Attentional bias modification in male college smokers: the changes of facilitated attention, difficulty in disengagement and the transfer effects of training

Attentional bias (AB) to smoking-related cues is considered an important risk factor for the development and maintenance of smoking. Attentional bias modification (ABM) has been used to modify the AB of smokers to smoking-related cues. Still, the training effects are extensively controversial. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of ABM that can affect AB and its components in smokers, and whether the training effects could transfer to different measures of AB. Forty-six male college smokers were allocated to either ABM training group using a modified visual probe task (n = 24), or corresponding placebo training (PT) group (n = 22). Training was computer-based and comprised three sessions in one week. Smoking craving and nicotine dependence were assessed using two self-report questionnaires, and the AB and its components were assessed using visual probe task with different stimulus durations from pre- to post-training. The transfer effects of visual-probe ABM on other AB measures were examined by assessing AB using the cue-target task and the pictorial Stroop task both before and after ABM training. Results showed that ABM training led to significantly decrease in AB to smoking-related cues as compared with the PT condition. The facilitated attention significantly reduced at 200 ms, whereas the difficulty in disengagement significantly decreased at 500 ms after ABM training. However, ABM had no effects on smoking craving and nicotine dependence. The training effects of visual-probe ABM could transfer to the cue-target task, but failed to generalize to the pictorial Stroop task.