engleski

Attentional biases in irritable bowel syndrome patients

According to the cognitive behavioural model of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) selective attention to visceral stimuli is one of the pathophysiological mechanisms in IBS. We aimed to investigate attentional biases in patients with IBS and to explore the relationship between neuroticism, trait- anxiety, visceral anxiety and indices of attentional biases. Twenty- seven patients completed the global/local task and the modified Stroop task (using 4 word categories: neutral, symptom- related, emotionally and situationally relevant) as well as a set of psychological questionnaires. We showed that the index of global precedence is negatively correlated with neuroticism (r=-.41, p < .05) while there was no correlation of global precedence with trait and visceral anxiety. We found Stroop facilitation (F(3, 81) = 3.98, p < .02) specifically for situational threat words. Also, there were positive correlations between trait anxiety, visceral anxiety and the Stroop facilitation index for situational threat words (r=.43 and r=.47, p < .05). The results show two distinct attentional biases in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Neuroticism was associated with the reduction in global precedence observed in the global/local task. Trait anxiety and visceral anxiety were associated with Stroop facilitation elicited by situational threat words which are of particular concern for patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

attention ; emotions ; irritable bowel syndrome ; visual perception

nije evidentirano