The effect of chronic academic stress on attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli

Individuals typically exhibit attentional bias towards stimuli that are considered valuable. This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic academic stress on attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli. Both the stress group (preparation for a critical academic examination) and the control group performed a modified dot-probe task. Two-colour stimuli were presented simultaneously, one of which was associated with high or low monetary rewards through the value-associated training. The participants were then instructed to respond to the location of a probe dot which was presented either congruent or incongruent towards the value-associated stimuli. In the neutral condition, both stimuli were not value-associated ones. The results showed that (1) in the value-associated training task, shorter reaction times (RTs) and higher accuracies were observed for the high-value trials compared with the low-value trials in both groups, suggesting a successful association between neutral stimuli and value; (2) in the dot-probe task, the RTs were shorter for the high-/low-value congruent conditions compared with the high-/low-value incongruent conditions in both groups, suggesting an attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli; (3) compared to the control group, the stress group showed an increased disengagement (RT_incongruent - RT_neutral) effect but a similar orienting (RT_neutral - RT_congruent) effect. These results suggested that chronic academic stress may promote attentional bias towards value-associated stimuli by impairing attentional disengagement.