This meta-analysis of 172 studies (N = 2,263 anxious,N = 1,768 nonanxious) examined the boundary conditions of threat-related attentional biases in anxiety. Overall, the results show that the bias is reliably demonstrated with different experimental paradigms and under a variety of experimental conditions, but that it is only an effect size of d = 0.45. Although processes requiring conscious perception of threat contribute to the bias, a significant bias is also observed with stimuli outside awareness. The bias is of comparable magnitude across different types of anxious populations (individuals with different clinical disorders, high-anxious nonclinical individuals, anxious children and adults) and is not observed in nonanxious individuals. Empirical and clinical implications as well as future directions for research are discussed.

Background Attention Bias Modification Treatment (ABMT) is a newly-emerging promising treatment for anxiety disorders. While recent randomized control trials (RCTs) suggest that ABMT reduces anxiety, therapeutic effects have not been summarized quantitatively. Methods Standard meta-analytic procedures were used to summarize the effect of ABMT on anxiety. Using MEDLINE, January 1995 to February 2010, we identified RCTs comparing the effects on anxiety of ABMT and quantified effect sizes using Hedge’s d. Results Twelve studies met inclusion criteria, including 467 participants from 10 publications. ABMT produced significantly greater reductions in anxiety than control training, with a medium effect (d = 0.61, p <.001). Age and gender did not moderate the effect of ABMT on anxiety, while several characteristics of the ABMT training did. Conclusions ABMT shows promise as a novel treatment for anxiety. Additional RCTs are needed to fully evaluate the degree to which these findings replicate and apply to patients. Future work should consider the precise role for ABMT in the broader anxiety-disorder therapeutic armamentarium.

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A standard visual preference task was used to examine 3-month-olds' looking times at own-race versus other-race faces as a function of environmental exposure to faces from the two categories. Participants were Caucasian infants living in a Caucasian environment, African infants living in an African environment, and African infants living in a predominantly Caucasian environment. The results indicate that preference for own-race faces is present as early as 3 months of age, but that this preference results from exposure to the prototypical facial environment.

Attention bias modification (ABM) is a newly emerging therapy for anxiety disorders that is rooted in current cognitive models of anxiety and in established experimental data on threat-related attentional biases in anxiety. This review describes the evidence indicating that ABM has the potential to become an enhancing tool for current psychological and pharmacological treatments for anxiety or even a novel standalone treatment. The review also outlines the gaps in need of bridging before ABM techniques could be routinely applied and incorporated into standard treatment protocols.