title: Selective attention, memory bias, and symptom perception in idiopathic environmental intolerance and somatoform disorders.
abstract: Idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI) refers to a polysymptomatic condition, similar to somatoform disorders. Various processes seem to contribute to its yet unknown etiology. Attention and memory for somatic symptom and IEI-trigger words was compared among participants with IEI (n = 54), somatoform disorders (SFD; n = 44) and control participants (n = 54). Groups did not differ in a dot-probe task. However, in an emotional Stroop task, attention was biased in IEI and SFD groups toward symptom words but not toward IEI-trigger words. Only the IEI group rated trigger words as more unpleasant and more arousing, and participants remembered them better in a recognition task. These implicit and explicit cognitive abnormalities in IEI and SFD may maintain processes of somatosensory amplification.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany. mwitth@zi-mannheim.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Witthöft
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gerlach
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires