Evaluation of Attention Bias in Morphine and Methamphetamine Abusers towards Emotional Scenes during Early Abstinence: An Eye-Tracking Study
Introduction: We hypothesized that inappropriate attention during the period of abstinence in individuals with substance use disorder can result in an inadequate perception of emotion and unsuitable reaction to emotional scenes. The main aim of this research was to evaluate the attentional bias towa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Iran University of Medical Sciences
2015-10-01
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| Series: | Basic and Clinical Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://bcn.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-634-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 |
| Summary: | Introduction: We hypothesized that inappropriate attention during the period of abstinence
in individuals with substance use disorder can result in an inadequate perception of emotion
and unsuitable reaction to emotional scenes. The main aim of this research was to evaluate the
attentional bias towards emotional images in former substance abusers and compare it to healthy
adults. Methods: Paired images of general scenes consisting of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral
images were presented to subjects for 3 s while their attentional bias and eye movements were
measured by eye tracking. The participants were 72 male adults consisting of 23 healthy control,
24 morphine former abusers, and 25 methamphetamine former abusers. The former abusers
were recruited from a private addiction quitting center and addiction rehabilitation campus. The
healthy individuals were selected from general population. Number and duration of first fixation,
duration of first gaze, and sustained attention towards emotional scenes were measured as the
main variables and the data were analyzed using the repeated measures ANOVA. Results: A significant difference was observed between former morphine abusers and healthy
control in terms of number and duration of first fixations and first gaze duration towards pleasant
images. Discussion: Individuals with morphine use disorder have more problems with attending to
emotional images compared to methamphetamine abusers and healthy people. |
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| ISSN: | 2008-126X 2228-7442 |