ORCID Profile
0000-0002-6885-2598
Current Organisations
Maastricht University
,
Utrecht University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JBTEP.2018.08.010
Abstract: In two experiments, we investigated the effects of Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) on emotion regulation, i.e. the manner in which people influence emotional experiences. We hypothesized that decreases in attentional bias to threat would impair upregulation and improve downregulation of negative emotions, while increases in attentional bias to threat would improve upregulation and impair downregulation of negative emotions. Using the emotion-in-motion paradigm (Experiment 1, N = 60) and the visual search task (Experiment 2, N = 58), we trained participants to attend to either threatening or positive stimuli and we assessed emotion intensity while observing, upregulating, and downregulating emotions in response to grids of mixed emotional pictures. In Experiment 1, the attend positive group reported more positive emotions while merely watching grids of training pictures and the attend threat group showed impaired upregulation of negative affect. In Experiment 2, the attend threat group reported intensified negative emotions for all three instructions, while the attend positive group remained largely stable over time. We cannot unequivocally attribute these changes in emotion regulation to changes in attentional bias, as neither of the experiments yielded significant changes in attentional bias to threat. By showing that attentional bias modification procedures affect the manner in which people deal with emotions, we add empirical weight to the conceptual overlap between attentional bias modification and emotion regulation.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-03-2010
DOI: 10.1002/ACP.1679
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 07-07-2021
DOI: 10.2196/28667
Abstract: Alcohol use and anxiety disorders commonly co-occur, resulting in a more severe clinical presentation and poorer response to treatment. Research has shown that approach bias modification (ApBM) and interpretation bias modification (IBM) cognitive retraining interventions can be efficacious adjunctive treatments that improve outcomes for alcohol use and social anxiety, respectively. However, the acceptability, feasibility, and clinical utility of combining ApBM and IBM programs to optimize treatments among comorbid s les are unknown. It is also unclear whether integrating ApBM and IBM within each training session or alternating them between each session is more acceptable and efficacious. This paper describes the protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial investigating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the Re-train Your Brain intervention—an adjunct web-based ApBM+IBM program—among a clinical s le of emerging adults with hazardous alcohol use and social anxiety. The study involves a three-arm randomized controlled pilot trial in which treatment-seeking emerging adults (18-30 years) with co-occurring hazardous alcohol use and social anxiety will be in idually randomized to receive the Re-train Your Brain integrated program, delivered with 10 biweekly sessions focusing on both social anxiety and alcohol each week, plus treatment as usual (TAU ie, the model of care provided in accordance with standard practice at their service n=30) the Re-train Your Brain alternating program, delivered with 10 biweekly sessions focusing on social anxiety one week and alcohol the next week, plus TAU (n=30) or TAU only (n=30). Primary outcomes include feasibility (uptake, follow-up rates, treatment adherence, attrition, and adverse events) and acceptability (system usability, client satisfaction, user experience, and training format preference). Secondary efficacy outcomes include changes in alcohol approach and interpretation biases, social anxiety, and alcohol use (eg, drinks per day, binge drinking, drinking motives, severity of dependence, and cravings). The primary end point will be posttreatment (6 weeks postbaseline), with a secondary end point at 3 months postbaseline. Descriptive statistics will be conducted for primary outcomes, whereas intention-to-treat, multilevel mixed effects analysis for repeated measures will be performed for secondary outcomes. This study is funded from 2019 to 2023 by Australian Rotary Health. Recruitment is expected to be completed by mid-2022 to late 2022, with follow-ups completed by early 2023. This study will be the first to evaluate whether an ApBM+IBM program is acceptable to treatment-seeking, emerging adults and whether it can be feasibly delivered via the web, in settings where it will ultimately be used (eg, at home). The findings will broaden our understanding of the types of programs that emerging adults will engage with and whether the program may be an efficacious treatment option for this comorbidity. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620001273976 www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=364131 PRR1-10.2196/28667
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ACER.14452
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-05-2019
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2019.1609423
Abstract: Although attentional bias (AB) is considered a key characteristic of anxiety problems, the psychometric properties of most AB measures are either problematic or unknown. We conducted two experiments in which we addressed the reliability, convergent validity, and concurrent validity of different AB measures in unselected student s les. In Experiment 1 (
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-10-2015
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2015.1092418
Abstract: Although attentional bias modification (ABM) can change anxiety, recent studies failed to replicate such effects, possibly because the visual probe ABM failed to induce changes in attentional bias (AB). We investigated whether visual probe ABM generalised to different measures of AB besides the visual probe task (VPT), and thus whether ABM genuinely changes attentional processing. We trained participants (N = 60) to either attend towards or away from angry facial expressions, and we examined training effects on the dot probe task, the exogenous cueing task, and the visual search task. We found a small change in AB in the VPT, but this effect did not transfer to the exogenous cueing task or the visual search task. Our study shows that ABM does not necessarily lead to generalised effects on AB. This finding can be explained by the poor psychometric properties of the AB measures.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-03-2021
