Increasing Psychological Resilience in Combat Soldiers Applying Advanced Eye-Tracking-Based Attention Bias Modification
PTSD, Depression, Anxiety Disorders
About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for PTSD focused on measuring Attention Bias Modification, Eye-tracking, Randomized Control Trial
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Each soldier from the allocated cohort who gives written consent will be able to participate in the study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Hebrew proficiency is insufficient to complete the study questionnaires.
Sites / Locations
- Tel Aviv University
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm 3
Experimental
Active Comparator
Placebo Comparator
Gaze-Contingent Feedback Training (toward threat)
RT-Based Attention Bias Modification (toward threat)
Neutral Control
In the task, 30 different matrices, each consisting of 16 faces, will be presented. Each matrix includes 8 angry faces and 8 neutral, 8 women and 8 men, and the locations are counterbalanced between matrices. The participants are asked to view the matrices in any way they choose, and the eye-tracking camera records their viewing location relative to the stimuli presented on the screen. At the beginning of each training session, the soldier will choose to which music he would like to listen during the 12-minute session from a diverse list of music. After calibrating the eye-tracker, the participant will be instructed to view matrices of faces as he chooses, as described above in the assessment task. The music chosen by the participant will play only when he is looking at threatening faces and it will stop when he looks at neutral faces. Thus, a change in viewing patterns is expected by implementing operant conditioning principles.
A dot-probe task of 160 trials. Trials begins with a fixation cross (+), on which the participant is asked to focus (500ms). Then two face stimuli (one angry one neutral) are presented above and below the fixation cross (500ms). After the stimuli disappear, a target probe (right- or left-pointing arrowhead) appears in place of one of the face stimuli. The participant is asked to indicate which target probe was presented using a predetermined key. The target probe will remain on the screen until response, after which a new trial will begin. Participants are instructed to identify the probe type as quickly and accurately as possible. In the training task, all of the target probes will appear in the threat location (angry face). Thus, over multiple trials, learning is expected to occurs such that the threatening face predicts the location of the target probe, thereby achieving the desired change in attention pattern.
This condition is also based on the dot-probe task (see Active Comparator) with a fundamental difference. In this task, only neutral faces will be displayed, and therefore, while participants are exposed to the same task parameters, there will be no attention training and there will be no exposure to threat stimuli.