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Updated: May 22, 2026
08:25
Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults
Published on: October 19, 2014
Disgust mediates the relation between attentional shifting and contamination aversion
1Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, 315 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. tomadams@uark.edu
Summary
Poor attentional control and high disgust predict avoidance of contaminants, particularly in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). These factors, especially attentional shifting, indirectly influence behavioral approach via disgust.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Contaminant aversion is crucial in psychiatric disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Attentional control is theorized to influence pathological anxiety, particularly with emotional stimuli.
- Understanding attentional control's role in contaminant aversion is vital.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between attentional control, affective arousal, and behavioral approach to contaminants.
- To explore the mediating role of disgust in the link between attentional shifting and contaminant avoidance.
Main Methods:
- Thirty-three undergraduate students participated.
- Trait attentional control was measured.
- Behavioral approach tasks assessed emotional reactivity and approach toward contaminants.
Main Results:
- Poorer attentional control and greater affective arousal correlated with reduced behavioral approach to contaminants.
- Attentional shifting deficits and increased disgust were linked to less behavioral approach.
- Disgust fully mediated the relationship between attentional shifting and behavioral approach.
Conclusions:
- Attentional shifting may predispose individuals to affective arousal and contaminant avoidance, mediated by disgust.
- Findings suggest implications for the etiology of contamination-related OCD.
- Future research should use clinical samples and objective measures for validation.
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