Dotprobe task
The Dotprobe task (MacLeod, Mathews & Tata, 1986) is a method of experimental, cognitive basic research in psychology. Dotprobe tasks are used to measure selective attention to certain stimuli in the environment.
Theoretical background
Dotprobe tasks have their origins in cognitive psychology . It is assumed here that mental disorders are triggered by or are associated with cognitive distortions in information processing . It is believed that these distortions affect perception , attention, and memory. According to Aaron T. Beck's cognitive behavioral therapy , for example, depression is one-sidedly distorted by dysfunctional schemes that are easily accessible to information processing . A similar assumption is made for anxiety disorders: phobic stimuli are easily accessible to information processing and can distort information processing processes on one side.
Because of the difficulties in measuring implicit cognitive processes, one usually looks for indicators of cognitive biases in information processing. One of these indicators should be attention to stimuli in the environment. For example, in order to be able to effectively show avoidance behavior for certain stimuli, these should be recognized more quickly in the environment than other, irrelevant stimuli. It is assumed that chronically activated or easily activated information in the memory leads to a one-sided lowering of the perception threshold. This would manifest itself in a selective attention to certain stimuli, which are then recognized more quickly than others.
The procedure
Dotprobe tasks are carried out on the computer. First, a fixation cross is presented to the people in the middle of the screen to draw their attention to the center of the screen. Then two stimuli such as words or images are presented simultaneously. One stimulus corresponds to a certain target concept, the other stimulus is neutral. Then one of the two stimuli is replaced by a point. The person's task is to react to the position of the point (for example by pressing a button). People react faster when the point replaces the stimulus to which attention has already been drawn. Looking at the above example, one would assume that arachnophobes would react faster if the item replaced "spider" than if the item replaced "table". This difference would not be expected in non-arachnophobics.
Fields of application
Dotprobe tasks are used in basic research in psychology. In clinical psychology , the task is often used to research the causes of emotional disorders. Further fields of application result from the choice of stimuli. For example, it could be shown that hungry people showed selective attention to food, whereas satiated people did not show this distortion of attention.
literature
- MacLeod, C., Mathews, A., & Tata, P. (1986). Attentional bias in emotional disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95 , 15-20.
- Schmukle, SC (2005). Unreliability of the dot probe task. European Journal of Personality, 19 , 595-605.