👀Attentional Bias
Creation and development process of Attentional Bias Ontology
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The definitions created by ChatGPT
Give me a definition of "Attentional bias".
"Attentional bias" refers to the tendency of our perception to be affected by our recurring thoughts at the expense of other stimuli. Essentially, it's when a person's focus is more readily drawn to certain types of information or stimuli over others, depending on what is currently occupying their mind. This can manifest in various contexts, such as someone who has a fear of spiders being more likely to notice spiders or spider-like objects in their environment compared to someone without such a fear.
Attentional bias can play a significant role in emotional disorders, including anxiety and depression, where sufferers may disproportionately focus on negative stimuli or threats. This bias can influence not only what we pay attention to but also how we interpret and remember information. It is a crucial concept in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, offering insight into how our thoughts and feelings can shape our perception of the world around us.
Give me 10 example scenarios of attentional bias
Social Anxiety: A person with social anxiety might enter a room and immediately notice only the people who seem to be whispering to each other or looking in their direction, interpreting these cues as negative judgment, while overlooking others who are smiling or appear welcoming.
Phobias: Someone with a phobia of dogs might walk down a street and instantly spot dogs far away or behind fences, even if there are other animals or more relevant things to pay attention to, like oncoming traffic.
Depression: An individual suffering from depression may disproportionately notice and remember negative events or feedback, such as a small critique at work, while ignoring positive feedback or accomplishments.
Addiction: A person struggling with alcohol addiction might more readily notice bars, advertisements for alcoholic beverages, or people drinking alcohol in social settings, overlooking other aspects of the environment.
Eating Disorders: Someone with an eating disorder might focus excessively on food, calories, or people’s body shapes and sizes, ignoring other facets of social interactions or daily life.
Gambling Addiction: A gambler might be overly attentive to cues related to gambling, such as casino ads, discussions about betting, or even the sight of playing cards or dice, while ignoring potential negative consequences.
Chronic Pain: A person with chronic pain might focus more on information or stimuli related to pain or discomfort, such as slight changes in bodily sensations or environments that could potentially cause discomfort, rather than focusing on pain-free moments or aspects of their environment that could offer relief or distraction.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Individuals with PTSD may have their attention involuntarily drawn to stimuli that remind them of their trauma, such as loud noises for a veteran or the sight of a car for someone who experienced a car accident, even when these stimuli are not threatening.
Grief: Someone grieving the loss of a loved one might disproportionately notice things that remind them of the person they've lost, such as certain songs, places, or even other people who resemble their loved one, overlooking other aspects of their environment.
Financial Stress: A person experiencing financial stress might selectively focus on signs of their financial struggle, such as bills, advertisements for loans, or even overhearing conversations about money, while not noticing opportunities or resources that could help improve their situation.
These scenarios highlight how attentional biases can influence individuals' perception and interaction with the world, often in ways that reinforce their current concerns, fears, or desires.
Consider the scenario "Social Anxiety" and give me a small user story from it.
User Story: The Party
Emma's Challenge:
Emma has always felt like an outsider at social gatherings. Her social anxiety often convinces her that she's the subject of quiet judgments and whispered criticisms among groups of people she doesn't know well. Invited to a coworker's birthday party, Emma's apprehension grows as the event draws near. She imagines walking into the room only to find every conversation subtly ceasing, every pair of eyes turning her way, evaluating, judging.
The Party:
On the day of the party, Emma takes a deep breath and steps inside. Almost immediately, she notices a small group in the corner, whispering to each other and glancing her way. Her heart races, and her mind fixates on this group, interpreting their whispers as negative commentary about her. In this crowded room filled with laughter, music, and chatter, Emma's attention is tunnel-visioned on these perceived threats, overshadowing the welcoming smiles and greetings from some of her colleagues.
Emma's Reaction:
Feeling overwhelmed, Emma considers turning around and leaving, but then she remembers a technique from her recent therapy sessions: challenging her attentional bias by actively scanning for neutral or positive social cues. With significant effort, she begins to notice other details: a coworker waving her over with a smile, a group laughing about a harmless joke, a friend making room for her on the couch.
Gradually, Emma engages in a conversation with a familiar face from work, allowing herself to momentarily let go of the negative bias. Though the whispers in the corner occasionally tug at her attention, she finds herself more involved in the current discussion, laughing genuinely for the first time that evening.
