Dot-probe paradigm

rdf:langString Dot-probe paradigm

rdf:langString The dot-probe paradigm is a test used by cognitive psychologists to assess selective attention. According to Eysenck, MacLeod & Mathews (1987) and Mathews (2004) the dot-probe task derives directly from research carried out by Christos Halkiopoulos in 1981. Halkiopoulos, later a doctoral student of Eysenck, carried out this research while he was a psychology undergraduate at UCL, under the supervision of professor N.F. Dixon. He introduced an attentional probe paradigm, which he initially used in the auditory modality to assess attentional biases to threatening auditory information, when threatening and non-threatening information was presented simultaneously to both ears in a dichotic listening task. Halkiopoulos demonstrated attentional biases by measuring reaction times to auditory probes following neutral and emotional words in the attended and the unattended channels. This method was subsequently used in the visual modality by MacLeod, Mathews and Tata (1986) in what came to be known as the dot probe paradigm. As professor Mathews puts it when in an interview he discusses his team's research and his collaboration with Eysenck: "Then Michael Eysenck made contact, and we picked the idea for the dot probe method from his student, Christos Halkiopoulos. I certainly remember that being a really fun time" (Mathews in Borkovec, 2004, p.13). Halkiopoulos's initial research is described by Eysenck, MacLeod and Mathews (1987) and, in some more technical detail, by Eysenck (1991). "In many cases, the dot-probe paradigm is used to assess selective attention to threatening stimuli in individuals diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Biases have also been investigated in other disorders via this paradigm, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain. Attention biases toward positive stimuli have been associated with a number of positive outcomes such as increased social engagement, increased prosocial behavior, decreased externalizing disorders, and decreased emotionally withdrawn behavior.