possibility with an attentional bias modification (ABM) approach. ABM trainings have been shown to successfully reduce negative attentional bias as present in many anxiety disorders. The effects of such trainings on EEG measures associated with anxiety has not been studied extensively, but one recent study of the hosting institution and pilot data of the applicant show promising results, in that attentional trainings away from threat seem to have decreasing effects on the ERN. But in order to achieve significant symptom changes, multi-session trainings with strong learning facilitation seem necessary and need to be studied in the context of anxiety. Therefore, the proposed research project includes a multisession application of an adaptive ABM training which will be studied in 30 individuals with a dimensional variation in anxiety symptoms. Thus, the project would allow to further establish ABM as an effective intervention to down-regulate the ERN and to study the relation of training-induced negative bias change, ERN attenuation, and reduction of anxiety symptoms, as moderated by initial symptoms of anxiety in non-clinical individuals. A better understanding of these associations may eventually be of great relevance for the development of innovative interventions for OCD and anxiety disorders.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Greg Hajcak, Ph.D.