Suicide ideation severity and oculomotor avoidance of suicide-related stimuli

Introduction: Identifying variables linked to distinct suicide outcomes has long been among suicidology’s research priorities. Cognitive theories of suicide identify attentional processes that may vary for individuals at greater suicide risk. However, an overreliance on self-report and objective measures that are poor estimates of attention have led to mixed findings. Method: The current study utilizes eye-tracking with a novel passive viewing task to explore differences in viewing patterns for suicide- and neutral-image pairings, as a function of suicide outcomes. Young adults (N = 124, 83.9% women) were oversampled for recent suicidal thoughts and behaviours and completed a series of self-report questionnaires specific to suicide history, as well as relevant covariates prior to completing the eye-tracking task. Results: Multi-level modeling revealed that individuals with low to moderate ratings of past year ideation displayed a significant decline in the amount of time spent viewing suicide images as compared to neutral images over the course of the task (oculomotor avoidance). However, this same pattern was not seen among individuals with high suicide ideation, and specifically resolved plans and preparation. Furthermore, no differences were found between people with and without a suicide attempt history. Conclusion: These results suggest a suicide-specific disengagement bias among individuals high in suicide ideation, and more specifically resolved plans and preparation.