Attentional bias toward emotional stimuli in type 2 diabetic Chinese patients with different self-management levels.

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to mental and behavioral problems; however, diabetes self-management (DSM) behavior in type 2 diabetic patients has not specifically been assessed. The current study investigated whether type 2 diabetic Chinese patients who had different levels of self-management behaviors showed different patterns of AB toward either positive or negative stimuli. A sample of 195 patients completed questionnaires measuring DSM and a modified dot-probe task measuring AB. Patients with low levels of DSM had an avoidance bias for positive stimuli, the regression showed that negative orienting index significantly predicted lower DSM; patients with medium levels of DSM had difficulty in disengaging attention from negative stimuli, the regression showed that negative disengaging index significantly predicted lower DSM; while patients with high levels of DSM had an avoidance bias for negative stimuli and difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli. An implication of this finding is that the understanding of information processing bias affects DSM and therefore suggests a novel target for prevention and treatment interventions.

Attentional bias toward emotional stimuli in accidentally injured Chinese patients with different posttraumatic growth levels.

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology, little is known regarding the characteristics of individual AB in different posttraumatic growth (PTG) levels. The current study used a modified dot-probe task to investigate if individual differences in AB towards either positive or negative emotional stimuli, are related to self-reported PTG. A sample of 202 patients completed the experiment. Patients with low levels of PTG did not exhibit AB toward negative or positive stimuli, patients with medium levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli, patients with high levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from positive stimuli. And the AB towards positive stimuli was only predictive for PTG. An implication of this finding is that there are different characteristics of implicit cognitive processing in patients with different levels of PTG, suggesting the necessity of psychological intervention on the accidentally injured patients.