No Evidence for Unconscious Attentional Bias in People With Clinically Significant Symptoms of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: A Study Using the Emerging Electroencephalographic Paradigm of Fast Periodic Visual Stimulation.

BACKGROUND

Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) present a significant burden on global healthcare systems, yet their underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests a role for unconscious psychological processes, particularly attention. This study seeks to detect unconscious attention patterns in people meeting DGBI diagnostic criteria using electroencephalographic (EEG) fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS), a novel passive method offering high temporal resolution.

METHODS

Alongside 20 healthy controls, 22 female psychology students meeting Rome IV criteria for irritable bowel syndrome or functional dyspepsia completed an FPVS task involving symptom-related (oddball), negative (oddball), and neutral (base) nouns, as well as a control condition in which faces were oddballs among reshuffled pixels.

KEY

RESULTS

While we detected unconscious discrimination in the control condition, no significant difference in unconscious attention to symptom-related or negative nouns relative to neutral nouns was observed between groups.

CONCLUSIONS AND INFERENCES: In suggesting no basis for unconscious attentional bias in DGBIs, these findings echo research measuring unconscious attention using event-related potentials, but should be replicated using more highly valenced emotional words.