'Restricted gating': An attention mechanism for dysregulation in borderline personality disorder

Dysregulation in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been associated with exaggerated processing of emotional cues, but little work has focused on the potential role of attention as a mechanism. A general self-regulatory model is described in which self-regulation is defined as context-appropriate balanced attention (CABA; MacCoon, Wallace, & Newman, 2004). Emotions, cognitions, and behaviors are represented in the brain as networks of coactivated neurons. Responses are determined by the most dominant network but can be moderated by non-dominant networks. Based on the CABA model, it is proposed that individuals with BPD hyper-focus on dominant networks and, therefore, do not sufficiently process non-dominant networks compared to controls. Furthermore, we hypothesize three necessary and sufficient variables that enable individuals to process non-dominant networks: (a) the target network is clearly specified, (b) necessary capacity exists to increase the activation of the network, and (c) focus is consistent across time.; The model is tested in five experiments. In Experiment 1, it was predicted and found that individuals with BPD would show less interference than controls on a color-word Stroop (1935) task. Experiment 2 replicated the results from Experiment I and demonstrated that load moderates hyper-focus in BPD. Using a picture-word Stroop task in Experiment 3, it was predicted and found that individuals with BPD would show less interference than controls when asked to ignore non-dominant cues but more interference than controls when asked to ignore dominant cues. Using a variant of the same task in Experiment 4, it was predicted and found that individuals with BPD would be able to focus on non-dominant cues when given a clear focus, sufficient capacity, and consistent focus across time. Our predictions for an n-back task in Experiment 5 were based on the faulty assumption that prisoners would perform similarly to undergraduates. Based on a speculative re-evaluation of task assumptions, it is argued that results are consistent with the hypothesis that individuals with BPD are more likely than controls to express a dominant response under conditions of high cognitive load. Finally, it was found that restricted gating interacted with antisocial lifestyle or aggression to predict crime.