Attention Bias Patterns Toward Bodily Signals in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Individuals With High-Anxiety, and a Healthy Control Group; [یاهوگلایریگوسهجوتتبسنهبههناشناییندبردیالتبمانهبمردنسۀدوریرحتکپذ،ری دارفارایسببرطضموهورگملاس] Publisher



Akbari R ; Dehghani Arani F ; Honar M ; Shahmansouri N ; Rezayat E
Source: Journal of Applied Psychological Research Published:2026

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to compare and investigate attentional bias toward physiological symptoms in healthy individuals, high-anxiety individuals, and patients with irritable bowel syndrome. In 2024, a convenient sample of 15 patients with IBS who visited clinics, 15 high-anxiety individuals, and 15 healthy individuals who resided in Tehran was selected. The three groups were matched for sex, age, and education level. Participants were evaluated using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Irritable Bowel Syndrome Severity Scale (IBS-SSS), and a computerized Dot-Probe task with a stimulus presentation duration of 500 milliseconds. SPSS 27 software was employed to analyze the results using mixed analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The results revealed that patients with IBS had a substantial attentional avoidance of bloating-related pictorial stimuli in comparison to the healthy group (p=0.013). However, this difference was not observed for pain-related stimuli. Additionally, patients with IBS generally exhibited a slower overall reaction time than the healthy group (p=0.024). The results suggest that attentional bias in irritable bowel syndrome is characterized by the selective avoidance of specific bodily stimuli. Nevertheless, anxiety could perpetuate this avoidance, and it was not the sole exponent of the cognitive pattern of IBS. An independent role for the gut-brain axis in the cognitive-emotional processing of IBS is suggested by these results. © Author(s) retain the copyright.