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 10-03-2021
Abstract: lcohol use and anxiety disorders commonly co-occur, resulting in a more severe clinical presentation and poorer response to single-disorder treatments. Research has shown that Approach Bias Modification (ApBM) and Interpretation Bias Modification (IBM) cognitive re-training interventions can be efficacious adjunctive treatments that improve outcomes for alcohol use and social anxiety symptoms, respectively. However, the acceptability, feasibility and clinical utility of combining ApBM and IBM programs to optimise standard treatments among comorbid s les is unknown. It is also unclear as to whether integrating ApBM and IBM within each training session, or alternating them between each session, is more acceptable and efficacious. his paper describes the study protocol for a randomized controlled pilot trial investigating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of the ‘Re-Train Your Brain’ intervention – an adjunct web-based ApBM+IBM program – among a clinical s le of emerging adults with hazardous alcohol use and social anxiety. he study involves a 3-arm randomized controlled pilot trial in which treatment-seeking emerging adults (18-30 years) with co-occurring hazardous alcohol use and social anxiety disorder symptoms will be in idually randomized to receive: (1) the Re-Train Your Brain ‘integrated’ program, delivered with 10 bi-weekly sessions focusing on both social anxiety and alcohol each week (50:50 ratio), plus treatment as usual (TAU i.e., the model of care provided in accordance with standard practice at their service n=30) (2) the Re-Train Your Brain ‘alternating’ program, delivered with 10 bi-weekly sessions focusing on social anxiety one week and alcohol the next week in an alternating pattern, plus TAU (n=30) or (3) TAU only (n=30). Primary outcomes include feasibility (uptake, follow-up rates, treatment adherence, attrition, adverse events) and acceptability (system usability, client satisfaction, user experience, training format preference). Secondary efficacy outcomes include changes in alcohol approach and interpretation biases, social anxiety symptoms, and alcohol use (e.g., average drinks per day, binge-drinking, alcohol use motives, severity of alcohol dependence, alcohol craving). The primary endpoint will be post-treatment (6 weeks post-baseline), with a secondary endpoint at 3 months post-baseline. Descriptive statistics will be conducted for primary outcomes, while intention-to-treat multi-level mixed effects analysis for repeated measures will be performed for secondary outcomes. he study is funded from 2019―2023 by Australian Rotary Health. Recruitment is expected to be complete by mid―late 2022, with follow-ups completed by early 2023. he study will be the first to evaluate whether an ApBM+IBM program is acceptable to treatment-seeking emerging adults and whether it is feasible to deliver it online, in settings where it will ultimately be used (e.g., at home). The findings will broaden our understanding of the types of programs that emerging adults will engage with, and whether there is preliminary evidence of it being an efficacious treatment option for this comorbidity. ustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12620001273976
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 03-07-2023
Abstract: nternet-based cognitive behavioral interventions (iCBT) are efficacious treatments of depression and anxiety. Yet, it is unknown whether adding human guidance is feasible and beneficial within a large educational setting. o potentially demonstrate: (1) the superiority of two variants of a transdiagnostic iCBT program (human-guided and computer-guided iCBT) over care as usual (CAU) in a large s le of university students, and (2) the superiority of human-guided iCBT over computer-guided iCBT. articipants were students with elevated levels of anxiety and/or depression from a large university in the Netherlands and were randomized to one of three conditions: (1) human-guided (HG) iCBT, (2) computer-guided (CG) iCBT, and (3) CAU. The primary outcome measures were depression (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9) and anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD-7). Secondary outcomes included substance-related problems (AUDIT-C and DAST-10). Linear mixed models were used to estimate effects of time, treatment group, and their interactions (slopes). The primary research question was whether the three conditions differed in improvement over three time points (baseline, mid-treatment, posttreatment) in terms of depression and anxiety symptoms. Results were analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle using multiple imputation. Patients were followed exploratively from baseline, to 6 and 12 months. We randomized 801 participants. oth in short-term and long-term analyses, the slopes for the three conditions did not differ significantly in terms of depression and anxiety, although both online interventions were marginally more efficacious than CAU over 6 months (P’s between .023 and .034). All groups showed significant improvement over time (P’s .001). For the secondary outcomes, only significant improvements over time (across, not between groups) were found for drug use. Significant differences were found in terms of adherence, indicating that participants in the HG condition did more sessions than in the CG condition (P = .002). he transdiagnostic iCBT program offers a practical, feasible and efficacious alternative to usual care to tackle mental health problems in a large university setting. There is no indication that human guidance should be preferred over technological guidance. The potential preference of human support also depends on scale of implementation and cost-effectiveness, which need to be addressed in future trials. L7328/NTR7544 (ICTRP)
