Brief Mental Training and Internal Attentional Control

Summary

Previous research documented that real-time feedback on attention as well as related forms of mental training (e.g. mindfulness meditation) may be used to train and impact external attentional control. These approaches to mental training are designed to train meta-awareness in order to enable attentional control. It is not yet known, however, whether such training targeting meta-awareness can be similarly used to impact internal attentional control. Thus, the investigators will test whether real-time feedback training and a brief mindfulness meditation training, relative to placebo control, will lead to greater internal attentional control among adults with elevated negative repetitive thinking.

Conditions

• Attention Impaired
• Mental Health Issue
• Rumination

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT)

A-FACT is designed to promote meta-awareness of moment-to-moment biased internal attention allocation (e.g. toward negative thoughts) and thereby internal attentional control. Participants will be instructed that they will complete a task designed to reduce their attentional bias to some thoughts. Following a fixation que, the auditory neutral or negative simulated thought stimulus is delivered, and 500ms prior to termination of the auditory stimulus, a visual stimulus is presented until participants categorize the visual stimulus as greater than or smaller than 5 objects. Latency to disengage attention from each thought stimuli, at the trial-level, is repeatedly measured, and after each negative thought stimulus, trial-level feedback on the latency to disengage is delivered back to participants through a visual scale representing their attentional bias. Participants will complete approximately 100 trials in total wherein randomly 1 or 2 neutral trials follow each negative trial.

BEHAVIORAL

Mindful Disengagement from Thoughts Training (MDTT)

MDTT is designed to promote meta-awareness of moment-to-moment biased internal attention allocation (e.g. toward negative thoughts) and thereby internal attentional control. Participants will be instructed that they will complete a task designed to reduce their attentional bias to some thoughts. Participants will first learn and practice a focused attention on the breath meditation. Then, participants will practice pressing a button each time they notice an inhalation or exhalation during the focused attention meditation. Next, during the meditation, participants will be presented the auditory neutral or negative simulated thought stimuli and will train internal attentional control by repeatedly disengaging their attention from these stimuli and back to their breath MDTT will thus entail 80 trials (40 negative, 40 neutral, ITI ≈ 10sec) during the focused attention on the breath meditation.

BEHAVIORAL

Placebo-Control

The condition is designed as a placebo control for the Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT) training condition. Participants will be instructed that they will complete a task designed to reduce their attentional bias to some thoughts. Rather than the quantity categorization task with trial-level feedback, participants only engage in the quantity categorization task. The task is identical in all other ways to the A-FACT condition. Participants will complete approximately 100 trials in total wherein randomly 1 or 2 neutral trials follow each negative trial.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Haifa

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Amit Bernstein, Ph.D. · University of Haifa

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-05-23

Primary Completion

2022-10-31

Completion

2022-12-31

Countries

• Israel

Study Locations