Attention bias toward negative stimuli

Negative stimuli often receive excessive attention and abnormal behavioral reaction from human beings. Although threat-related attention bias is a normal phenomenon, it becomes pathological when it is systematically exhibited toward certain stimuli and when it impairs everyday functioning. Attention bias is characterized by faster engagement to and slower disengagement from threatening stimuli, compared with neutral ones, and by a vigilance-avoidance pattern. Anxious individuals show consistent bias, while bias among depressed individuals is less consistent. The current chapter introduces attention bias across disorders; elaborates on different cognitive, neurocognitive, and psychophysiological measures; discusses the bias in theory and in practice; and offers directions for further considerations. Most importantly, the understanding of attention bias has great therapeutic value, as reduction of attention bias can lead to reduction of anxiety symptoms.