COVID-19 Related Loss is Reliably Associated with Attentional Capture and Facilitation by COVID Related Stimuli: Evidence from the Emotional Stroop Dilution Task

Abstract Background The losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread impacts on mental health. Although affective attentional processes are implicated in mental health concerns broadly, there has been limited research on the influence of COVID-19 related loss on affective attentional processes. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a COVID-19 related loss on affective attentional processes. Methods We recruited participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk in an initial study ( Study 1 : n = 136) and pre-registered replication ( Study 2 : n = 206). To measure affective attentional processes, participants completed the Emotional Stroop Dilution Task with word stimuli that were either neutral, generally trauma-related, or specific to COVID-19. To quantify affective attentional processes, novel response-based computation with superior psychometric properties and traditional attention bias computation approaches were used. Results Using response-based measures COVID-19 related loss was associated with greater attention capture and facilitation in response to COVID-19 specific words in Study 1. In Study 2 (pre-registered replication), we again found COVID-19 related loss was associated with high conflict attention capture and facilitation for COVID-19 related stimuli only. No associations between the two studies were replicated with the traditional approach. Conclusions Taken together, findings from these studies suggest that experiencing a COVID-19 related loss is associated with dysregulation of affective attentional processes, specific to COVID-related stimuli. Future research should examine whether dysregulated affective attentional processes can be addressed (e.g., with attention bias modification) which may be helpful for addressing mental health concerns in the wake of COVID-19 related loss.