Ocular imaging of attentional bias among college students: automatic and controlled processing of alcohol-related scenes

Abstract

Objective: Heavy episodic drinking in college is an issue of major concern in our society. In the college setting, where alcohol misuse is prevalent, alcohol-related perceptions and automatic attentional biases may be important determinants in students' decisions to engage in risking drinking behaviors. The current study examined college students' attention to alcohol-related beverages in real time using ocular-imaging techniques. The authors hypothesized that alcohol-consumption characteristics such as quantity-frequency of alcohol consumption would predict ocular-imaging indices of attentional bias to alcohol-related images.

Method: Twenty-six college students successfully completed questionnaires assessing basic demographics and alcohol-consumption characteristics, followed by an eye-tracking task in which they viewed pictorial stimuli consisting of photographs of alcohol-related scenes, household objects, or a combination of these items.

Results: Quantity-frequency index (QFI) of alcohol consumption was positively related to the percentage of initial ocular fixations on the alcohol-related items (r = .62, p = .001), whereas QFI negatively predicted the percentage of initial ocular fixations on the control images (r = -.60, p = .002). In addition, QFI positively predicted participants' dwell time on alcohol-related images (r = .57, p = .005), and negatively predicted dwell time on control images (r = -.41, p = .05). Age at first drink and days since last alcohol consumption were not related to eye-tracking metrics.

Conclusions: Ocular-imaging methods are a valuable tool for use in the study of attentional bias to alcohol-related images in college drinkers. Further research is needed to determine the potential application of these methods to the prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse on college campuses.