Measuring attentional bias in addiction: Validation of computerized indirect measures

Aims: The Emotional Stroop task is a frequently used and validated paradigm to measure attentional bias. In experimental studies on alcohol addiction, it has been used to demonstrate an attentional bias towards alcohol-related stimuli in addicts. In the task, participants have to name the print colour of different stimuli. Because this usually requires a verbal reaction, such as saying out loud the colour, the method is not well-suited for testing many participants simultaneously. Therefore, we sought to develop and validate different computerized tasks to assess attentional bias in alcohol addicts. The tasks in…