UC San Diego

Rationale : Emotional attention is the attentional processing of emotionally-laden information. Despite the high prevalence of HIV infection among people with bipolar disorder (BD), relatively little is known about the neuropsychological and emotional functioning of persons with both conditions. The present dissertation project aimed to assess emotional attention among persons with HIV and BD. Design : Thirty-nine HIV+/BD+, 27 HIV+/BD-, 29 HIV -/BD+, and 25 HIV-/BD- were administered the AGNT. Outcome variables were correct responses (CR) and Reaction time (RT). It was hypothesized that the effect of BD on AGNT performance would be worse for HIV+ individuals than for HIV- individuals. It was also hypothesized that individuals in a dysregulated mood state would demonstrate greater mood congruent attentional bias. Lastly, It was hypothesized that performance on the AGNT will be an independent predictor of engagement in risk behaviors. Results : An ANOVA yielded significant interactions between HIV and BD for CR on the Go Happy/No-Go Sad condition, the Combined Go Happy condition, and the Combined Emotional condition. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the HIV+/BD- and the HIV-/BD+ groups performed significantly worse on the abovementioned variables than HIV-/BD- group. No significant interactions or main effects were found for RT. A mixed model ANOVA using mood state as the between subject factor and AGNT condition as the within subject factor, yielded no significant interactions but a main effect of AGNT condition such that participants with BD were more accurate at responding to sad words and faster at responding to the perceptual features of the words. A regression analysis revealed that performance on the AGNT was not a significant independent predictor of higher engagement in HIV transmission risk behaviors. Discussion : Both HIV infection and BD independently contribute to the processing of emotional words. The less accurate processing of emotionally-laden information does not appear to be the result difficulties in processing the emotional meaning of the words. No mood congruent biases were found, but individuals with BD are more accurate at processing negative words. It appears that increased accuracy difficulties processing positive words are associated with greater engagement in HIV- transmission sexual behaviors