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 25-10-2023
DOI: 10.2196/46008
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 25-01-2023
Abstract: nterpretation Bias Modification (IBM) and Approach Bias Modification (ApBM) cognitive re-training interventions can be efficacious adjunctive treatments for improving social anxiety or alcohol use problems. However, previous trials have not examined the combination of these interventions among a young, comorbid s le. his study describes the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a web-based IBM+ApBM program for young adults with social anxiety and hazardous alcohol use (‘Re-Train Your Brain’), when delivered in conjunction with treatment as usual (TAU). he study involved a 3-arm randomized controlled pilot trial in which treatment-seeking young adults (18-30 years) with co-occurring social anxiety and hazardous alcohol use were in idually randomized to receive: (i) the ‘integrated’ Re-Train Your Brain program, where each session included both IBM and ApBM (50:50 ratio), plus TAU n=35) (ii) the ‘alternating’ Re-Train Your Brain program, where each session focused on IBM or ApBM in an alternating pattern, plus TAU (n=32) or (iii) TAU only (n=33). Primary outcomes included feasibility (consent, follow-up rates, withdrawals, treatment adherence, adverse events) and acceptability (system usability, client satisfaction, training format preference). Secondary efficacy outcomes included changes in cognitive biases (interpretation, alcohol approach, and comorbid social anxiety and alcohol interpretation biases), social anxiety symptoms, and alcohol use (e.g., average drinks per day, hazardous drinking, severity of alcohol dependence, alcohol craving). Assessments were conducted at baseline, post-intervention (6-weeks post-baseline), and 12-weeks post-baseline. Descriptive statistics and linear and logistic regressions were conducted for primary outcomes, while intention-to-treat multi-level mixed effects analysis for repeated measures were performed for secondary outcomes, and reported with their corresponding effect sizes. oth Re-Train Your Brain program formats were feasible and acceptable to young adults. When coupled with TAU, both integrated and alternating programs resulted in greater self-reported improvements than TAU only on anxiety interpretation biases (at 6-week follow-up d=0.80 and d=0.89) and comorbid interpretation biases (at 12-week follow-up d=1.53 and d=1.67). Additionally, the alternating group reported large improvements over control on generalised social anxiety symptoms (at 12-week follow-up d=0.83) and alcohol cravings (at 6-week follow-up d=0.81). There were null effects on all other variables, and no differences between the two intervention groups on efficacy outcomes. hould these findings be replicated in a larger randomized controlled trial, Re-Train Your Brain has the potential to be a scalable, low cost, and non-labour-intensive adjunct intervention for targeting interpretation and comorbidity biases, as well as generalised anxiety and alcohol-related outcomes in the real world. he study was prospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR ACTRN12620001273976) and the protocol was published in JMIR: Research Protocols [Prior et al., 2021. JMIR Research Protocols, 10(7):e28667. doi: 10.2196/28667]. R2-10.2196/28667
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.115.176123
Abstract: If meta-analysis is to provide valuable answers, then it is critical to ensure clarity about the questions being asked. Here, we distinguish two important questions concerning cognitive bias modification research that are not differentiated in the meta-analysis recently published by Cristea et al (2015) in this journal: (1) do the varying procedures that investigators have employed with the intention of modifying cognitive bias, on average, significantly impact emotional vulnerability? and (2) does the process of successfully modifying cognitive bias, on average, significantly impact emotional vulnerability? We reanalyse the data from Cristea et al to address this latter question. Our new analyses demonstrate that successfully modifying cognitive bias does significantly alter emotional vulnerability. We revisit Cristea et al 's conclusions in light of these findings.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.JBTEP.2017.02.003
Abstract: Attention bias modification (ABM) procedures have shown promise as a therapeutic intervention, however current ABM procedures have proven inconsistent in their ability to reliably achieve the requisite change in attentional bias needed to produce emotional benefits. This highlights the need to better understand the precise task conditions that facilitate the intended change in attention bias in order to realise the therapeutic potential of ABM procedures. Based on the observation that change in attentional bias occurs largely outside conscious awareness, the aim of the current study was to determine if an ABM procedure delivered under conditions likely to preclude explicit awareness of the experimental contingency, via the addition of a working memory load, would contribute to greater change in attentional bias. Bias change was assessed among 122 participants in response to one of four ABM tasks given by the two experimental factors of ABM training procedure delivered either with or without working memory load, and training direction of either attend-negative or avoid-negative. Findings revealed that avoid-negative ABM procedure under working memory load resulted in significantly greater reductions in attentional bias compared to the equivalent no-load condition. The current findings will require replication with clinical s les to determine the utility of the current task for achieving emotional benefits. These present findings are consistent with the position that the addition of a working memory load may facilitate change in attentional bias in response to an ABM training procedure.
Location: Netherlands
Location: Netherlands
No related grants have been discovered for Elske Salemink.