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Attentional focus moderates the relationship between attention to threat bias and delusion-like experiences in healthy adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

K. Prochwicz  and
J. Kłosowska
K. Prochwicz*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060Krakow, Poland
J. Kłosowska
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060Krakow, Poland
*
*Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +48 12 663 24 17. E-mail address:[email protected] (K. Prochwicz).
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Abstract

Background

The role of cognitive biases in delusion and delusion-like experiences has been widely investigated in recent years. However, little is known about individual differences, which may influence association between cognitive biases and formation of delusional beliefs. The aim of this study was to examine the moderating effect of self-reported attentional control on the relationship between attention to threat bias (ATB) and delusion-like experiences (DLEs) in healthy adults.

Methods

Participants (n = 138) completed the Davos Assessment of the Cognitive Biases Scale (DACOBS), the Attentional Control Scale (ACS) and the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI). The moderation analysis was performed to check the influence of different components of attentional control (i.e. general ability to allocate attention, focusing, shifting and divide attention) on the interplay between ATB and DLEs.

Results

The results supported the moderation model. Specifically, we found that a higher level of ability to focus attention is associated with a stronger effect of attention to threat bias on the overall frequency of DLEs. Our results indicate that ATB contributes to the number of DLEs only in individuals with high and moderate capacity to focus attention, whereas in those who scored low on the ACS focusing attention subscale, the presence of attentional bias does not influence the frequency of DLEs.

Conclusions

Our findings show that the individual difference variable, such as ability to voluntarily focus attention, may moderate the relationship between attention to threat bias and delusion-like experiences in healthy adults.

Keywords

Delusion-like experiencesAttention to threat biasAttentional control
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 39 , January 2017 , pp. 27 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2017

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