Reflection:
Later, reflecting on the night, Emma recognizes the power of her attentional bias in shaping her social experiences. While not entirely free from the grip of her social anxiety, she feels a small victory in her ability to redirect her focus towards more positive interactions. Emma knows it's a small step on a longer journey, but it's a step forward nonetheless.
This user story captures a moment in Emma's life where she confronts her social anxiety by recognizing and challenging her attentional bias, illustrating a pathway to coping and improvement.
If you should make an ontology of the "attentional bias", what classes and properties would you create?
Classes:
AttentionalBias
Description: The psychological tendency to pay more attention to certain types of stimuli than others.
Stimulus
Description: External or internal cues that influence attention.
Subclasses:
-NegativeStimulus
-PositiveStimulus
-NeutralStimulus
CognitiveProcess
Description: Mental activities influenced by attentional biases.
Subclasses:
-Perception
-Memory
-Thought
EmotionalState
Description: Emotional conditions influencing or influenced by attentional biases.
Subclasses:
-Anxiety
-Depression
-Joy
-Indifference
Disorder
Description: Psychological disorders associated with or exacerbated by attentional biases.
Subclasses:
-AnxietyDisorder
-MoodDisorder
-SubstanceUseDisorder
-EatingDisorder
CopingMechanism
Description: Strategies to manage or mitigate attentional biases.
Subclasses:
-CognitiveBehavioralTherapy
-Mindfulness
-ExposureTherapy
Properties (Relationships):
hasTrigger
Domain: AttentionalBias
Range: Stimulus
Description: Identifies the stimulus that triggers the attentional bias.
isInfluencedBy
Domain: AttentionalBias
Range: EmotionalState
Description: The emotional state that influences the attentional bias.
affects
Domain: AttentionalBias
Range: CognitiveProcess
Description: How the attentional bias impacts cognitive processes.
isManagedBy
Domain: AttentionalBias
Range: CopingMechanism
Description: The coping mechanisms that can manage or reduce the effects of attentional bias.
isAssociatedWith
Domain: AttentionalBias
Range: Disorder
Description: The psychological disorders that are associated with or exacerbated by attentional bias.
This list structures the ontology to effectively represent the various aspects of attentional bias, providing a framework for understanding its causes, manifestations, and mitigation strategies. This ontology can be implemented in various applications, such as cognitive therapy tool development, psychological research, and educational tools for understanding cognitive biases.
Competency Questions
What types of stimuli tend to capture individuals' attention more readily than others?
How does the selective allocation of attention influence perception, cognition, and decision making?
In what situations do individuals exhibit a heightened sensitivity or preference for specific types of information or stimuli?
What factors contribute to the development or exacerbation of attentional biases?
What cognitive mechanisms underlie the phenomenon of attentional bias, and how do they interact with other aspects of cognition?
Classes and Properties We Have Used
Our Classes:
AttentionalBias: Subclass of Bias, specifically representing attentional bias.
CognitiveBias: Represents the overarching concept of cognitive biases.
BiasedAgent: Represents an entity that experiences the bias.
Mental State: A mental status of an agent such as cognitive process or emotional state.
Our Properties:
isAffectedBy: Describes the relationship between a cognitive bias and an individual on the base of influence.
hasTrigger: Signifies the stimuli, conditions, or events that initiate or activate a specific cognitive process.
influences: An entity having and effect on the other entity
Chosen Framester Frames
This frame contains general words for Individuals, i.e. humans. The Person is conceived of as independent of other specific individuals with whom they have relationships and independent of their participation in any particular activity. They may have an Age, Descriptor, Origin, Persistent_characteristic, or Ethnicity. A man from Phoenix was shot yesterday. She gave birth to a screaming baby yesterday. I study 16-year-old female adolescents. I am dating an African-American man. She comforted the terrified child. I always thought of him as a stupid man.
Other ontologies used
crm:P69_is_associated_with: This property generalises relationships like whole-part, sequence, prerequisite or inspired by between instances of E29 Design or Procedure. Any instance of E29 Design or Procedure may be associated with other designs or procedures. The property is considered to be symmetrical unless otherwise indicated by P69.1 has type. The property is not transitive.
emotion:Stimulus : The Stimulus class representing any object shown to the user.
tb:MentalDisorder : Disorders that affect the mental states of a person.
rdfs:subClassOf : The subject is a subclass of a class.
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