Adapting Minds: Exploring Cognition to Threatened Stimuli in the Post-COVID-19 Landscape Comparing Old and New Concerns About Pandemic

Overview

Journal Brain Sci

Publisher MDPI

Date 2024 Jul 27

PMID 39061451

Authors

Giuseppe Forte

Francesca Favieri

Ilaria Corbo

Giovanna Troisi

Giulia Marselli

Barbara Blasutto

Renato Ponce

Enrico Di Pace

Viviana Langher

Renata Tambelli

Maria Casagrande

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The global population has been significantly affected by the pandemic in terms of physical and mental health. According to transactional theory, individuals have undergone an adaptation process influenced by cognitive control abilities. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stimuli may interfere with top-down attentional processes, thereby hindering adaptation. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19-related stimuli on attentional processing and to determine whether psychological factors could modulate these effects. A sample of 96 healthy undergraduate students participated in an emotional Stroop task in which they were presented with a series of stimuli, including both neutral and negative COVID-19-related as well as non-COVID-19 stimuli. COVID-19-related PTSD, as an index of distress (PTSS), and trait anxiety were evaluated. Results showed that participants were more accurate in identifying COVID-19-related stimuli compared to non-COVID-19 stimuli. Being female and having higher retrospective PTSS scores related to COVID-19 were predictive of faster reaction times for both neutral and negative COVID-19-related stimuli. This heightened attentional bias toward COVID-19-related stimuli suggests that individuals may be more sensitive to stimuli associated with the pandemic. The results suggest that the association between COVID-19 stimuli and attentional biases extends beyond emotional valence, being retrospectively influenced by mental health, suggesting potential pathways to future mental health challenges.

Citing Articles

Effects of bottom-up and top-down attentional processes on change blindness for COVID-related stimuli: influence of heart rate variability.

Favieri F, Troisi G, Forte G, Corbo I, Marselli G, Blasutto B Front Neurosci. 2024; 18:1458627.

PMID: 39649660 PMC: 11621853. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1458627.

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