Time course of attentional bias for health-related information in individuals with health anxiety

Abstract

This study examined whether particular coping strategies influence attentional bias in individuals with health anxiety. A total of 84 participants were divided into four groups on the basis of their health-anxiety level (high/low) and coping strategy (monitor/blunter). The participants were shown screens displaying health-related pictures paired with non-health-related pictures. As a result, the high health-anxiety group was more attentive to health stimuli than the low health-anxiety group, regardless of the coping strategy. When maintaining attention, the high health-anxiety blunter shifted attention away from health stimuli, whereas the high health-anxiety monitor shifted attention toward the stimuli. These results indicated differences in how individuals manage attention processing according to their coping strategy.