| 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. |
