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Journal article

Eye tracking and attentional bias for depressive internet memes in depression

Abstract:
Previous research highlights the potential benefits of engaging with depressive internet memes for those experiencing symptoms of depression. This study aimed to determine whether: compared to non-depressed controls, individuals experiencing depressive symptoms were quicker to orient and maintain overall attention for internet memes depicting depressive content relative to neutral memes. N = 21 individuals were grouped based on the severity of reported depression symptoms using the PhQ-9. Specifically, a score of:  ≤ 4 denoted the control group; and  ≥ 15 the depressive symptoms group. Participants viewed a series of meme pairs depicting depressive and neutral memes for periods of 4000 ms. Data for the first fixation onset and duration, total fixation count and total fixation and gaze duration of eye-movements were recorded. A significant group x meme-type interaction indicated that participants with depressive symptoms displayed significantly more fixations on depressive rather than neutral memes. These outcomes provide suggestive evidence for the notion that depressive symptoms are associated with an attentional bias towards socio-emotionally salient stimuli.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1007/s00221-020-06001-8

Authors

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Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Clinical Neurosciences
Oxford college:
Somerville College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-4012-7941


Publisher:
Springer
Journal:
Experimental Brain Research More from this journal
Volume:
239
Issue:
2
Pages:
575-581
Publication date:
2020-12-17
Acceptance date:
2020-11-28
DOI:
EISSN:
1432-1106
ISSN:
0014-4819
Pmid:
33336285


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1287443
Local pid:
pubs:1287443
Deposit date:
2022-11-15
ARK identifier:

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