Abstract
Attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli is believed to be an important contributor to the development and maintenance of drug abuse. There is a considerable body of research examining attentional bias, much of which has typically utilized image-display tasks as a means to assess the phenomenon. Little, however, is known about the nature of this bias in an individual’s natural environment. The current study sought to implement a novel approach to assessing attentional bias in vivo. Participants wore portable eye-tracking glasses that recorded video from their point of view and measured fixation time to objects they observed. They entered a room that was designed to represent a recreational setting in which both alcohol- and nonalcoholic-neutral beverages were placed along with other stimuli. In two different testing sessions, participants were free to visually explore the room. Participants showed similar fixation times to alcohol and neutral beverages during Session 1. Attentional bias to alcoholic beverages was observed in Session 2 because fixation time decreased to neutral but not to alcoholic beverages. The magnitude of attentional bias was positively associated with drinking habits, with heavier drinkers demonstrating a higher degree of bias to alcohol. These findings provide an ecological model of how attentional bias can develop as the net result of attention being sustained to alcoholic stimuli while diminishing to other stimuli over time.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000157
Funding Information
This research was financially supported by grant R01 AA021722 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Repository Citation
Monem, Ramey G. and Fillmore, Mark T., "Measuring Heightened Attention to Alcohol in a Naturalistic Setting: A Validation Study" (2017). Psychology Faculty Publications. 156.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_facpub/156
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, v. 25, no. 6, p. 496-502.
© 2017 American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000157
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