Combining Antidepressants and Attention Bias Modification in Depression

The ABM task is based on a computerized visual Dot-probe task. In the dot-probe task paired stimuli of negative (angry and fearful), positive (happy) or neutral faces are presented, followed by one or two probes (dots) appearing in the spatial location of one of the stimuli. Participants are then required to press one of two buttons as quickly as possible to indicate the number of dots in the probe. In the ABM condition, probes are in the same locus as the more positive/less negative stimuli in 87% of the trials, as opposed to 13% with probes in the same locus as more negative/less positive stimuli. Thus, when completing the ABM, participants should learn to deploy their attention toward the relatively more positive stimuli, and in this way develop a more positive AB.