Ongoing monitoring of mindwandering in avoidant grief through cortico-basal-ganglia interactions.

ABSTRACT: An avoidant grief style is marked by repeated and often unsuccessful attempts to prevent thinking about loss. Prior work shows avoidant grief involves monitoring the external environment in order to avoid reminders of the loss. Here we sought to determine whether avoidant grievers also monitor the internal environment in attempts to minimize conscious awareness of loss-related thoughts. Individuals bereaved of a first-degree relative, spouse or partner within the last 14 months participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study (N = 29). We first applied machine learning to train neural patterns for attentional control and representation of the deceased (N = 23). The attentional pattern was trained using fMRI data from a modified Stroop task assessing selective attention

SUBMITTER: Schneck N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6374603 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature