Figure 1

Task procedure and timeline. An online screening took place around two weeks before actual participation. Suitable participants were then invited for a lab session. After providing informed consent, participants were first prepared for the repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment and resting motor threshold (MT) was determined (not displayed here). Participants were assigned to one of 4 groups where they would either receive (1) an active rTMS with sham attentional bias modification (ABM) treatment, (2) a sham rTMS with active ABM treatment, (3) a combination of active rTMS and active ABM treatment, or (4) a sham rTMS and sham ABM treatment. Participants filled in several baseline questionnaires (10 minutes). Negative mood was induced through short movie clips (20 minutes). Then, the pre-assessment of the attentional control (AC - pre) task was performed (10 minutes) as well as of the attentional bias (AB- pre) task (5 minutes). Between the rTMS and ABM treatments, a second (mid-)attentional bias assessment (AB – mid) was performed (5 minutes), and a third (post-)assessment (AB – post) immediately after both treatments (5 minutes). Next, the post-assessment of the attentional control (AC – post) task (5 minutes) followed by a stress task (5 minutes) were performed. Lastly, a positive mood induction movie (5 minutes) was presented. Throughout the testing session, mood state was assessed by Likert scales (see grey triangles), at baseline (T1), after the negative mood induction (T2), before the pre-assessment of attentional bias (T3), after the post- attentional bias assessment (T4), after the attentional control post-assessment (T5), after a stress-inducing task (T6) and after the final positive mood induction (T7). Three days as well as three weeks after the laboratory session, follow-up measurements (BDI-II, STAI-T, PANAS) were administered. Note: ms = milliseconds, AC = attentional control, AB = attentional bias, pos. = positive, neg. = negative, TMS = transcranial magnetic stimulation, ABM = attentional bias modification. BDI-II = Becks depression inventory; STAI-T = Spielberger trait anxiety inventory; PA = positive affect from the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS); NA = negative affect from the PANAS.