An Experimental Study:the Influence Of Embodied Emotional Priming On The Attentional Bias Of College Students With Depression Tendency

The mental health issue of college students,as the backbone of the nation shaping its future,has long been a harsh spotlight shined by society.Studies have shown that college students are susceptible to depression,manifested by that the detection rate of depression among college students is generally higher than that of the general population.Cognitive factors are one of the most essential factors in affecting how depression arises,persists and develops,especially in negative attention bias.This study probed into the characteristics of the attention bias and the influence of embodied emotional priming on the attentional bias of college students with depression tendency.Participants were selected by the Self-Depression Scale(SDS)and Symptom Checklist-90-R(SCL-90).And using pleasant,sad,and neutral emotional pictures as experimental materials.The experiments were performed using the dot-probe paradigm and the priming of embodied emotion paradigm.Study 1 explored the characteristics of the attention bias of college students with depression tendency by employing dot-probe experiments.It was found that,compared with the normal group,college students with depression tendency had more attention bias to sad faces,which reflected that their reaction time was longer regarding the sad faces and they had difficulty in attention disengagement.On the basis of Study 1,Study 2 examined the influence of embodied emotion on the attention bias of college students with depression tendency.Experiment 1 unfolded the effects of facial expression manipulation(biting chopsticks with teeth/lips)on the attention bias of college students with depression tendency.The results indicated that the participants in the “biting chopsticks with teeth” group had shorter reaction time;Experiment 2 examined how the body posture manipulation(expanded/curled posture)affects the attention bias of college students with depression tendency.As a result,it was discovered that the participants had shorter reaction time in the extended posture.Hence,this study draws the following three conclusions:Conclusion 1: College students with depression tendency had more attention bias to negativetimuli.The reaction time to sad faces of college students with depression tendency was significantly longer than that of normal college students.Conclusion 2: The facial expression manipulation’s priming of embodied emotion can affect the emotional experience of college students with depression tendency to change their attention bias.Compared those without emotion priming,under the active emotion priming(biting chopsticks with teeth),the reaction time of college students with depression tendency was significantly shorter;under the negative priming(biting chopsticks with lips),the reaction time of college students with depression tendency was significantly longer.Conclusion 3: The body posture manipulation’s priming of embodied emotion can affect the emotional experience of college students with depression tendency to change their attention bias.Compared those without emotion priming,under the active emotion priming of the expanded posture,the reaction time of college students with depression tendency was to be significantly shorter;under the negative priming of the curled posture,the reaction time of college students with depression tendency was significantly longer.In summary,the priming of embodied emotion can alleviate the negative emotional experience of college students with depression tendency and reduce the attention bias of negative stimuli,thereby breaking the vicious circle between negative emotional experience and pessimistic cognition.This study explores the attention bias of individuals with depression from a new perspective of embodied emotion.Meanwhile,providing experimental evidence for adjusting the attention bias of individuals with depression as well as experimental support for the future behavioral intervention research of college students with depression.